A Vision

I often speak with my students about their dreams and how they will see them into fruition. “Have a vision,” I tell them. “Know where you want to be and work for it.” “It’s not going to be easy but dream big and be willing to put in the effort,” I preach.

I must practice what I preach. I do not know how to see my educational visions into fruition, as the path is marred with boulders, walls, and landmines. I do know the status quo in public education is not cutting it. My students lack engagement, I lack motivation, and the system slowly robs our souls.

Not knowing how I can be a catalyst of change but knowing change is needed, here is what I would like to see when my children begin their education.

I envision a place….
• ….where classes are 10-15 strong and students are known by who they are and not by just a name on a roster
• …. where teachers have the resources to make learning come alive
• …. where teachers are allowed to plan based on student understanding and not state requirements
• …. where students know their classmates and stereotypes no longer exist
• …. where learning comes alive not on a chalkboard, whiteboard, smartboard, overhead, or any other projection apparatus, but alive in the hands of the learner
• … where all students are free to learn through their strengths
• …. where educators are valued for the lives they impact and not the test scores they deliver
• …. where math teachers can teach science, science teachers can teach history, history teachers can teach English, and English teachers can teach math
• …. where the classroom exists outside the classroom walls
• …. where students view the world as their classroom
• …. where parents understand the impact we have on their children
• …. where students come early and stay late
• …. where teachers are compensated justly for what they do
• …. where curiosity is the catalyst of learning, not the next page of the text book
• …. where all students can say, “my life was changed here.”

Can you imagine such a place? Let’s make it happen. But like I tell my students, be willing to work for it.

Unanswered Questions

I shared with my students a “Motivational Friday” last week entitled “Questions I Want Answered.” The questions started worldly. For example, Scientists say the universe is expanding, where is it going? And, How can a country allow a Hitler, Stalin, or a Pol Pott brainwash them? The questions narrowed to more specific, personal inquiries such as Why do I do what I do everyday? What difference can I make? And, What is my role in society?

I am certain scholars can give me reasoned answers for the first set of questions, yet the more personal questions can only be answered from within. In relation, I can ask one type of question about education that can be specifically answered, but the ones I struggle with the most are internal:

1. With the talents I’ve been blessed with, am I in right profession?

2. With “No Child Left Behind” what do I do with the students who choose to be left behind?

3. At what point do I say, "It's just a job" and protect myself from the emotionally attachment of student success/failure?

4. Do I put too much blame on myself?

5. Why does one disappointment impact my mood more than one success?

The most recent question I’ve battled derives from my students’ consistent need for entertainment. I know that learning may be difficult for my students, tedious at times, and perhaps hurt. Not all concepts come easily and too many of my students give up when learning becomes more like a chore than outside stimuli they are accustomed to finding in video games and computers. As far as I can tell, the majority of my students have a “if it’s not fun then it’s not worth my while” attitude when it comes to learning.

The questions that I am battling today are: Is my role as a teacher to entertain so that my students learn new concepts? Or do I teach students that learning is a necessity and self-actualization is actually the reward and, therefore, the entertainment. Too often it appears that when I fall short in entertaining, the cell phones come out and texting commences.

I understand my students’ need for entertainment, but somehow I must convince them that unless we define learning more than just in-the-moment entertainment, then they will wither as they have trusted the feeling of learning and not the act of learning.

I don’t know how to achieve this right now. If I did, I’d currently have students in my classroom eager to get help; instead I sit typing in a listless classroom materializing my own educational thoughts. I’m learning teaching is not easy and not a feeling I wish upon anyone. Though the feeling of success is euphoric, the feeling of failing to show the value of education to all my students is debilitating. But I don’t cling to the feeling, I cling to the act, and with that I will continue to pursue my students and meet them in their current state of seeking entertainment and carry them into a land where active learning becomes entertaining.

And so I do not give up hope.

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What Makes My Job Great

I leave for school around 6:00 a.m. On the way I pass a small bank, corporate IBM buildings, law offices, gas stations, and, of course, the local Starbucks. At such an early hour, I cannot help but wonder what it would be like to work for one of these dark places I drive past. “So many jobs,” I think, “And I’m still in high school.”

