With Fidelity

Fidelity. One definition of this word, the one I most associated with it until quite recently, is faithfulness in a relationship. More recently, as the word started being thrown around in response to questions I posed at school, I've found that a second meaning is conformity to a standard. Ah.

Synonyms include: loyalty, adherence, and precision
Antonyms are: wavering, nonconformity, and, get this, treachery

As our systems buy in to the one-size-fits-all (all teachers, all classes, all students, all time) curriculums, we begin to hear class to implement these programs and lessons "with fidelity". Always with the caveat of "make it your own" and "we trust your judgement".

But can both really be true?

Isn't a decision to implement a universal, daily regimented, scripted (whether loosely or exactly) program a call for conformity? And isn't the appeal that it be done "with fidelity" a warning against any form of divergence from the program?

One cannot be both unique and uniform. Accommodating and standardized. Flexible and steadfast.

And which do we really want?

To buck the system is to take on great personal risk. Not to mention to have the audacity to question it aloud. Teachers will, of course, lament the discomfort of these confines to each other and will often break out of the barriers behind closed doors. But to say it aloud is really tough. Oh, so you know better than a team of experts and researchers? You can come up with something better than this beautifully packaged resource? Your teaching is going to get better results in testing? No one is saying this directly to me, except the voice in my head, but I hear it still in the insistence for fidelity. They know better than you. Just do as you're told. Trust the program.

Last week I came across a blog post from Regie Routman from nearly 11 years ago that said, "Rather than fidelity to a program or specialist, we teachers need to have fidelity to the child."

And this is it, isn't it? Asking to deviate from the script is not me saying I know better about writing or math or reading. I'm not denying the creator's expertise in her field. I'm not saying the lessons aren't researched and, in parts, valuable. But I do know more than the program creators about one thing, my students.

My choice to put them first, to make them the driving force in my curriculum, isn't arrogance. It's loyalty, adherence, and precision. It's faithfulness in the relationship between teacher and student.