There鈥檚 a lot of great teaching going on, unsung and unseen. If we can shift our focus from teachers鈥� deficiencies to teachers鈥� strengths, we can start tapping into that talent.
In most schools, we do a pretty good job of finding out where our teachers are falling short. We don鈥檛 do as good a job seeking out those classrooms where things are going well. What if we made a sustained national effort at asset mapping?
What if we found out what every teacher in every school in America is good at, and then encouraged them to develop that gift and to share it with other teachers? We could have classroom teachers leading job-embedded professional development, rather than flying in high-dollar consultants who understand little about a school鈥檚 context and culture.
If we look for the excellence within our schools, I think we鈥檒l find that Bill Clinton鈥檚 great line about America is true of teacher quality as well: There鈥檚 nothing wrong with the teaching profession that cannot be cured by what is right with it.
