Teachers as Agents of School Change

Abstract

Carl’s quote represents the framework of this chapter. The environmental context of this quote is important. The school is situated in the Rocky Mountains where there are many rivers. If you look at a river from a bird’s eye view, you will see many waves in the river formed by large boulders. From this view, it appears as if the waves are standing, as if there is no movement. But if you move closer to the river, you can see that there is much movement. Water is constantly moving around and in between the rock, but generally the rock stands still. In order for the rock to move suddenly, something drastic would have to happen. For example, it would have to be moved physically by someone or by a flood of rushing water or a shift in the ground below. When Carl states “a high school is like a standing wave,” he is acknowledging the structural barriers in the school that make change such as top-down administrative decisions, the organization of departments, standardized tests and class size difficult; at the same time he is acknowledging the changes that are happening when he says that the individual parts of the wave change. This chapter explores how teachers act as agents of school change within a confining school structure. This section of field notes describes the ebb and flow of change within the ESL program at Cherry High School. While teachers and administrators made significant changes in the ESL program due to myriad events, the program was not at any time permanent and was always vulnerable to the larger stream of Discourse within the school and nation/community.