Teaching is more than merely a job or even a profession, it's a passion. That's exactly why I started teaching seven years ago. There's no greater joy than to share the power of learning, thinking and knowledge with a child. It's refreshing to see a "light bulb come on" and encouraging seeing a child connect past learning with new learning. It's not always easy, but I can't imagine doing anything else.

Most evenings I have three or four hours of work to do at home. There is always grading and lesson planning, and don't forget about creating and coordinating differentiation for my twenty-nine students, including five students with individual education plans and a non-English speaking student. Contacting parents is also a regular weekly occurrence. The grading, recording and analyzing of assessments and similar tools are taking more and more of my time. This is all work that I do each night without compensation or recognition.

Before I get home each night, I usually spend an hour or two at school working in my classroom, communicating with parents and tutoring students. There just never seem to be enough hours in a day to complete all of the tasks needed to be a good teacher.

The responsibilities, as well as the demands of teaching are great, but I cherish my job and the children I teach. This afternoon I stayed after school and helped a student conduct his science fair project. Without my help, the assignment wouldn't be completed because of the student's home situation. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to make a difference in this capacity.

Baltimore County's proposed Articulated Instruction Module threatens to limit my availability to tutor and help students after school. If AIM is mandated, my regular personal communication with parents will be traded for a quarterly, tedious, jargon-filled report. The confusion of the scoring system used by AIM is going to hinder parent communication, not improve it. The opportunities to create engaging, rigorous lessons will become rarer and rarer. Less and less of my time will be able to be spent on class preparation. The bottom line is that students will suffer as a result.

Please support Baltimore County teachers, parents and students by saying no to and taking a stand against the AIM initiative.

A 5th grade Baltimore County teacher

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