Start With The Passion That Fuels A Teacher's Soul

Learning Forward

Equity and excellence in teaching and learning.

Start with the passion that fuels a teacher's soul

Ihad a conversation recently with a friend, a former English teacher now working at the district level providing staff development geared towards creating alignment in the language arts curriculum. Alignment and quantifiable evidence of impact on student learning seem to be the dual holy grails in schools these days. For my friend, however, convincing teachers to change their curriculum and instruction has been frustrating. He has encountered the very real phenomenon of teacher resistance to outsiders — a resistance he admittedly projected when he was a classroom teacher. Inspired by Parker Palmer’s The Courage to Teach (Jossey-Bass, 2007), I asked my friend whether there was any talk about passion and integrity at staff development sessions, or if the focus was solely on mandates and standards.

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