Classroom Teachers Are Policymakers

Note that no question mark follows the title. Teachers do, indeed, make policy. Historically, teachers have been objects of policies that have come from the U.S. Congress, state capitals, and district school boards. Classroom teachers, then, are supposed to put these policies into practice. While teachers are objects for makers of policies, they also craft policies for their students. The title of this post, then, is a fact. Those policies are often classroom rules often listed on bulletin boards and walls that teachers make for their students. But there is more to their policymaking then setting rules for their students.. Those very same teachers take federal, state, and local policies sent to their classrooms (e.g., teachers have to take attendance, keep classroom order, use Chromebooks) and then adapt those policies to the contours of their classrooms. In doing so, they not only guard the gates of their classrooms but also become policymakers in what they accept, amend, and reject.…