Let us TEACH!

You know the overwhelmed feeling you get when tears seem to be ready to flow at any given moment? Today was one of those days.  Who I am kidding, this school year has been one of those years!

Today, I had grade level meetings with all the grade levels to discuss supplemental groups/tier 2.  Response to instruction.  RTI.  Yep, I said it.  R.T.I.

You know  3 letter acronyms in the education world are far worse than certain four letter words? Generally speaking, I can say RTI and you can see the teachers scatter.   And trust me, I get it.

The sad part is it really has nothing to do with RTI though.  Response to instruction.  That’s what we as teachers do EVERY day and have been doing all along.   If a student is not responding to our instruction, guess what?  We try something else.  If it is working, guess what?  We keep doing it.  I know RTI is nothing new.  However, dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s is new.  Translation: paperwork.  I know, I know.  “It’s not about the paperwork.”

I wish I could believe it wasn’t about the paperwork.  But it is.  Teachers are actually now spending more time proving they’re teaching than they are teaching!  Someone please tell me how this is helping our students.   I’m all about accountability.  However, I’m also ALL about treating our teachers with respect and as professionals and…allowing them to TEACH.  Shocking, I know.  Allowing a TEACHer to teach!   (I apologize for the sarcasm.  This is what happens after an entire day of shuffling papers.)

It is just so frustrating to sit and watch phenomenal teachers so overwhelmed, so beaten, so defeated that they start to question why they are even there in the first place.  It is so disheartening to watch them crumble.  And I feel so helpless.  I try so hard to make meetings like today beneficial and as painless as possible.  But when teachers are getting hit from every direction, it all just seems impossible.

And I should clarify.  It is not just RTI.  It isn’t RTI or PEPs or AMOs or MSLs or IEPs or PEPs or EOGs or PDPs or PLCs or TRC or…I could go on and on.  It isn’t one single thing.  It is the combination of it all.  Enough is enough.  When do we get to say enough is enough?  When do we get to say, please, let us do what we love?  Let us do what we know how to do.  Please just let us TEACH.

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Parents, please understand that our hands are tied in many situations that you probably are not pleased with.  So many things are mandated now.  People in offices that haven’t set foot in an elementary school since they were in grade school are making decisions for us…for your children.  Please know that we as teachers always have and always will have your child’s best interest in mind.