As I enter my classroom, however, I’m quickly reminded of what makes my job great. As the day goes by, these reminders continue to come, continue to refresh me, and continue to inspiring me.

What makes my job great is I have autonomy. My approach is different than the teacher’s down the hall, so am I. Only I know how my students receive their material and only I am know how to make adjustments based on their progress. This autonomy keeps me monitoring progress, keeps me eager to try new methods, and keeps me creative. There is only one way for surgeon to perform an operation, but there are a million ways to teach students math, and I can choose any way I want.

What makes my job great is I get to work with others who share a common goal. Though our approaches differ, in the end each of us teaches to see students recognize their abilities and travel down the road to actualization. It isn’t always easy, but I’m never alone.

I have the most loyal customers of any industry. Unlike other vocations, I work with the same clients five days a week. Our students spend more time with us than they do with their parents. I am more than a math instructor, I am a friend, mentor, motivator, and developer of human beings; I am a teacher.

What makes my job great is I know the beginning and I know the end. I know in the beginning I’ll have a fresh group of students, raw, yet full of talent. I know I will run an emotional, nine month long gauntlet that is the teaching year. And I know that in the end, I’ll have watered down eyes as I bid farewell to a fifty close friends that started as fifty new students.

What makes my job great is my students are funny. They walk a fine line between having fun and learning; and I’m happy to keep it that way.
What makes my job great is that I’m finishing this posting while talking with four of my students during their lunch period. Since they came specifically for “a chat,” I need say goodbye, this is, after all, what I teach for. But, I promise to expand on these great aspects of our job later. Until then, I wish you good conversations with your students as well. I love this part of our job.

Renewed Motivation

A colleague of mine proposed this question, “What is more important in teaching today…engaging and inspiring students or accountability for what they have learned?” I sat for a moment pondering the question and then responded, “Depends who you ask.”

Later contemplating my answer I decided there was a better response. You see, the question did not ask what the world, government, or family believes is more important; the question asks what do I see as more important. To that comes an easy answer.

Throughout the previous postings I have battled with motivation and understanding why I teach. I have yet to conclude I teach because I love math, nor have I concluded it is the pay, prestige, or recognition that comes with the job. Furthermore, the struggles mentioned have not been about math but rather reclaiming hearts and minds.

My answer, therefore, is simple; engaging and inspiring students is far more important than any other aspect of education...that is what makes my job so difficult.

With well over 100 students entering and leaving my classroom each week, I am destined to have difficulties. Students walk into class with all sorts of troubles; troubles at home, troubles in other classes, troubles with relationships, troubles with sports, troubles with image, troubles with troubles, troubles, troubles, troubles. With so much going on do they really care about math?

And thus the motivation/engaging game begins. We cannot teach our students until they are inspired to learn. Just how do we motivate? Before answering that question we must understand just what we offer through our motivation. We offer our students the opportunity to start new in our class, leave the troubles at the door, and welcome them into a sanctuary of respect. We offer our students renewed trust in ones abilities. We offer our students friendship that cares about self-actualization. We offer hope.

Knowing our offering allows us to offer ourselves to our students. Here are just a few ways that I find great joy in motivating my students:

1. Start each class with the desire to know my students. I ask them, “Did anyone have anything cool happen to you or do anything cool since last class?” In asking this question I get to know student hobbies, sport successes, what movies they watched…it’s incredible what students share.

2. Give high fives and handshakes to students who answer questions correctly.

3. Give high fives and handshakes to students who attempt to answer questions.

4. Email home to students who are doing well.

5. Smile, laugh, joke, play, relax, and enjoy diverse student personalities.

6. Talk to students outside of the classroom, always using their first name.

7.When one-on-one, praise a student for either having a great grade or question poor performance of those that could achieve a higher grade. Always tell them they are capable of greatness but it takes work.

8. Smile. I always act like I’m having fun, even when I’m not.

9. Thank students for participating and for a great day of class. Send them out the door saying I look forward to seeing them again.

