Morale Slipping

I have to be honest; I've never seen morale so low among my peers in the Mississippi Teacher Corps. It seems like every day there is something new that someone isn't happy about. Some of the most recent complaints I've heard include "the online class is pointless," "we're practically working ourselves to the bone over summer for free," "we're never going to get these laptops," "blogging is stupid," "I have a (insert special event here) to plan! I don't have time for this." Oh, the list goes on. To some extent, it bothers me because I've never heard so much pessimism in my life, but at the same time, I think my peers have valid arguments.

I will admit that I've voiced some complaints as well, mainly about the class we are taking online. I thought it was supposed to be about integrating technology into the classroom, but everything I've read so far has to do with how we transfer knowledge to novel situations and how infants acquire knowledge. There hasn't been mention of technology at all throughout the course and I only have a week and a half left. Even though some of these things get to me a little just because I feel like I should be using these academic courses to improve my teaching in my own classroom, I'm going to try and take a backseat to the negativity.

I'm going to be a shoulder to lean on for my peers, but I hope that we can all put this in perspective. It’s tough being guinea pigs for MTC, but someone has got to do it. How is this program ever going to get better if changes aren’t made? I don’t want to spend my precious vacation time teaching summer school any more than the rest of my peers but the fact of the matter is, it’s practice, and it is helping most of us become better teachers whether we have 2 students or 22 students, whether we’re teaching our subject matter or teaching a subject we’ll never teach again. Practice makes perfect. We owe it to our students to be perfect.

I'm not really sure what to do about the low morale. All I know is that this program has potential to be an amazing program for both the participants involved and the students we teach. Of course, that is the goal of the MTC administration; to make this the best alternate route teacher certification program in the country. Their hearts are in the right place, but it’s really not up to the administration as much as it is up to the teachers that make up the program. We are responsible for making this program great. The administrators may provide needed leadership (even if it’s not the kind of leadership we always would like) but it’s up to us to get in the trenches and teach disadvantaged students. We make the difference. We cannot make as great of a difference if we’re constantly fighting the administration.

What’s more, to all you administrators out there, you need to work with us too. I’ve been watching from the sidelines over the past three weeks and it seems to me that we’re being treated like high school students rather than graduate students and the teachers that make the difference in this program. I wish we could get over the highlighting of names (and for gosh sakes people, just show up on time even if you’re sick of 20 minutes worth of announcements); I wish I’d never have to hear how “pissed off” the program coordinator is at the group (if you're upset with someone, take him/her aside and talk to him/her like an adult please). Let’s revitalize the need for professionalism. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the program and we owe it to the students we teach.