A note from Mary, e-chalk
| 
| 
Everyday heroes
When a candidate wants WEA's endorsement, he or she must complete a questionnaire and go through an interview process with a local team of educators. Then the recommendation from that team comes to the WEA-PAC Management Board, a group of 30 educators from all over the state elected or selected by their respective group. As a board we listen to the reasons why we should support the candidate and review their written questionnaire. You can read the questionnaires for most of our recommended candidates here.
One "softball" question we asked was "Who was the most influential teacher you had in school and why?" The answers are worth sharing.
Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney wrote about her first-grade teacher who supported her when she spoke only Spanish. "She accepted me and gave me the desire to learn. She told me to work hard, be proud of myself and my culture and I could achieve my goals."
Dave Schmidt remembered the accounting teacher who "took a strong personal interest" in him and "was more than a teacher to me."
Speaker of the House Frank Chopp recalled the impact his fourth-grade teacher had on his progressive views!
Sharon Tomiko Santos recognized many teachers had "left deep impressions" on her, but singled out her high-school language arts teacher for exposing her to an array of literature, including "America is in the Heart" about Filipino history. His influence led her to major in history and helped establish her "philosophical and emotional commitment to the rule of law and to civil and human rights."
Mike Hope, like many others, remembered a coach who taught him about dedication and having a work ethic -- lessons that he continues to use in all aspects of his life.
One candidate we haven't yet endorsed, acknowledged his most influential teacher had an "an approach that worked wonders for [him], but didn't work for all her students."
The Seattle Times Columnist Danny Westneat recently raised the question if his best teacher would have "made the grade" given the demands to evaluate teachers based upon test scores. I wonder how many of these outstanding teachers legislators and legislative candidates remember would?
As I read the questionnaires, I was reminded of how many lives educators touch each year. In the next few weeks we will be establishing the relationships that students will remember as one of the most influential ones in their lives. We do make a difference.
TrackBack URI for this entry
I just watched the video, IT IS GREAT.
I was the pre rally at the Temple and heard you speak, way to rally the troops.
Just wanted to send a note of support.
The work we do is vital, just as vital as the work the revolutionist did to form this country, because we are setting things down for future educational policy in Washington.
Now that the court ruling has been made in favor of Network for Excellence in Washington Schools case that our schools must be provided reliable funding for basic education, what will WEA do to see to it that basic ed's definition be correlated to dollars? What will WEA and the rest of us do about the thirty years (or more?) of underfunding that we have built our system upon? What will we do when our elected officials try to rewrite the state constitution to circumvent this court ruling?
