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My department head presented this article to me the other day, for his gifted and talented class. I was going to have my class write a summary to my honors class as well, so this is a great thread for me to read. As a teacher I agree, teachers leave because teachers do. I love teaching, but every day I am pushed closer to the reality that really I am a baby sitter who is going to be given a criteria to teach, so that my students can pass the state test. Its a catch 22, if I teach my love of social studies and focus on the things I find important, I stray from what the state wants. If I stray from what the state and my school district want, guess what? My students score low on assesments, and that equals me sitting in the prinicipals office explaining why my kids did not "produce the results that they have the potential to achieve" (despite that they can't read, write or even add on grade level, and have the critical thinking skills of paste). So i have to find ahappy medium were I make sure they get what they need to pass the tests but still sneak in what is important to me. Its frustrating, that accountability of teachers is basically "if Suzy does not pass, you must be the problem". This whole no child left behind crap is just what I expect from this president. All it means is now I have to track on paper that your child shoud have been retained years ago.
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