Letters to the Editor

Irrelevant bulletin boards

Sep 6, 2007 1:34 PM

To the Editor:

An administrator told us that our classroom bulletin boards were to have examples of student work prominently displayed. Although there may be value to such displays, I have found them to be somewhat immaterial to teaching and learning. I have found that maps, photographs, quotations and paintings to be of much greater academic value.

Unlike administrators, my position is not rooted in absolutes and certainties. Diversity in teaching and learning need to be maintained.

Some of my colleagues take the attitude that it doesn’t really matter and that we should just accommodate administrators in order to avoid conflict. When teachers are asked (or told) to do things that do not make any sense at all, we should all make sure that when we comply we do so only because we are contractually obligated to do so.

I would also suggest that it is administrators who should be accommodating to classroom teachers since we are doing the bulk of the difficult and important work. We are teaching!

This administrative emphasis on looking good as opposed to being good is a dispiriting academic disease that must be resisted by those of us who genuinely care about teaching and learning.

Larry Hoffner, LaGuardia HS