When Did You Fall In Love With Teaching?

This week is a very special one.  Not only does it house Valentine’s Day, but it also creates dialogue among educators on what makes them enjoy their jobs.  It’s the beginning of the #Loveteachingcampaign.  I wanted to kick off the week with a blog about what makes teaching special to me.  I really enjoy working with students on a day to day basis because it allows me to see what life looks like through their eyes.

I love teaching because it’s the only profession that makes all of the other professions in the world possible.  I didn’t realize how powerful a teacher could be until I had an influential teacher and then all bets were off.  It really created an opportunity for me to understand why you have to give so much of yourself to the career in order to receive any rewards.  Teaching is not thankless, but it can be tiresome.  You spend hours and in some cases days designing experiences for students and once that moment passes, it’s time to design another experience.  That creates fatigue, but it also encourages possibilities of what comes the next day.

I love teaching because each student that you impact remembers the moment that their life was changed.  They will remember when they learned how to read, add or write in cursive and that memory will be attached to an incredible teacher.  That’s why I love teaching.  Consider all of the moments that you spend working within the walls of your classroom and ask yourself what teaching means to you.  Take this week as an opportunity to reflect on why you love teaching.  You can start by asking yourself one very important question:  When did you fall in love with teaching?

Exception or the Rule?

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.- Nelson Mandela

I am a product of the public school system.  There, I said it.  I don’t think it's such a shame or that I should wear a scarlet letter because I attended the local school in my town.  Many students don’t realize that there are options in terms of schooling.  They board the bus day in and day out, attending the school just miles from their home.  This is normal in many ways, yet in many ways this will soon become the exception and not the rule.

Over the past week, I have had the opportunity to listen to scholars, correspondents and various educators speak about the differences in public school and school choice.  I am unsure of many things, but one thing that I am sure of is whether my life would have turned out better if I had gone to private school.  Would I have chosen a different path?  I ask this because I was able to attend prestigious universities for both undergraduate and graduate school.  I am content with my educational coffer.  However, there are many that believe the opposite.  Public school isn’t perfect, but is any educational institution?  How did so many products of the public school system become its biggest critics?

This question looms over every debate.  I believe that education is the only weapon that we have against so many injustices and obstacles, but does it matter where that education is offered?  This is a topic that I will focus on and revisit for the next few posts on this blog.  I hope you will enjoy this journey with me.

Moving the Finish Line

In any great race, there is a finish line.  The finish line is the “end”.  At the beginning of any race, goal are established with the end in mind and then backwards design happens so that you are able to reach the goal.  Education is not any different.  Teachers are given a finish line and they plan accordingly.  Well, what happens when the finish line continues to move? 

This is something that happens often, but there is not a viable reason why in many cases.  An example of “moving the finish line” occurs when you are told to test on January 7^th, and the window has now been moved to December 15^th.  This is one example, but not the only way that the established end can be moved.  This is at times, frustrating for both teachers and students alike.

Teachers are expected to be more flexible than rubber bands, but just as resilient.  This flexibility comes at a cost to both the teacher and the student.  You can’t allow the goal to be compromised because the “finish line” moves, you have to keep running.  This applies to the classroom as well.  If the window moves, keep teaching with the end goal in mind.  It will work out.  Teach, test, remediate, be patient and repeat. 

AS a veteran teacher, I constantly remind myself of how difficult I found flexibility in the beginning and how it is still a challenge when it comes to the “classroom.”  That’s what I remember each time I am asked to do something that requires great flexibility.  However, I remind myself that the “rubber band” doesn’t break it expands. When the “finish line” moves, it won’t break the teacher or the student.  Teach and move on.  It will work itself out.  It always does! 

Labels....

I received a bit of advice early in my career that warned against, “letting one event from your life become your label.”  This was such an important statement because we discuss labels so much as educators.  We say that children are “talkative, shy, loving, sweet, sullen, interesting, or hard to read”.  The list does not stop there, it continues.  These are all labels whether we would like to believe it or not.  Many times students overhear our label and that becomes their stamp or thought of themselves as well.

It’s incredibly difficult to shake off someone’s perception of us, but it’s not impossible.  If the label is positive, then we work really hard to maintain the label; however, if the label is one that is not encouraging, we are constantly trying to reframe ourselves in the eyes of the other person.   

Our students do this daily and as they enter our hearts, so do their labels. As we get to know our students better, are we able to change our perceptions of them?  

All Things are New

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”- Socrates

One thing that I have learned over my 12 years as an educator is the value of energy.  When we assume that we can take old ideas and create new realities, we are certainly mistaken.  It takes new ideas to create new realities.  We cannot expect to get a new outcome from our students when we rely on their old thoughts.  We are asked to transform their thinking in order to get these results.  In turn, we cannot expect to get a new outcome from our class or work ethic when we rely on our old techniques.  We must transform our thinking as well.

I am consumed most recently with this idea that the old ways and ideas are not transforming students.  In Socrates’ quote, he suggests that we need to “focus all of our energy… on building new.”  I wholeheartedly agree because many of the foundational approaches that I developed when I began teacher are now changing.  In some cases, I welcome them with open arms, while in other cases, I am skeptical about how these changes will affect students.

However, what excites me most here is the idea of “new.”  New suggests that something has to be transformed or changed.  Usually the something is “my thinking or my actions.”   It’s hard to look at a project and realize that you will need to start all over, but in many cases, it becomes easier to start from “scratch” if you will.

