October 2000

October is the month of change. The world around us becomes brilliant as nature says good-bye to summer and gives us a breathless moment of beauty before the coming of winter.

And I have seen this change in nature as I have flown from the West to the East to the Midwest and back. But I have sensed a different kind of change when I presented at the first Teachers� Forum in New Jersey and later spoke with teachers in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at Coe College where I addressed graduate students and faculty. (I will never forget the sweet smell all over the city of the cereal of the day being made — Captain Crunch.)

And in Harrisburg, Pa., for a visit to the Teacher of the Year Awards celebration, I sensed a change in what teachers were thinking and saying. A quick flight to Boston, MA, brought me to the National Council on Teacher Retirement, where I felt honored and respected for my years of teaching.

Finally, it was back to Washington, D.C., and the last meeting with my colleagues, the State Teachers of the Year. The meeting, planned and sponsored by the Department of Education, by ATT and by Scholastic, was a serious discussion of our role as leaders with specific plans being made for future action in individual states.

To be with my friends, some of the best teachers in America, is always inspiring. But it again made me realize the power of all of us. We must make the "big change." Teachers can no longer be content to "close their doors" and teach. We must open those doors and allow the world to know what we are doing — what good things are happening. But more than being seen, we must be heard. We must no longer complain in the lunchrooms of schools in America. We must share our concerns along with solutions with our schools boards, with our politicians, with the general public. We must exhibit the knowledge, passion, and commitment we have in our classrooms to the larger issues of education, which sometimes are solved outside the classroom. We know what is best for the students we teach. Let us broaden and change our vision. Let us all be heard.

Dr. Marilyn Whirry

Check back often to see journal entries from the coming months.

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