Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/129419
> TEACHER OF THE YEAR Reflections on an incredible year B Y R E B E C C A M I E L I W O C K I , N a t i o n a l Te a c h e r o f t h e Ye a r 2 0 1 2 I've envied people who had whirlwind lives, traveled, and were big decision makers in their fields. I had that kind of year since I was named the National Teacher of the Year by President Obama in the White House, and it's been nothing short of an incredible experience. I've traveled to nearly every state in the union, participated in conversations at the highest levels of power, listened to great thinkers in education, and spoken to nearly every kind of group there is. It's been the journey of a lifetime, and I appreciate sharing my big takeaways. Rankings mean very little if the race isn't one we care to win anyway. Part of my year involves international travel to see the classrooms in the countries that routinely best us on international assessments. I toured the top schools in Russia, Beijing and Shanghai, China, Japan, and Singapore. I went to see their greener grass; what I saw shocked me. I was always told these nations simply teach to the test, but I thought that answer to be simplistic. Sure enough, I witnessed drilland-kill instruction, teacher-centered rote learning and memorization activities. I didn't see art, music, sports, field trips, robust technologies, or anything, really, that is the hallmark of a full and enriching education. In meetings with students, teachers, professors and parents, it was clear that while they were proud to be No. 1, they were not happy, and they knew that simply acing tests does not set their children up to succeed in this world. I was treated like royalty and asked how we do what we do. How do we teach so creatively, and how do we teach kids to be creative? How do we use team structures and collaboration in our classrooms so well? How do we make such nimble thinkers of our students, capable of handling abstract thought, divergent thinking, and multiple solutions to problems? These are all 21st century competencies, and they know their students don't have them. 36 California Educator May 2013 Ours do. And yet, we stand at 15th on international rankings. Do we really want to be No. 1 if it means we abandon all that we offer our kids? That's not a race I care to win. Can we shore up our schools, raise learning standards, and push our academic programs to be even better? Absolutely. I went looking for greener grass and came home prouder than ever that our own grass, the way we educate children here at home, is a spectacular, unique, and highly coveted shade all its own. The wounds of a decade of teacher bashing are painfully visible. There's a moment in my speeches where I get a tad sappy about my love for my job and for teachers in general. I admit to the pain and the struggle of it all, the worry I'm not doing it right, the exhilaration of a lesson gone right, the joy of a child who succeeds. I share how heartbreaking it is to be the focus of anger and blame and frustration from the media and some of my fellow Americans. I end my speeches positively, always, and afterward there is always a long line of teachers, young and old, who wait for me and just fall into my arms crying. The pain of going through what we have, on top of the tremendously challenging work itself, has pushed so many to despair that it's visible on the outside. Whether a teacher stops speaking up and instead isolates, or whether they cry out and rally with colleagues, or whether they just keep on keeping on, every teacher, even the most optimistic among us, has the scars to show for a decade of blame and teacher bashing. I'm thunderstruck by our resilience, our stalwartness, and our refusal to be who they expect us to be. It may take a while to turn the conversation around, but we are getting there. I saw action on teacher evaluation, some of it encouraging, some of it downright frightening. A recent MetLife study indicates the single American teachers are amazing. greatest impact on learning is the presence I met incredible teachers from Seattle to of a highly effective teacher. It made a huge Sanibel Island and I'll tell you this: We are ripple in education circles, and everyone is in such good shape! If you thought things creating evaluation frameworks or rubrics to were as dire as folks tell you, they are not. use that will identify and hopefully grow betTeams of educators are teaching dynamically, ter teachers in the profession. using technology in ways that amaze me and Most of these efforts are smart and are frankly, boggle my mind. Teachers are asking honestly selecting key criteria that teachers more of their kids, having them reach out need to meet to be considered effective. across the planet and do good work. Most if not all of these rubrics include I am blown away by the passion, the purstatistical data on our students' perforpose, the professionalism and the urgency mance on standardized tests, and that's I see in the work done by American teachers. not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. Before this year, I was sure there were lots of But we all know that using test scores to good teachers in this country. Now I know it tell if teachers are exceptional, or awful, is for a fact. We might not have a perfect system stretching the scientific truth and needs and perfect teachers everywhere, but the more investigation before it can be trusted great teaching out there cannot be denied. as an accurate measure. This makes me so proud. I saw state superintendents working with legislatures to grade and rate schools, just