At the start of Part II in Chapter 4, Gerald Campano briefly writes about accountability and "that increasingly the narrow political and instrumental sense of accountability undermines teaching as an ethical practice" (2007, p. 46). People throw the word accountable around everyday. Our students are held accountable through their school work and performance, we are held accountable to parents (and, of course, our students on some levels) and our administrators, who are held accountable to their superiors, and so on and so on until we reach the top where it seems politicians are making the rules. The biggest problem I've seen in terms of accountability is that testing means so much to the promise of a child in school. If they pass the test, then great! We did our job. If they didn't, then something is wrong with the child/family. I think something is just wrong with the system.
In Part I, Campano suggested that the stereotypes schools and teachers may have for certain groups of people may in fact prepare them for the kinds of jobs in which they are "penalized" (2007, p. 15). In Part II, he writes that testing may also support this claim since many schools use the test scores as a means to make instructional decisions thereby limiting students from low-income families access to learning opportunities that could prepare them for higher education (2007, p. 46). What I truly struggle with is the push and pull of what the policy-makers expect from schools and what the students truly need. I think for this very reason teaching is so difficult and why so many great teachers feel helpless...the system doesn't help them do their job...it makes it more difficult and holds them "accountable to the system, to politicians, to an abstract 'public'' (Campano, 2007, p. 45).
As teachers it seems almost impossible to meet the expectations of all those putting pressure on us to do well in terms of test scores, but I feel compelled to not be held accountable to test scores and politicians solely, but to my students as well. Starting small within our classrooms we can create an environment that is as Campano describes "the classroom of promise" meaning one that allows children "to gain insight into their experience, and to allow opportunities for creating meaning" (2007, p. 60). This type of classroom would be more than simply listening to and understanding students' home lives and would eliminate the idea of students "as clients for the latest programs" (Campano, 2007, p. 48). It would allow us to see that these students do not have deficits, but do bring with them rich experiences, not in terms of middle-class experiences, but in ways that allow them to think meaningfully and "thoughtfully about serious intellectual and ethical issues in a cross-cultural framework" (Campano, 2007, p. 72).
Throughout Part II, Campano repeatedly sheds light on how we can, as educators, work to make literacy a meaningful part of immigrant students' lives when connecting it to their valued and authentic experiences. Campano doesn't deny the fact that he, like me, feels the task to be overwhelming and that it is nearly impossible to know all there is to know about the backgrounds of each of our students, but we can attempt to create a classroom where student voices and cultures are not silenced and stereotypes are not perpetuated.
Finally, the play written by students titled "What the Teacher Didn't Know" to educate teachers at a professional development workshop is something that all teachers should take a moment to read. We can't be perfect 100% of the time, but as teachers we can aim to show some empathy and understanding for students and where they are coming from. The following excerpt (Campano, 2007, p. 99) from “What the Teacher Didn’t Know” gives us insight as to what immigrant children may feel like when teachers do not "cultivate mutual empathy and understanding (Campano, 2007 p. 46):
What the teacher didn’t know is that I just came from Mexico five months ago, so sometimes I don’t know how to say things in English. He didn’t know my language is an important part of me. Speaking Spanish is something I feel proud of, but he is cruel for not encouraging me to maintain my traditions. Instead he put me down and made me feel like a stranger. And all, my teacher didn’t know that people spoke Spanish here before English!
Lauren, I too was struck by Campano's reference to accountability. I love where he defines accountable as meaning "to be mindful of engagement with others, to learn productivity from and respond to the experiences of others, and to cultivate mutual empathy and understanding. It is about relationships." (2007 pg.46). You said you feel compelled to be held accountable by your students. Of course you do--that's why you entered this field. That's why we all did--we love and care about kids. Therefore, this idea of accountability by using a single test on a single day that has so many flaws to determine whether or not kids are really learning, really acquiring the best education-- can't be the only thing teachers feel held accountable to. Many teachers feel they don't have a voice or a say, but they do. If thinking about the "whole" child matters then it has to matter in the classroom. I think we would all agree that his definition of accountability is one that makes so much more sense than a test score. I think the hard part is fitting it all in. Knowing all of your kids as intimately as Campano knows Maria for example. He knows her through her writing though (2007 pg.81). We can do the same and learn through our kids' writing who they really are as people. Campano allows his kids to write narratives and essays around topics that matter. Through this they are in fact learning how to write well and incorporate qualities of writing that they will be tested on, but bigger than that, they are understanding themselves and others so much more. Campano writes "I observed my students engaging in acts of empathetic displacement that drew attention away from the self to the other" (2007 pg.82). Understanding each other...accepting one another--isn't that what we all want in this world. I argue that we can do both--meet the expectations of the standards and more importantly know our kids. (Thoughts from Christy)
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