Brian Fink

I know things like this are meant to inspire teachers and come from a good place. But as my own perspective on what we should be spending our time, money, and resources on continues to evolve, I increasingly find myself viewing this kind of messaging as performative and harmful. There’s a constant push for teachers to do more and more and more for students, and for schools to take on more and more responsibilities that extend well beyond their primary purpose. My job is not to change the way a student walks into a room. My job is not to change lives. My job is not to build relationships with students. My job is to teach my content and curriculum as effectively as I can so that as many students as possible learn as much as possible. That doesn’t mean relationships, student well-being, or the broader impact of education are unimportant. It means we need to be clear about what should be at the center of our work. If teachers and school leaders focused more of this same time, energy, money, and resources on improving teaching and learning, many of these other positive outcomes would follow. There’s an opportunity cost here as there is with anything. Instead of continually adding more expectations to teachers’ roles and responsibilities, let’s spend our time, money, and resources giving teachers the training, tools, and support they need to do their actual job: teach their content and curriculum as effectively as possible, helping as many students as possible learn as much as they can.