Mean Teachers and Other Scary Stuff

On Thursday, I had a panic attack the size of George W. Bush's brain.  Oh, whoops...no, this was a REALLY BIG panic attack!!! It was more like the size of say...oh, Obama's magnificence!   :o)

I have tried to make friends with panic, but she is so large and pushy that I have a hard time giving her space in my life.  What I have learned to do over the years is to allow for her.  She is going to come when she feels like it.  I don't have a say in the matter.  I bend to her, because I have no other choice.  She owns me.  She dwarfs me. She runs through my mind and body like a jet on steroids.

Panic is a like a mean teacher.  She punishes me and provides absolutely no direction.  She is a puzzling witch with a big wart on her chin. She is darkness and all have is a wet match.

She is a beast.

My body is wired to panic. I truly believe this.  I imagine panic to be sort of an emotional seizure. My mind and body are saturated with fear and my only tool is surrender. I drip vulnerability.  She humbles me.

When I was young, panic ran my life.  I gave her all of my power.  Now, we live in begrudging harmony, and she rarely visits anymore.  

For all of her apparent ugliness, she has taught me much.

Surrender. Humility. Vulnerability.

Each day, as I approach my classroom, I think of her.  I remind myself that my students face their own beasts.  That they too have and will have enormous inner struggles that will dwarf them and leave them limp.

Education and Business: Enemies or Bedfellows?

Education has focused a lot of energy on pedagogy, as well as, assessment of student and educator outcomes. Technology has also provided educators an opportunity to increase student engagement and to enhance instruction. There is no doubt that this focus has improved performance for some, and created a more student-focused classroom for many.

However, the path forward needs to take a broader view.  This view requires that business, education and government work together to create ground-breaking changes.  These changes will require huge shifts for all involved.  It's time.

Historically, business has asked that education produce certain types of workers.  Since, the globalization of the marketplace, business need has driven education to produce more white collar workers. The reality is that not all people are wired to be white collar workers.  Not all people want to be white collar workers.  

Big business drives our economy, and in turn, the job market for our workforce. The fact that skilled labor has shifted overseas from American soil is not a new revelation.  However, it is having a deleterious affect on the American worker.  Education in America is forced to respond to the desires of the corporate sector, instead of responding to the diversity among American students and the broader populace.

It is time for big business to listen to education.  We need to continue to be the innovators of the world, as well as, becoming(once again) the leading producers in the world.  Yes, big business will have to pay American workers more money than workers overseas.  Honestly,  is a 3 trillion dollar annual profit rather than an 6 trillion dollar annual profit really a hardship for corporate America? Yes, I am just throwing out numbers, but you get my point.  Half of a whole lot is still a whole lot.

Capitalism is a great start up economic system.  However, it encourages greed, overly-competitive, and selfish behavior.  These are the models that our children see.  Yes, education needs to continue to change and improve.  Assessment isn't a bad thing, but assessment should fit student goals and capacities...not business goals focused on building an America that provides for an elite few.

We are the greatest country in the world.  Let's lead the way in humanism.  Let's define a business model that makes America great again.  Education will be happy to help!

Bridging Our Differences

What happens inside the classroom can profoundly effect the lives of students outside of the classroom.  Like parents, teachers are models and exemplars.  The complexity of this role can feel daunting.

When students enter our classrooms, they bring with them different cultures, languages, religions, and socio-economic backgrounds. They possess a variety of learning styles, cognitive, and social-emotional skills.  Their families are comprised of parents, step-parents, adoptive parents, siblings, cousins, friends, and guardians.  Some students have been abused, neglected, over-indulged, entitled, criticized, adored, and violated.

As teachers, we have to consider the similarities among our students and honor their differences. In the face of the diversity of our student population, this task can seem overwhelming.

It doesn't have to be. Here are a few tips.

• Be Inquisitive.  Lead as a learner. Be willing to ask questions, when you don't know the answer. 
• Select Instructional Content that reflects Diversity.  Look for content that expresses the diversity that exists in the world.  Use the content as a springboard for meaningful discussion that raises awareness and understanding of our differences.
• Emphasize Similarities. We are all human.  Our humanity connects us.  Everyone loves a good laugh, a friendly gesture, and compassion.
• Be Human.  Remember none of us is perfect. It is ok to make mistakes.
• Set Your "Shoes" Aside.  It is easy to get entrenched in our own perspectives, backgrounds, and beliefs.  Remember to step outside yourself and practice humility.

