There is so much backlash to the reform we bring that often we forget it is there. We just think it’s normal. But those little looks and comments and outright hostility from uninformed (uninformed about the research!) people will not always be there. We have to stand firm in spite of all the incoming heat until the profession finally fully accepts that children can’t learn a language by memorizing things.
Paul Kirshling in Denver recently said something that has propped me up ever since he said it:
…we know what we know to be true. And we know that if we don’t do what we know to be true, then we betray our students and ourselves….
This echoes Robert Harrell’s comment here yesterday:
…I have an obligation to do what my employer asks me to do unless that is illegal, immoral or unethical. I consider it unethical to give my students an instructional experience that is less than the best that I am capable of providing. So, to knowingly teach in ways that do not align with the research would be unethical for me. I also believe that I have a professional obligation to keep growing in both content competence and methodological competence. Not everyone will be in a situation where they can spend as much time, effort, energy, and money doing this as I can; however, teachers who do nothing to improve in these areas but rely on the textbook or plans and materials from previous years with no change are failing to fulfill their professional and ethical obligation to their students. (Like the Christian life, it is more about moving forward on the right path than about “having arrived“.)