I imagine this being similar to asking students to do a problem over.  Their first thought is to immediately erase their original problem and rewrite or rework.  However, we encourage them to get a new sheet of paper and start over.  We consistently ask our students to do this, but how many times do we encounter areas of our lives as educators when we need to discard our original plan and start over?

As I look at the students this year, I have to challenge myself to rethink the way that I approach certain techniques.  Each time I do this, I remind myself that…”my new thoughts will create new words, my new words will create new actions and my new actions will create new habits.”

Your Thoughts Matter...

My blog entry for this week is inspired by Dr. Seuss.  We know that many life lessons come from his books, however this lesson comes directly from his thoughts and ideology about listening and learning from people.  Dr. Seuss suggests,
“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”  I really love this!  I teach my students that when they struggle for their answers and thoughts, this is an important part of the process.  They will often hear me say, “fight for it.”  I am simply trying to allow them the opportunity to talk though their thoughts in order to arrive at the answer.  I think this “think time” is so important in class.  Through their struggles to articulate their answer, many amazing ideas are found.  I don’t ever want to answer their questions for them, I want to give them the opportunity to finish.  When a student tries to answer a question and then says, “never mind”, I am always so discouraged for them.  Their frustration in not being able to articulate their thoughts coerces them into silence or defeat. 

Seuss suggests that we should say what is on our mind or better yet, what is in our hearts because if it’s important to us, it will be deemed important to those that are truly listening to us.  I enjoy this idea immensely because we listen to our students in an effort to help them find their authentic voice.  Through listening, we are encouraging them to express themselves in a way that creates a sense of vulnerability that many adults require, but never give.  Let’s encourage our students to share their authentic voices so that we can help them cultivate their ideas and encourage a sense of authenticity that can never be diminished.   

Do You Know When to “Take a Knee”?

Earlier this weekend I was introduced to a new term, “Take a knee.”  Apparently, in football, this term means knowing when to stop a play.  I really like this expression and see how applicable it is to the teaching profession.  When you realize that a situation is beyond your control or that the cause is greater than your ideas or wants, you need to take a knee.  This doesn’t mean that you stop caring about what happens after you walk away, but it simply means that you recognize what is necessary for the “greater good”. 

In teaching, I have come to realize that every situation is not one that I need to be involved in.  For this reason, there are probably more times that I should take a knee than not.  Over the next few weeks, I encourage you to analyze situations for necessity and importance.  If neither exists, It’s time to “take a knee.”  I am certainly working on taking this advice and preserving the moments during the day when my effect on any given situation outweighs my affect on that same situation.  

Fruit is Always Sweeter….

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet…Aristotle

After one month of being back at work, teachers begin to remember challenges from years past and these challenges are sometimes more pervasive than the successes that will occur over the next eight months.  However, I am reminded of this quote and it keeps me grounded.  When Aristotle suggests that the “roots of education are bitter” in my mind, he is arguing that when we look at education as a tree that bears incredible fruit, there are various other components of the tree that we forget, elements that we must forget in order to enjoy the fruit that the tree bears.  For instance, the roots that steady the tree are not visible, but they serve a purpose and are necessary for the growth process to continue.  In the eleven years that I have been in education, I can say that there has never been a year that the roots haven’t battled with the fruit, but the fruit is always sweeter.  It is important for me, as well as those that are beginning to get discouraged to remember that although roots anchor trees, they are not seen.  There are some battle scars that must be covered and not shown.  When the days get difficult, as they are during our initial stages of setting up classes and learning who our students are and what weaknesses exist, we must press forward.  Roots may anchor a tree, and establish a foundation, but the fruit establishes the legacy.  Difficult days can’t always set the cadence.   As educators, we must work hard to make our fruit sweeter than the strongest roots.

Feelings Don’t Lie!

Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like!- Rita Pierson

The teacher-student relationship is an incredibly delicate balance that vacillates during the year.  Many factors can change the way a teacher feels about her students and the way a student feels about his/her teacher.  Although all of this is true, there are many ways to avoid the inevitable disconnect.  Show your students that they matter. 

The quote above really resonates with me because I don’t have a poker face.  Many times my emotions show up all over my face, whether I want them there or not.  It can, at times, be my fatal flaw.  However, one thing that I’ve learned, with children, is that they are more perceptive than most adults.

In a high school English course, I was addressing an issue with the students and I sincerely said, “I’m not upset, but!”   One of the students interjected right in the middle of my statement. 

He said, “You always say that, but you really are upset by what we are doing.”  He was right.  It was at that point that I stopped telling my students one thing, but thinking something else.  It is okay for them to know that you are disappointed, pleased or even satisfied with their actions.  What’s not okay is the alternative.  Students don’t like what they can’t trust.  So in turn, if my students don’t trust me, then they can’t really like me.  They don’t know what I’m thinking or if I am going to tell them the truth when it counts. The term for this is “shady”.   

I want my kids to learn from me, so I am honest with them about how I feel.  It may not make them happy, but it will help them trust me and that will allow them to open up and learn.  I am not implying that you should give them feedback in the most unfiltered ways, but I am suggesting that you give them true feedback. 

I’ll leave you with this.  A few years ago, one of my high school juniors came to me after a summer of having me for English and she said, “I really like the fact that you were honest with me when you didn’t like my behavior, but that didn’t change the way that you graded my work. You were always fair.”

Be honest with your kids, but don’t let that change your teacher-student dynamic.  I’ve learned, and am still learning, that delivery is everything.