Accountability

I've discovered the best thing you can do as a teacher is set your kids up for success. Failure isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, sometimes it's a good motivator. But the more you can do to help your kids be successful, the smoother and more cohesive your classroom will be. Classrooms should be designed so that if a student fails, it's all on them. You have done everything in your power to give that kid a chance to succeed. Whatever is left is their fault.

This was brought on by an e-mail we received on Friday from our secondary principal. Basically, he was concerned that the D/F 3rd qtr. midterm list was so long. And it was. Ridiculously long. Some kids are failing 5 out of their 8 classes. And one comment that he made kinda bugged me. He said (paraphrased): "If you're saying, 'I'm doing all I can-it's the kid's fault,' then you're not doing enough and should reconsider being in your profession." I understand where he's coming from. We have some teachers in this district who couldn't care any less about how their kids are doing. But, this can't all be on us. Some of us really are doing all we can. I, personally, see to it that every kid who has to do a make-up lesson gets at least one of them made up during the course of the semester. However, I can't play the concert for them. I can't learn the fingerings. I can't practice their part for them so that it sounds better in band. At some point, we have to hold students accountable for their decisions and their actions (or lack thereof). Along with that, there are plenty of parents out there who are disengaged from their kid's progress in school. I think many parents operate under the philosophy, "No news is good news," but that's not always the case. It could be that the parents don't care or just don't choose to check on their kid's progress. And some parents also model this awful behavior for their child. For instance: I had a student (my ONLY alto sax player in the high school band) whose mother told her she had to drop band at semester because she needed a study hall (she was failing math). Then, Mom pulls her out of school for a week to take her on a family vacation to Puerto Rico. Now (possibly as a result of this, possibly not), she's failing FOUR classes, including mine! I begged and pleaded with her mother for her to stay in band-I even offered to tutor her! Mom relented, but now we're in a bigger mess than before.

Think about what kind of behavior you want your students/children to have, what kind of citizens you want them to be. If you don't want them to develop a certain behavior or action, don't model it for them. If you don't want them to gossip, don't gossip. If you don't want them to swear, don't swear. I'm not saying slip-ups won't happen; we are human, after all. However, if we're going to hold our children accountable for their actions, we need to hold ourselves accountable, too.

End rant.