Keeping Our Balance

Do you feel more like a tester than a teacher? Is coercion replacing collaboration? Is constant pressure deforming deforming teaching and learning?

In "Keeping Our Balance," Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld uses the analogy of a skater, spinning on the ice but keeping her balance by focusing on an immovable spot, to describe the current climate for teachers. For Chenfeld, the unwavering spot to focus on is the students themselves. She offers the example of two kindergarten classrooms in the same school: one where kids are at the center of learning and one where external mandates dictate everything, including what, how, and when learning happens.

We live in stressful and absurd times, but "even in the current climate," says Chenfeld, "teachers who persist in using best practices based on young children's needs make a difference."

How do you keep your balance? Is this article's advice realistic?