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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Priorities

Professional Development Center in Chester, PA has all the high tech tools. Wow, these would really be helpful for classroom use. Whiteboards, flat-panel screens and projected images of a presentation, wifi, surround sound, cushy chairs. I like when teachers are respected and given nice digs for their professional development days, but it would be nice for kids to have some amenities too. How many classrooms have this set up? I've seen too many crumbling classrooms, worn and weary, inadequately heated in winter and overheated in summer. I've seen situations where kids were expected to ignore rodents or holes in the wall, sitting in the hard plastic chairs their parents might've found colorful and new, but now are cracked and sun-bleached. I remember teaching second grade in my "portable" classroom, wary of the one spot on the floor where the only thing between indoors and out was the threadbare carpet. A classroom without a phone for emergencies, without a shelf or a closet. Interesting, the priorities...

3 comments:

BJNR said...

I taught in the basement of a portable classroom for 9 years. But the playing fields were always in pristine shape for their respective seasons. Sigh.....

MJ said...

Love the details. The message is sad. Our current teaching digs don't look too bad though....

Cora Spondence said...

We cannot teach in a vacuum, and yet there are too many who teach in classrooms that resemble the inside canister of a vacuum cleaner. I like that you always speak the truth without the spittle of anger. Very effective.