Paper Roses, Paper Teacher?

There is intense pressure on Indiana teachers to prove that they are effective in the classroom. The requirements for proof have been raised and then raised again, and this morning I sat through a bewildering meeting listening to new standards of proof that I need to document in order to show that I am doing my job.

It was depressing.

It was disheartening.

I am giving teaching my all, but that isn't enough.

Neither is a Bachelors in Education nor a Masters degree. Or fifteen hours beyond my Masters to earn a Gifted and Talented endorsement. No, I have to document everything I have done, provide data points that show my students are progressing, and show evidence that I am differentiating for different needs of my students. Among many other things. (Like I said, it was a bewildering meeting. I am still trying to get a grasp on all the new things I must do.)

I don't mind being held accountable - I think teachers should be. But, the time that this documentation takes to "prove" I am doing what I am hired to do is unbelievable. Hours and hours and hours. All to have a portfolio of papers that show I am effective at what I do.

But...

I don't want to LOOK like a highly effective teacher on paper, I want to BE a highly effective teacher.

The lyrics from Loretta Lynn's song Paper Roses seem fitting.

Paper roses! Paper roses!
Oh, how real those roses seemed to be.
But they're only imitation
Like your imitation love for me.

Just like those paper roses are a poor imitation of real love, I fear the copious amounts of documentation I and other teachers are having to provide give a false picture of what REAL highly effective teachers do. It's relatively easy to document (and make yourself LOOK good); it's quite another to actually work with the children and BE effective.

Paper teachers indeed.