"Not Another Theory Please": A Reflective Classroom Teacher 13

Before there were models for just about everything in education, there were teachers standing naked in front of their classes without so much as a hypotheses to cover themselves. Before there was stress management, there were teachers dealing with difficulties who did not have personal days for renewal. It was called being resourceful; being a teacher. The professional was, just that, professional. They had not yet learned how to surrender to self-pity and narcissistic burnout; effective teachers were in it for the long haul no matter what the conditions were.
Through trial and error and common sense, teachers developed a curriculum that worked. They did not publish their findings, they were too busy teaching. There was competence, without all of the hardware that goes along with the contemporary theorists who flood the market with rehashed pap. Some of which is born out of a need for self-promotion
That statement is unfair, even cruel. We offer our apology to those theorists who have field tested their work on real live students and have produced evidence that what they are suggesting actually works
Many theorists have developed a jargon that is both confusing and frightening. They have created a vocabulary that is so far removed from the general public’s comprehension that we are forced to pay these people considerable amounts of money to come to our schools and explain themselves. Many of these individuals are no longer active as classroom teachers but they are quick to point out that great generals seldom are in the trenches fighting along side of their men. Their rational is that they can be much more objective and effective viewing the action from the ivory towers. They don't want to get any of that teaching stuff on them. Do we over- generalize, perhaps, then again, perhaps not.