On being watched

The Texas Education Agency is auditing our EC-6 certification program in December.  Even being on the outside, the process seems to be falling on the ‘gotcha’ end of the spectrum as opposed to the ‘show us how you’re preparing future teachers well’ end.  I believe that I and my program–and all programs that prepare teachers–should be held to high standards.  Though how spending hours preparing hundreds of pages of documents, that now must adhere to rules that changed recently or rules that we didn’t know existed, doesn’t seem the best use of anyone’s time.  While I’ve not been here long, I see that my colleagues are committed, knowledgeable, and thoughtful teachers.  The students we’re preparing are knowledgeable, passionate, and engaged.  But all those hundreds of pages of documents won’t show that.

Institutions and Parents

Having a Facebook conversation with several educators turned scholars turned parents.  Such an odd intersection of identities and positionalities and all other sorts of fancy words.  And, yet, the kids go to school, the teachers show up to teach, and the show goes on.  I even missed my parent-teacher conversations this year because of a meeting at work.  And, yet, school still moves on.

Also shifting gears to the NCTE conference in Minneapolis in 3 weeks.  I’m going to be so tired by the end, but that’s okay. 🙂