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So much of teaching is now driven by data (i.e., test scores) and dictated by “best practices” that teachers are losing confidence in their own creativity.

“Connecting personally with teaching” is an odd phrase for today’s classroom.

The average classroom is a pressure cooker crammed with so many shoulds, oughts, and a sense of teacher ownership have lost their place in the conversation about teaching. But there is an interesting question behind the problem, the question of whether creative teaching can coexist with scripted teaching.

There is no quick fix to embrace.

Getting personal simply requires that teachers do what they can to give life to what they have been taught through their talents and dreams.

Doing that means thinking about what they value in teaching and searching out practices that bring success and satisfaction.

Raising the literacy level among students today should start very early.

Districts that have made the largest literacy gains started by focusing on the written word.

We must find out what students need and deliver it.

Teachers must make time for literacy, which sometimes means receiving literacy instructions in all classes.

Researchers say a district can make its biggest impact on student literacy simply by redirecting professional development money toward training teachers to use literacy-based strategies (Put Your Money on the Table), spend wisely and monitor to be sure the best quality in what we paid for is actually working.

Finding and developing literacy leaders is a goal school boards should make a priority in hiring superintendents who will recruit and lead principals dedicated to full literacy for the students (our children).

School districts must invest in what works and keep track of what’s happening.

My favorite advice is to bring in the community.

We are too slack in involving the community in our schools. We must remember that the community is the backbone of the school system.

“It’s no different than any controversial issue.” When money is needed for whatever the need is at the time, there is no reach untried to get community involved.

Citizen Jean Carolyn Jean Batiste