The Impact—Good and Bad—of School Teachers and Leaders

This post was originally published in the CEEAS newsletter.

By David Domenici 

Recently I’ve been struck particularly by the awesome power that teachers and school leaders have to impact the future of kids who are locked up.  

In back-to-back visits to schools in different facilities, I witnessed teachers doing a real disservice to students. In one class, students were watching the movie Happy Feet. When I asked its purpose, I was told (with a straight face by the school leader) that Happy Feet was supplementing a life skills lesson. In another school, I watched students complete mind-numbing ‘packets’ of work — photocopied and laminated sheets from years-old workbooks that are used over and over again. Each day, students are expected to complete three assignments from the packets and if they do, they earn a passing grade and credit.  What’s the explanation for the packets? I was told they “support individualization.”

In both cases, the teachers felt the practices (watching Happy Feet, completing laminated worksheets) were appropriate, and the school leaders had signed off on the lessons.

What can we do about teachers and school leaders who sanction movie watching? Who use out-of-date packets of worksheets? How can we, a small nonprofit devoted to radically improving teaching and learning in alternative settings, change these mindsets?

We try to provide teachers with the tools they need to improve their craft, so they won’t resort to worksheets and movies. And we help agencies design systems and evaluation tools that hold adults accountable for their actions as teachers and school leaders.  But these technical ‘fixes’ simply can’t fully address the challenge posed, or the damage done, by indifference.

Teachers who really care about kids, who believe in their potential, and who own up to their responsibility don’t put on Happy Feet during life skills class. They don’t pass out ‘packets’ of work. And good principals don’t put up with this stuff.  Period.

Teachers who believe in all kids, including those who are locked up, make school relevant and engaging, they push and support kids, and they trust kids.

Thankfully, we’ve come across these sorts of teachers, too. I’ve seen them on my visits and we learned about them through our teacher leadership contest, Lighting the Fire.

Teachers like Kent Lindsey, who works at Mill Creek Youth Center outside of Salt Lake City, Utah.  Kent has taught construction trades to incarcerated kids for 20 years and is retiring this summer. He’s taught kids drafting skills, helped them see why math matters, and trusted them to handle electric saws, power tools, hammers, and nails.  As one of Kent’s students wrote, “He took the time to show me how to work and how to do it right . . . and when something gets messed up it’s ok. You don’t have to cover it up or pin it on someone else but take responsibility for your mistake and then fix it.”

Teachers like Angelique Kwabenah, another one of the finalists in our Lighting the Fire contest, who teaches teens being charged as adults at the Washington, DC Jail.   Angelique teaches English and Language Arts. One of her colleagues told us that she “consistently exudes the epitome of excellence in teaching and believing that all students can achieve in their academics.”

Principals like Richard Lee who works at the Cleveland White School in the New Castle County Detention Center in Delaware.  We visited his school last year and walked out filled with hope.  He makes an effort to get to know each and every student in his care, communicates regularly with their family members, and recognizes their success and effort through a student-of-the-week program.

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My wish for the upcoming school year:  No more movies and no more ‘packets’ in our classrooms.  And a lot more people like Kent Lindsey, Angelique Kwabenah, and Richard Lee.

-- David

To learn more about Lighting the Fire and our finalist teachers, click here.

photo credit: wikipedia.com