Last week President Obama with
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan by his side honored Rebecca Mieliwocki as
the 2012 Teacher of the Year. Ms. Mieliwocki, who has taught for 14 years,
currently teaches 7th grade English at Luther Burbank Middle School
in Burbank, California. The President praised her for the “high expectations”
she holds for her students and herself and for knowing “that school can be
fun.” “When kids finish a year in Rebecca’s class,” the president continued, “they’re
better readers and writers than when they started. But even more than that,
they know how important they are, and they understand how bright their futures
can be, and they know that if they work at it, there’s no limit to what they
can achieve.” Ms. Mieliwocki is known for the creative and dynamic assignments
she develops, for her use of the Socratic method to stimulate critical
thinking, and for fostering connection with parents through weekly memos and by
hosting family nights.
President
Obama has a lot on his plate - from Iran to Mitt Romney – so it’s no surprise
that he doesn’t spend a lot of his public appearance time on education (though
he does use the community college venue to give speeches on education and the
economy). But when he does speak at an education- related event, he sometimes says things that do not mesh with his
administration’s official education policy. The qualities he praises in Rebecca
Mieliwocki are for the most part not those fostered by Race to the Top.
It
seems that when Mr. Obama has to honor a specific teacher’s work or talk about
what education means to him or someone he knows, he articulates a richer vision
that one built on market models and test- based accountability systems. I keep wondering how to get this very
well educated, supremely learned man to consider the dissonance between his
education policy and what he knows good education to be.
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