10. My favorite: I spend the last ten minutes of Friday’s class speaking about a topic far greater than math. I call this “Motivational Friday.” Ranging from PowerPoints to inspirational videos, my students get to think of something greater than themselves, something more important than what happens only at my high school, something that paints the picture that life does not revolve around them. Motivational Friday engages students and allows them to understand why we are at school and what their resulting roles are as school citizens, community citizens, and a world citizen.

Below is a link to a Motivational Friday that I shared with my students last week, “Things That Bring Me Joy.” Within I share my beliefs in finding joy not in materialistic items but rather from expressing and developing our own uniqueness.

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0Bwqa0EmmC8WRNmMyYmU1YmEtYTYyNy00N2JhLWJlMWItZDZiOTJkOTllY2Uy&hl=en

What motivational tools do you use to reach your students? In the end, can an uninspired child begin to learn content material? Motivating the unmotivated is the biggest challenge we face, but if achieved will reap rewards far greater than we will ever know.

It's not my fault, but I'll try to fix it

One month into the school year and I’m starting to piece together my student puzzle. It was easy for me to believe, and with great intention may I add, every student who passed through my door was eager to learn, eager to advance their academic knowledge, eager to study, and eager to work for good grades. Though now I understand my foolish preconceptions, I was eager to give my students a fresh start, a chance in school that many freshmen or transfer students have not seen before.

I’ve come to note that my students’ apparent eagerness is to talk with peers and celebrate together when the abrasive tone whistles through the hall dismissing class. Likewise, my eagerness changed from discovering greatness in every student to finding ways to captivate their attention long enough to teach information that will be tested upon later.

I imagined 160 students coming into class, pencils ready and sponge-like minds, taking responsibility to learn; after all, they are high school students. Sadly, the majority do not reflect any fervor to learn. Unless I failed to say or do something the first day of school, my students came into my classroom with little intrinsic motivation and that is not my fault.

If it’s not my fault, then where am I to place blame? Family structure? Video games, fast food, empty dinner tables, divorce, lack of discipline, a culture of entitlement? What about our education system?

Pass the test right? I recently spoke with an elementary school teacher (2nd grade) who informed me the repeated misbehaviorers are boys…but who is to blame them? Our system inhibits individual exploratory learning. “Sit still” we say, “Stop hitting him” “Stop touching her” “Stop….stop….stop….” Even by the time they are in 2nd grade, children face eight hours of adult structure. There are too many students, too much material to cover, and too little flexibility allowed to divert from curriculum. Consequently, this teacher says, even second graders are at risk of losing their imaginative minds.

Should we then blame our early childhood educators? Of course not. They too face classes so large with such little funding and prodigious achievement gaps that only through the existing structure can they begin teaching the unmotivated; any other method would result in dropping those who already are on their way to greatness.

Ultimately we blame the system, blame the dearth of importance placed on education, blame our government for demanding so much and giving so little, blame the failure of recognition that keeps the good ones around (it sure isn’t the money), blame the parents who blame us, blame intangible success being measured by a tangible test, blame overcrowded classrooms, blame other teachers…

In the end, blaming gets us nowhere; as fire feeds fire, so does blaming feed our frustration. We all can agree a complete system overhaul is necessary but will not happen in the near future. However, we each can have a classroom overhaul where we remember the true importance of our offering. “It’s not my fault, but I’ll try to fix it” can be our mantra in the classroom; we get to restore eagerness, we get to fix missing motivation. We get to offer a chance for our students to be successful. What we do is far more important than end results; we bring current meaning and a reason for our students to walk through the classroom door. Fear not the test but do fear lack of eagerness. It’s not your fault it’s gone, but somehow we need to bring it back.

Therefore, I implore you to teach in such a way to reach the child, and not the system’s measure of tangible success. In doing so, tangible success will come not through pushing material but through pushing through the walls of lost students. How do we do this? There is not a magic solution, no one way of teaching that reaches all. Each of us is gifted in our own unique way to reach students; we have no choice but to express our own uniqueness in the classroom. Our students’ futures hinge upon our willingness to push past the blame and into a world of understanding, a world of motivating, and a world of giving; that is, after all, why we teach.