Diversity is a beautiful thing. If we were all the same life would be uninteresting.  We would be clones. We would have no motivation to learn about or from one another.  Above all else, dare to be you and allow others to be themselves.  If you do your classroom will be an engaging place where connection between others will ignite learning.

#EPIC Failure

We fail far more than we succeed.  It is our failures that allow us to move closer to our best. Failure knows no limits. It touches the old and the young, the wise and the numb. Everyone suffers a skinned knee and a wounded heart.

As a teacher, I feel that our curriculum says little about failure. Certainly, there are stories of failure that are told and gaffs in history that are reviewed. We examine the world in hindsight. But, we do not teach our students to examine themselves. 

We should. 

I would like to teach a course called, Failure.  As a part of this course, students would become intimately familiar with failure and how to move beyond it. They would examine their feelings and the reactions of others, including their peers, their parents, and their teachers. 

They would learn to identify the reasons for their failures and ways to rectify them moving forward.  They would learn to be experimental and take thoughtful risks. They would develop a metacognitive relationship with failure. The ability to embrace their wounds and analyze their actions. Failure would become a laughing matter. A part of life that is accepted and expected.

Students would become comfortable sharing successes and failures. Laughing, teasing, and bolstering one another. Facing their failures, with eyes open, and the tools needed to persist when success looms beyond their reach.

A Note to E-learning "Nay Sayers"

E-learning is here to stay.  You may as well buy into it, get good at it, and add your voice to the

conversation.  "Nay Sayers" are viewed as obstructionists. You don't want to be "one of those people".

Is e-learning the magic bullet?  No.  The magic is in you. The magic is in your students.    

There are, however, some really good reasons to develop the e-learning option in your room.

• Front-loading content saves classroom time for activities and performance-based assessments.
• It allows students to explore and create.
• Online activities can be differentiated to meet student capacity.
• The quiet students in your classroom may feel more comfortable engaging with their peers (and you), in an online forum.
• Forget the copy machine.  Your carbon footprint just got smaller. 

These are just a few important reasons why jumping on the e-learning bandwagon makes sense. No, e-learning isn't a magic bullet. But, it just might prove to be an asset that improves student learning and engagement. Isn't that what your classroom is all about?

A Letter To Parents

Growth is a jagged line. Nothing, in nature, grows in a precise manner all of the time.  Between birth and death a human being changes incessantly.  Images capture the visible changes.  Underneath the skin, change is even more rapid and complex.

As students enter our classrooms this year, we will observe their visible changes. Some students will have grown taller, or heavier.  Their skin and hair may be different.  Perhaps they are wearing new clothes or new shoes.  New binders, tablets, and phones may emerge from pockets or back packs.  

Concurrently, we will take in social and emotional impressions. We will identify which students are open and talkative.  We will look for eye contact and conversation between and among peers. We will notice the students who place their heads upon the desk, curling inward or away from their peers, school, or us.

These observations happen prior to the beginning of each class and continue every day.  We seek to connect with the person within, while trying to increase each student's skill level. Cognizant that students enter our room with varying aptitudes, different backgrounds, cultures, and socio-economic experiences. 

Sometimes we fail.  More often we provide students with sound opportunities to grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally.  We are your children's teachers. We are a team.  We have the same goal.  We want your children to succeed and most of all, to be happy.

Faith and Equity

Religion is a personal belief system selected by individuals and groups. A democratic government is a public agency that is engendered to define policies, systems, and rules that guide a diverse populace. It is really that simple.

In the United States, any person should be able to practice any religion, without fear of harassment or discrimination. Since religious beliefs and practices are so diverse, it is the role of government to ensure that all religions are treated fairly. 

The same-sex marriage debate is an issue that is deeply intertwined with Christian tradition. Religious leaders and practitioners should feel free to argue the merits of performing same-sex marriages as a part of their religious services.  Our government should not and does not interfere with religious freedoms that impact individual churches and their membership.

Conversely, the role of a democratic government is to ensure that all groups are treated fairly and equitably.  In a highly pluralistic society, government cannot align with a specific religious ideology. If that were the case, then all other religious ideologies would become subordinate to the primary ideology. Theology cannot rule in a democracy.

The rules and practices that guide a democratic government are developed through conversations with its constituents. Constituents that insist upon making arguments based upon religious tenets should expect to be discounted.  Religion cannot inform a democratic government. 

Religion's role is to provide a place of worship for it's membership.  Government's role is to provide a peaceful and just society where all people, including minority groups, may flourish.