Five Reasons I think that 20-21 will be a great year for great teachers

There's plenty to worry about going into the 2020-2021 school year.  Uncertainty reigns.  I think that, deep down, many people fear a "lost" school year ahead.

I don't have solutions for the worries and challenges facing educators, and all of the concerns are very valid and very real.  However, I'm actually optimistic that 2020-2021 is going to be a great year for great teachers.  Really.

No, really. ​

If you're pessimistic about the upcoming school year, find the best teachers you know and check in with them often to see what they're doing and how they're feeling.  I think you'll find that they're having a better year than might be expected. 

There are five reasons why - for all the potential pitfalls - I think this is going to be a great year for great teachers.

1. Great teachers get energized by the biggest challenges

One of the most exciting things you could ever say to the great teachers I know is this: "I have a new/innovative/challenging/idealistic idea or situation, and I need you to take it on and make it work."  They love building things from scratch, and rather than trying to avoid problems, they actually get energized by the opportunity to solve them.  2020-2021 is certain to offer up many novel situations to innovate and problem solve.  Great teachers at home this summer, thinking about the upcoming year, are telling themselves "I don't know what I'm going to be asked to do and I don't know yet how I'm going to do it, but I know I'll figure it out." And they're right.

2. The focus is going to be on the big stuff

In normal circumstances, schools and districts can take on narrow improvement goals that end up constraining great teachers.  "This year, everybody's lesson plans have to take on this new format."  "Our focus this year is going to be improving test-taking skills."  Things like that.  These goals are well-intentioned, but often constrain great teachers, or even force them to make changes they don't need to make to improve in areas where they're already strong. 

In 2020-2021, I think that there will be no choice but to focus on the biggest and most important elements of teaching - the classroom  (or online) experience, forming strong relationships, sensible instruction, and reaching the hardest-to-reach students.  This will be a year to focus on the forest, not the trees, and great teachers never get tired of stretching themselves on the things that matter most.

3. Little to no standardized testing

I'm not against standardized testing, but it wipes out a lot of teaching time.  In a typical year, my 5th graders would take five four-day rounds of district standardized testing, 7 days of state standardized tests, and 8 days of nationally-normed standardized tests.  Any single test usually wipes out about two "periods" of teaching, so let's say that means that about 70 classes per year are cancelled for standardized tests.

Great teachers can work wonders with 70 extra class periods.  

At this point in my career, I can tell you how every student is going to do on every standardized test before they take it.  I know what my students know and what they don't, so taking the tests is just a formality that costs me a lot of teaching time.  My state has already filed a waiver this year requesting for state tests to be cancelled this year.  If the district and national tests follow suit, I may have 70 extra class periods to look forward to this coming year, and I'm already dreaming big about how to make the most of them.

4. Unprecedented parent involvement

One of the things that struck me most about teaching online last spring was that parents had unprecedented access to my class. In normal circumstances, parents' knowledge of what happens in my class was limited to what their students told them over dinner.  In the online format however, parents could be in class with us every day if they so chose.  Many of them did, and unprecedented access to class led to unprecedented involvement.  Many of my students made massive gains as a result. 

In 2020-2021, there is going to be an online component to almost every classroom in America.  Some will be fully online, some will be online certain days, some will have online choices, and others will be online for students who are quarantined during and after illness.  Great teachers are going to provide great experiences for these students, and many parents - finally given a place in classrooms - will help extend them to their fullest.

5. A year for the do-ers

John Maxwell famously said "everything rises and falls on leadership."  I've never entirely agreed.  Leaders are extremely important, but so are do-ers, and most great teachers are incredible do-ers.  Job to be done, they do it. Problem to be solved, they solve it. Help is needed, they provide it.  2020 has broken a lot of Americans' belief in leaders, I think that 2020-2021 is going to be a year where we look to the do-ers.  There's going to be a lot of innovative, problem-solving work to be done, and great teachers out there are ready to do it.

Right now, teachers (including me) are worried about what 2020-2021 will bring.  The more I think about it, however, I think great teachers are going to have a great year once it gets started.  Find a few and check in with them often.  It will be a year unlike any other, but necessarily all for the worse.


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