ESOL teacher warns against turning classrooms into scripts, urges trust in professional judgment
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Summary
ESOL instructor Mr. Freeland told the St. Lucie County School Board that curriculum implementation has become overly prescriptive, arguing that teachers’ professional judgment—the 'art' of teaching—must be preserved alongside standards and research.
During the ESOL report, Mr. Freeland told the board that while standards and research matter, excessive prescriptiveness can strip teachers of professional judgment. "The art is the professional judgment teachers use every day," he said, arguing that real learning sometimes happens when a teacher diverges from a scripted plan.
Freeland, who said he has taught nearly 30 years including 19 in Saint Lucie, cautioned that assuming every classroom is identical and forcing identical delivery risks undermining learning. He urged the district to give teachers standards and goals but to "trust them with the craft," emphasizing the role of teacher judgment in slowing or accelerating lessons to meet students' needs.
The presentation called for balancing standards and teacher autonomy, and framed career- and craft-based professional practice as essential to student-centered instruction. Board members thanked Freeland for his remarks; no formal board action followed from the ESOL report during the meeting.
