Apple Core
February, 2012 As a New Year's resolution this year, I made a promise to myself that I would not get sucked down into the mire of cynicism that so easily kills the energy and life of our souls in public education. It is easy to lose hope with all the negative press about the failures of public education. This year's legislation has already started with statements from our state leaders attacking the foundations of the only institution whose mission is to ensure that every child in our state receives an education. So last week, as I left the state legislation, I found myself on the precipice of breaking my New Year's Resolution--and I hadn't even made it past January 30 th ! My resolution to stay positive about education came about because I spent some time over the Christmas holiday going through old journals that I kept during those first few years of teaching. Those old spiral notebooks were filled with excitement, mixed with frustrations, and topped with a dash of naiveté. But the most compelling emotion was that of determined hope for the future.
Most educators that I know started with the exact same emotions and philosophy about education. Hope for the future is a strong motivation for why teachers are attracted to the profession in the first place. We want to help children become successful adults. I'm sure there are some who went into the profession for other reasons, but for the most part, I believe the education profession is filled with teachers who want to make a difference in the world through improving the potential of a child.
I found three common themes in those early journals: Gratitude, Compassion, and Determination. I believe those themes still have relevance to me today and some of you may find that they resonate with you as well:
- Gratitude is the right attitude. In several entries I repeated the theme of how great it was that I was being paid for doing what I loved. We are privileged to be in education and to have the opportunity to work with young people. It is a wonderfully inspiring life to be an educator. I was thankful that I was able to live this challenging and rewarding adventure! We all have moments where the gratitude slips and the cynicism spikes, but let's not let those fleeting moments define us. We can be so much more to so many young lives. Imagine the positive impact we have on the majority of our students over the years. I have the highest respect for those who have dedicated their entire adult lives to educating and helping children attain their highest levels. Educators with twenty, thirty or more years in public education have had an impact that goes beyond the classroom. Education shapes our community and our country. What an amazing thing to be a part of.
- The compassionate response is usually the correct one. I wrote at great lengths of how students frustrated me. Their behaviors were perplexing. And some of them, well, I found their limit-testing behaviors downright annoying. The punitive reaction, though, seldom brought about the results I really wanted. What I found was that if I was really about promoting positive relationships and building a collaborative learning environment, I needed to ask myself first "What can I do differently to bring this kid around?" before I resorted to punting students out of class, office referrals, or hollow verbal admonitions that just turned students away or against me. Yes, the discipline code and all the rules and regs have their place. But students conduct themselves admirably mostly due to a classroom climate and school culture of mutual respect and caring - not because the language in the student handbook is ironclad.
- I tried to eliminate from my language the words, "We can't," "I won't," or "That'll never happen" (or any variant thereof) when students initiated ideas with me related to their learning. It is not my job to place obstacles in front of students which deter their innate curiosity or convince them that adults don't listen, don't care, or don't value them as people. Find a way. Breaking through educational barriers with youth often meant that I had to think outside of the box in order to create relevance for them. If we truly believe that all kids can learn, then we must be determined to do whatever it takes to see it through. There are many paths and myriad road maps to proficiency. In one of my journals I wrote a question for myself: “Is your classroom going to be a pale monolith of grayish monotony or a multi-colored monument to the innate creativity and intellectual curiosity of your students?” I didn't know it at the time, but what I was really thinking about was: How am I going to engage students in my lessons?
Some of what I wrote twenty years ago was certainly embarrassing to read now. I can't believe I ever thought that the unit I did on music analysis was life-changing. But I certainly hope that I can remember those emotional reasons for why I chose this profession in the first place. I want to be able to continually re-kindle that passion for education. We all need to self-reflect on a regular basis and bring ourselves back to what inspired us to become educators. I challenge each of you to re-ignite the passion that drove you to want to be in education. And for those of you who are new to education—don't let that flame go out.
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