The Times Are They a-Changin'?

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'. – Bob Dylan

I’m not exactly sure what is going on; seriously, I am perplexed, befuddled, confused, even struck dumb by what I see going on among teachers. That’s not really correct; it’s more a question of what I don’t see going on.

Before I became a teacher I worked in retail; I managed a few hardware stores and even owned one for a few years. It may come as a surprise to some, though it really shouldn’t, that magazines exist that talk about the hardware industry. They discuss trends and tools; give advice about what is going on in the industry and what we should be doing. When I was younger still I worked as a forklift mechanic for a beverage company. Even then magazines such as “Fleet Owner” were around and I read them because I didn’t want to be a mechanic forever. One day I hoped to move up in the company. Regardless of what jobs I’ve held in my life, I’ve always tried to find ways to be better. It was irrelevant what the job was, it was a case of wanting to be the best at whatever I did.

Teaching and education must be the most written about professions and industries on the planet. The number of magazines, books, and companies engaged in supporting the industry are amazing. That doesn’t include the vast number of blogs created by people engaged in the field; I don’t have any idea how many there are, but tens of thousands wouldn’t surprise me. Teachers can find thousands of videos on YouTube about education; created by an incredibly diverse group and covering nearly any aspect of education you can imagine.

Of course, it’s not possible for one person to keep track of all this, but as teachers we should be actively engaged in trying to find the best resources and incorporating their wisdom into making us better at our vocation. Each day I read various blogs and have rarely had a day when I didn’t find something that could contribute to making me better or give my learners a greater chance for authentic learning. Tools like Google Reader help, but the greatest resource has proven to be the blogs themselves. The blogs consistently share links to resources and ideas that excite me and keep my enthusiasm up about learning.

The problem is that many of my colleagues don’t do the same thing. “I just don’t have time” is the common refrain I hear. I try to share everything I find that inspires me, but I’ve come to believe that most of those e-mails I send are falling on deaf ears (eyes?). I feel as if they’ve just stopped listening. I want to believe them when they say they don’t have time, but I’m slowly beginning to believe that they just don’t care. They aren’t concerned at getting better or staying current; being a teacher has become a job instead of a calling. The reward they are looking for comes every other Friday in an envelope instead of every day in the learning of a child.