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An open letter to Barbourville’s teachers

To all the Barbourville Teachers, this one’s for you:

Let’s face it. Teaching is hard. And on some level, I think we all know why. Teaching is unlike any other profession out there. Unlike doctors, our “patients” are actually conscious. Unlike lawyers, our “clients” actually talk. Unlike drill sergeants, we can’t make our “trainees” do push-ups. Our students actually have to cooperate for any learning to take place. And we have to voluntarily get them to cooperate. (And we’re not their parents). 

That’s not easy!

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How do you tell a kid, who might be dealing with god-knows-what when they go home, that they should put their faith in learning, even if they’re not good at it (yet)?

That takes skill. A whole lot of emotional labor too. You’re never good at it to begin with, but you can get better at it. Every teacher screws up as they hone their craft. Which is why its so important for teachers to have both supportive mentors to learn from, and an absence of administrative bullshit making their already difficult jobs harder.Except normally teachers don’t get supportive mentors and an absence of bullshit. If anything, teachers these days (especially new ones) seem to be encountering the opposite. 

“And remember kids: Love Learning! Screenshot from my educational TV Pilot

“And remember kids: Love Learning!
Screenshot from my educational TV Pilot

My own career as an educator has been a little bit odd. I started off as a teachers aid at a religious school at age 12, working with a third grade teacher who was a sweet as could be. I spent a few years trying to create an educational TV show, which meant I got a deep-dive into education research that many teachers sadly don’t get.

Then when it came time to teach college classes, I got good at that by watching professors who were spectacularly bad it.

It also helped that I knew what it was like to be that kid, who discovered a faith in learning thanks to my teachers, but might have otherwise dropped out. Though I don’t think that’s as rare as people think it is. I think many people who go into teaching do so because they were inspired by a teacher they loved or admired or cared about them growing up. 

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The problem is, when teachers actually get into a classroom, they often face a lack of respect, parents who demean them, unrealistic expectations from all sides, and an administration that isn’t always as supportive as it should be. While everyone and their cousin has an opinion on teaching, very few realize how hard teaching is to do well. Not to mention the fact that compared to other professions, grade teaching pays less and has fewer avenues for advancement.

And that’s not even counting wave after wave of standardized tests, which neither students nor parents nor teachers particularly like, that wastes an entire grade’s worth of a K-12 student’s life, which have done absolutely nothing to improve education in the last 20 years, and have in many ways made school worse!

Then on top of that, there’s an organized movement out there that wants to pay teaches even less, take away their pensions, and turn teaching into a minimum wage temp job. 

This War on Teachers must not stand.

The truth is, our school system is the way it is because our society has been asking it to do too many contradictory things at the same time. The end result is an American school system that does many things sub-optimally. But destroying teacher autonomy, kicking creativity out of the classroom, defunding schools and turning teaching teachers into McDonalds’ workers will only make the problem worse! We now have a school system where nationally, half of all teachers quit within their first five years. The question is, will we let these destructive trends invade Barbourville too? 

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I’ll be honest:

I don’t know if Barbourville schools has the money to increase teacher pay in line with what it should be.

But considering that many teachers quit because of quality-of-work issues, not necessarily the pay alone, what I can do is work to improve teacher working conditions to the greatest extent possible. 

To that end here are the ideas I’d like to implement:

•Better Professional Development - Most teachers (and I) have stories of miserably boring professional development (PD) they were forced to sit through. I want to establish dialogue and feedback with teachers around PD 

•Peer development - Make teaching less lonely, by giving teachers more dedicated opportunities to learn from one another 

•Supporting Teachers - Give teachers the support they need, by increasing mentoring for new teachers, autonomy and discretion in the classroom, and shielding teachers from as much administrative bullshit as possible

•Autonomy & Creativity - Elsewhere on my website, I’ve discussed adopting a content-based curriculum to improve early elementary education. That said, regardless of what knowledge we’ll need teachers to teach, all teachers should have creative autonomy in terms of how they teach it.

•Research Opportunities - I’ll give more opportunities teachers who want to do research and publish, just like college professors

•Sharing Knowledge - I’ll work to overcome the divide between teaching and the cognitive science research into teaching, by implementing a Speakers Series, and bringing as many education experts to Barbourville as possible

•More Funding - I’ll fight to end the chronic (and illegal) underfunding of Barbourville Independent School District

•Less Bullshit - Reduce the number of extra/additional duties teachers are required to do (lunch duty, hall duty, administrative paperwork, etc)

•Dialogue - If you ever want to talk confidentially, we can talk confidentially. Those running large organizations often have no clue what’s going on at the lower levels. I want to help run our school system effectively. 

And I promise, you will never see me declare a war on teachers

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In a country where so many systems are falling apart,
where the have/have-not divide just keeps growing,
people need each other if we’re ever going to fix things. 

To anyone reading this, I invite you to stay in touch, and let’s keep this conversation going. Use the “Share Your Story” button at the top to send me a message!

For anyone reading this in Barbourville - parent, teachers, student, or community member - I humbly ask for your vote.

Sincerely,
(Lt.) Jon Phoenix

PS - Stay tuned for a later update ;)