Each profession has their host of acronyms, but somehow education cultivates an exponential new crop each year. Today we had a staff development day to try to get our collective head around all the changes to the new State Assessments which are tied to the common core and RttT, ACRE, PLCs, etc....This is my 11th year at my high school and I feel I finally understand the way change happens. Teachers start off in a classroom with a hand-full of core ideas/activities and each year they build a little broader foundation along with a few experimental diversions. As time goes by, the reservoir of materials can be sorted into files labeled: perfect for this concept, try again with modifications, or what a waste of time. Of course, the curriculum changes on a regular 3 to 5 year cycle (so never throw activities away - they may be back in style soon!). So part of why many educators are stressed these days is NOT because the curriculum is changing or the way teachers are evaluated is changing or the expectations and measurements of student performance are changing - we KNOW change is part of teaching. What is stressful is that everything is happening at once! In addition, budgets have been cut which increases the number of students.Then we have new technologies that make more data available that are specific to each student and provide a vast array of information that may help teachers really connect with their students - except that we have NO time to analyze any of this new data. Educators come in all shapes and sizes. So do students. Unfortunately time is one of the variables that never changes....... and THAT is stressful.
