I heard this question at an SLC institute that I attended last year and I came across it last night while searching for another document on my computer. The presenter said that they use this question to guide their decision-making on their campus and to evaluate any and all procedures, plans, and process. They have posters of this put up in all of their teacher workrooms and conference rooms:
“Are we doing what is best for our students, or are we doing what is most convenient for us?”
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We are doing what the State Standards, and National Standards require. Convenience isn’t an isssue for me, just SOL scores.
Why do we continuously repeat classes and topics throughout k-12? Trying to catch up with the digital natives is going to be difficult. We need to start thinking “outside the box” when it comes to teaching.
We do the best we can to provide the best environment and learning experiences for our students, but there are a lot of constraints (funding, SOL’s) that force us to do what is quick, and yes convenient, to get it all done with the resources we have at our disposal.
I think this is a very hard question for teachers to ask themselves. Often, I ask myself this very question when planning a lesson. When I come across an idea that involves lots of prep work on my part (organizing groups, reserving laptops, learning how to use new software) I sometimes back off because of time or resource constraints. But I’m challenging myself this year especially to go ahead with those lessons and projects in order to put my students and their learning first.
What often stops teachers from going forward, in my opinion, is a lack of resources and support. Either there is not enough time to plan/prep for the lesson or not enough class time to go ahead because there are testing standards that need to be covered. Maybe there aren’t enough computers/other resources to help them out.
I’d like to think I’m doing what is best for my students because every day tends to be a challenge for me and never a “coasting” day. Now is this true for others? Unfortunately, I have to say “no.” When I see the same lessons, worksheets, and supplemental material used year after year, I begin to debate whether this question should be addressed. Of course, if the SOL scores are stressed and the teacher has performed well with the material on hand, then does the material become what is best or is it convenient at this point? Or is it both?