Because a Crystal Ball is Not Part of Standard Teaching Supplies

Dear Parent,

It's your friendly neighborhood teacher again. Can we talk? I know you've seen all those bills that have been popping up in every state -- some have even passed -- requiring that teachers post their daily lesson plans for all 180 days of school in August. That way, the proponents argue, parents can opt their children out of lessons they don't like! Easy, right?

Except...this week I learned that one of my students at one* school is really struggling with perfectionism. She's angry and having outbursts, so next week, we're planning some read-alouds that we hope will help. I'm reading "When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry" and we'll read "Ish" later on, and I'm going to scout around for some good anchoring activities to go with them. It's called Bibliotherapy and it's one of my favorite tools in the toolbox for helping little people deal with big emotions.

At another school, the classroom teacher informed me that many students, including most of my gifted ones, are not good with re-telling, so I'm going to unearth my Reader's Theater folders and we're going to have the kids start practicing re-telling through theater. It'll take some time for me to update what I have, and be sure it's differentiated for the various reading levels in the room, but, you know, that's my job. 

At my third school, I've been working on a long-term project, but my co-teacher and I are modifying it for some kids who are still not solid on their informational text skills. How do we know? Because we have work from a few days ago that tell us where the kids need some re-teaching. So we'll do that. That's how good teaching works.

Now, tell me please, how could any of us possibly have known in August, before we even met the kids, that they would need three very different kinds of lessons during the last week of February?

We couldn't.

No amount of legislative wrangling or educational laws can make that possible, either. 

Good teaching is all about knowing the kids, knowing where they are and what they need to keep learning. Teachers only figure that out by working with students every day, and adjusting and revising as we go. Lessons can be stellar, or they can flop and we need to try again. Some kids get it on the first try, others not till the 12th. Or 50th. And there's just no way to know all of that in August. 

New books are published all the time, and so are new lesson plans, new technology, new apps, new games and just new ideas. Good teachers are always on the lookout for better ways to teach, and there's just no way to know, in August, what might be available in December that is exactly the thing to reach the kids. 

In a world that is increasingly uncertain, it's understandable that parents want to feel some kind of control, especially when their children are involved. I'm a parent. I get it. The sheer amount of "I wasn't expecting this" is overwhelming, especially now. For the past two years we haven't been able to let parents into our classrooms, or help with our copying, hanging kids' artwork, collating, stapling, and gathering supplies. Parents haven't been able to be part of school the same way they have in the past, and we don't know when they will again. Believe me, we miss having you there, too. We feel just as disconnected. 

But these bizarre bills, demanding to know every detail of every day of the next school year aren't going to fix that disconnect, even if that were something that was possible. What will fix it, and make all of us feel better, is just...talking. Talk with me. I'm your kid's teacher. I love your kid more than you realize and want them to grow into a thinker and learner and, above all, into a kind person. 

My guess is you want those things, too, and if I were to ask you what activity you planned to do with them 4 months from now to ensure that would happen, you'd look at me like I was crazy. How could anyone possibly know that?

And you'd be right. 

Sincerely,

Your Child's Teacher

*Yes. I teach at 3 different schools. With 13 different classrooms. That's another issue entirely.