NSBA President: Completing the circle: a tribute to the teaching profession

09/13/05 -- My daughter Sara was a 5-year-old kindergarten student when she made a career decision: “Mommy, I am going to be a teacher when I grow up.” This was not surprising, considering that her teacher was pretty and nice and that she gave each student a hug at the end of the day.

Because Sara attended a rural school with multigrade classrooms, she actually did have many opportunities to help younger students. Perhaps the most memorable of these occurred in sixth grade when Sara won an art contest, and first prize was the privilege of being the teacher for a day.

Sara planned to make this the most fabulous day the students had ever experienced, sort of like a trip to Disneyland interwoven with a profound intellectual awakening. Dancing in Sara’s head were visions of amazing science experiments, museum-quality art projects and, of course, the perfect 30-minute-or-less video to tie all of the lessons into one memorable package.

The first jolt of reality came at the local convenience store with the discovery that the only available 30-minute-or-less video carried the tantalizing title, “Centerfold Bunnies Frolic in the Meadow.”

When the big day finally arrived, Sara toddled off to school in her best dress and a pair of borrowed high heels. I didn’t get to observe Sara’s initial foray into teaching, but the school secretary later mentioned that after a session with the beginners’ band, Sara had emerged holding her head.

What I did get to see was the excited girl who jumped off the bus (high heels and all) and ran into the house with an announcement: “After a day like this, I know for sure that I am going to be a teacher.”

As a high school student, Sara never did have time for study hall. She was too busy reading with first graders and tutoring special education students.

Sara chose a college with a nationally accredited teacher preparation program. And as she developed the skills that would transform her childhood dream into reality, her excitement grew. Phone calls home were filled with news about science projects, math manipulatives, and story-writing techniques.

But the real excitement came when Sara achieved her dream of becoming a certified teacher with her very own classroom -- replete with wriggling second graders from a variety of ethnicities and economic circumstances, parents who truly wanted their children to succeed, and classroom volunteers who were ready to help.

This month Sara is among the cadre of professional teachers returning to the classroom for another academic year, determined to educate the whole child -- despite the paradoxical pressure high-stakes testing has placed on the very teachers who routinely promulgate high achievement for each child.

If the schools are microcosms of society with all of its visible imperfections, the best teachers make their classrooms into microcosms of society as a better place. They become safe havens where poverty and hunger do not exist, where respect and civility are modeled, and where learning is comprised, not so much of endless test preparation as of wonder-filled discovery.

School boards play a key role in establishing a school climate that nurtures the teachers who nurture the students and that empowers employees to decide, within the policies and standards of the district, how best to exercise their commitment and their creativity in the quest for enhanced student achievement. In this climate, the community treasures public education, and the entire school district becomes a microcosm of society as a better place.

Extraordinary teachers are both transformational and inspirational. They work miracles in their classrooms, even as they seek to replenish the supply of highly qualified teachers.

I know that Sara and many of her professional colleagues are indebted to those teachers who have served as role models, inspiring and encouraging their most promising students to pursue the dream of becoming a teacher.