Promising Futures Reflection

The biggest take-away I got from reading Promising Futures was the fact that education is constantly changing, and teachers and other school personnel must make ongoing efforts to keep up with the changes while meeting student needs.  This is not to say that change in the school system is a bad thing; rather, it is a necessary thing.  If we don’t change our practices to keep pace with the changing world around us and the changing needs of our students, teaching and learning becomes nearly ineffective.  However, one of the greatest difficulties that prevents teachers from working with change instead of against it is that they are faced with more pressure and responsibilities than ever before.  Also, the structure of many secondary schools is not conducive to the implementation of new and more effective practices.  Promising Futures outlines core practices for learning and teaching and for school support, while also listing current practices that ought to be “phased out.”  Essentially, changing our schools for the better requires everyone to put their best foot forward--teachers, administrators, parents, and students alike.  Nonetheless, teachers should not use the excuse that many elements of school “reform” are “out of their control.”  I know that as a teacher, it is my responsibility to do everything that I can to make my students’ learning experiences all the things that Maine schools seem to be lacking.  According to the Maine Commission on Secondary Education, Maine schools have been found to be “academically focused but rarely exciting or challenging, social but strangely impersonal and sometimes hostile, orderly but ill-suited for learning, predictable but lacking application to life... these schools do not support all young people in attaining the skills and knowledge described by the MLR” (3).  This is not a statement that a teacher wants to hear--it is clear that there is plenty of room for improvement within our schools, even if we are doing better than other states.  If anything, this document inspires me to be a teacher that is innovative, inclusive, and prepared to enter a system that is on the cusp of a positive transformation.