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Roles Teachers Should Not Fill
July 17, 2014
It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honour nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever.
-Jimmy Carter

In the introduction to her article, "Backing Away Helpfully: Some Roles Teachers Shouldn't Fill," in the Beginnings Workshop Book: Professionalism, Penny Hauser-Cram observes...

"I suspect that if you asked for a definition of a good teacher most families would describe a cross between a chameleon and Wonderwoman — someone who is part developmental scholar, pediatrician, artist, and therapist, with a little bit of toy designer, janitor, and athlete mixed in.  But based on my years as a teacher and a director, I have come to believe that there are at least some roles that teachers can't and shouldn't fill.  Two roles that I have seen cause tension and hard feelings come immediately to mind: the role of family therapist and the role of parenting expert.

"Parents need and want other adults in each of these roles.  Since teachers and parents share an intimate, ongoing relationship centered on children they both care about, it is tempting for all sides to move from educational and developmental issues to personal, and even therapeutic, ones.  A big challenge for teachers is to help parents find the help they need, without adopting those helping roles themselves."








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Comments (1)

Displaying 1 Comment
Casey Seymour · July 17, 2014
Milwaukee, WI, United States


"I suspect that if you asked for a definition of a good teacher most families would describe a cross between a chameleon and Wonderwoman..."

If there is a goal (and I hope there is) to include more male teachers in the field, professionals in the field need to stop using this sort of sexist language when describing teachers. As a male in the field, I am repeatedly offended with comments either excluding men singling them out and calling attention to their scarcity or male attributes that supposedly define them as different teachers from women. As I continue in the field, I see more and more of this, not less. This is sad to me and don't want it to motivate my exit if I ever choose to do so.



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