So much of this post resonated for me, and I’d like to write a sentence about every sentence because really I just loved it, but that’s silly because all I’d do is repeat what you’ve said.

Instead then, I’ll echo you in only one thing, something simple and practical: I want to thank you especially for the words about having our own classes. I think about this all the time, and speak of it often, mostly because I am a high school teacher with the very rare privilege of having my own room. The difference it makes in the quality of my teaching is immeasurable. And yet no one ever speaks about that (and it cannot possibly be understood by the fellows running the system right now, who have not come from the schools). Such a simple thing – a room of one’s own, a place to hang one’s hat, sort the papers, meet with students, store the papers and the chalk. When the room is your own, it becomes a home for your students. It is no longer anonymous, no longer a subway platform where the teacher, the subject, the lessons change with the changing of the bell. What a dreary place to work. What a dreary place to learn. Imagine any other professional without their own little space. Imagine a lawyer writing briefs up against the hallway wall.

But somehow, of course, for asking for such simple things, we are pampered, lazy. Stop whining, shut up, just get in there and teach.

If you suck the life out of a talented innovative teacher because of micromanagment, rigid curriculum, and fear of disciplinary action what have the students learned. Nothing!!

Sure there are poor teachers in the system (as in every business) but when you allow for disrespect of all the teachers and not treat the teacher as a professional, how does that help the student? It doesn’t!

Good school districts allow the teacher to determine the teaching methods, pay a professional salary, and most of all treats the teacher with the respect. All of these are missing in the NYC public schools.

Why do you think the parents organization went with the teachers to Albany this year instead of going with Bloomberg/Klein? Give up? Because these knowledgable parents see that the DOE is not doing the right thing for their children. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize a tired, underpaid, and fearful teacher is not the best environment for student learning.

I would think that an involved parent like you would be applauding the parents’ organization for seeing that the DOE is not just an enemy of the parents and teachers but of your child’s education!

By the way it was a wonderful article and I’m sure a classroom teacher wrote it.