Teachers Need to Share Their Ideas

Abstract

NO MORE than a quick glance at any journal that deals with K-12 education reveals that the authors of most articles are college professors, administrators, or representatives of national committees. While I respect the research that comes out of universities, the opinions and experience of administrators, and the direction of national committees, the articles I find myself most interested in, the ones I am most likely to read in depth, are written by classroom teachers who are sharing the souls of their classrooms. I find it ironic that classroom teachers, with treasure chests full of ideas, rely almost exclusively on sources outside the classroom for information about education. Why don't teachers, who work with today's young people every day, write more of the articles for their colleagues? It is easy to point out that college professors teach fewer hours per week than K-12 teachers, so they have more time to write. It is equally easy to argue that professors work under the pressure of the publish or perish rule, so they must submit manuscripts for publication. Both statements are true. Yet it is all too easy for educators to cede professional authority to those with advanced degrees or committee appointments. And when teachers do fail to share their stories, they deny their colleagues access to reliable, valuable, and direct sources of information. Classroom teachers test, modify, and clarify lessons every day in the most important research lab we have. Unfortunately, they too often keep the results of their work to themselves. That needs to change. Teachers need to share their ideas, their strategies, their successes, and their enthusiasm with one another. Over the past several years, I have worked closely with three committees for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The most important thing I learned from the National Board is that classroom teachers need to take more control over their own profession. By rule, classroom teachers make up two-thirds of the National Board itself, and they strongly influence its direction. I would like to apply the National Board's model to publishing in education and propose that classroom teachers voice their opinions, share their stories, and write two-thirds of the articles for education journals. Recently, I taught a graduate-level night class on how to write for education journals. All the students were teachers, and we discussed how to match an idea with an appropriate journal, how to gather research materials, and how to write and edit a manuscript. From the first night, every teacher had ideas from the classroom to share, and before we were done, every one had produced a manuscript to submit for publication. That didn't surprise me. I expected that all of them could write articles. What did surprise me was how passionate they became about the articles and about sharing their experiences. A few months later, one of the teachers from that class mailed me a photocopy of his article, which had been published in a journal for science teachers. …