Advocating For Students

Dane L. Peters
Becoming Advocates for Our StudentsEducation Week
Published Online: July 19, 2010
Complete URL: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/07/19/37peters.h29.html?qs=montessori
The author of this article had an epiphany during her 27th year of teaching: “I realized that if my work was going to continue, it would have to be devoted more to the child and less to the lesser tasks that crowd a school day.” She went on to talk about all the things that distract us and how periodically we loose sight of why we do what we do. In the medical profession they take the Hippocratic oath and pledge to do no harm. The author cautions educators to not stop there. It has to go beyond simply not doing harm. Teachers need to advocate for students and do everything possible to provide an environment where they can thrive and learn. She mentioned the absolute need of “infusions of perspective”. One of the key ways to do this is effective professional development. She listed many authors and their books that provided for her personally, some of that needed perspective. One of her concluding thoughts was this: “Expensive conferences, workshops, and graduate coursework may get cut from school budgets, but other intellectual nourishment, especially through reading, will always be available, as long as we are willing to walk to the table and eat.” I found that particularly encouraging as we get ready to begin our own journeys. Schools we head into may not have funds to pay for our professional development but we can as the author mentioned read! It also occurred to me that some of this may not feel like it fits our current situation but I see even new teachers overwhelmed with the “lesser tasks”. The intended author of this article is practitioners. The article is relevant to anyone in a position working with children.