Dancing Chairs

I have never been one for seating charts, especially during the first weeks of school. As a high school educator, I release my tyrannical control over my students and implore them to choose a seat that will fit their learning style. “It’s your responsibility.” I say “Nobody but you knows where you need to sit to achieve greatness. Pick a seat wherever….” Inevitably a group of chatters take control of the back rows and a group of eye burners take control of the front.

I fear my “It’s your responsibility” system failed this year, and I’m left with a terrible situation…

Searching for the answer to the unanswerable question, this morning I danced the chairs around my classroom, hoping to find that magic arrangement to induce student learning. Where do I place the struggling learners? Where do I place 32 students? How do I optimize what little space I have? Something has to be done after yesterday’s test results.

With scores ranging from 100+% to a 0% there exists awesome disparity in the learning gap. No Child Left Behind?...yeah right….something is happening and someone is being left behind. So where do we place students who missed the bus?
A Catch 22 looms over every crowded classroom. Regardless of how the chairs end their waltz, finite room is left in the front rows, leaving two main options for student placement:

Option 1: Place all low achieving students in the front, while displacing the high achievers (who generally are inclined to sit nearer to the front) to the back. Though difficult to segregate learners before their astute peers, forcing a learning environment through proximity can benefit those who need it most. But what about those who wanted proximity in the first place and thrived on being near the front? What will happen to my eye burners if they are moved to the back, after all they chose to be proximate and their decision proved to be wise. Who can honestly say it is just to strip them of their right to be near the front, where they chose to be, and where they showed excellent results? But, the lower achievers are now within reach and easy to control, excite, and motivate.

Option 2: Leave the seating untouched, where generally the higher achievers have situated themselves nearer to the front and the lower achievers nearer to the back and sides. With this status quo arrangement those who have chosen to learn are best inclined to do so; those who have opted out of the learning experience have not been geographically forced to join in. But can that be fair either? Teachers are not hired to teach selected students but rather the entire classroom body. Leaving the status quo allows students to be left behind; we educate for success of ALL students, not just those who choose it.

The two seating arrangements epitomize a Catch 22. With neither option showing a true tendency to leave No Child Left Behind, what are we to do? Perhaps some of our students are choosing to be left behind, or more so not “moved ahead” and seating arrangements have nothing to do with their success. Perhaps dancing names and chairs this morning superficially alleviated my pains but something more drastic must be done.

Students are not failing because we have failed to place them in the correct chair. It is our duty to talk with each failing student, regardless of the situation, to find their good and to bring out in the classroom. Most of us long for something greater than the material we are asked to teach, yet we struggle to define ourselves as more than material pushers. Here is our chance!

Finding the beauty in each child’s life and helping them deal with their personal struggles is just the beginning. We get to intercept student paths and join them on their journey through life. Each student is a product of their own uniqueness; unfortunately few find themselves worthy of greatness and thus choose not to move forward. We are blessed with the opportunity to become bricklayers in our students’ futures and welders of their worthiness.

Something greater, more life changing than seating arrangements, is happening in your classroom today….it’s time we talk with our students, it’s time we know our students, it’s time….

Do I belong?

A quick note... on if I belong here....

It seams that some of my students are "not getting it." The basic ideas I'm showing them just are not calculating. Is it my teaching style? Is it my lack of discipline in the classroom during the first two weeks of school? Is it the long leash I give my students so that they can learn responsibilty?

Low scores to start the year make me wonder if I'm too hard or expect too much. Or is it that teachers before me have expected too little and I'm finally the first to push them harder than than they have been pushed before.

Ownership in ones own education is a necessity. I teach in such a way that demands my students to take ownership in their learning; right now their lack of success reflects their lack of ownership. I too take ownership for my education as an educator and must continue to modify how I allow my students to take ownership of their learning. Until we find a way to work it out between us, me with higher expectations and them, with understanding an education comes from within, we will continue treading water until we figure something out.

Treading water right now...

What is My Story?

I love to ask my students this simple question: “What is your story?”  With great accuracy, most respond as all others gone before them; they offer me a half smile.  I know exactly what that smile implies.  One half is uncertainty, the unknown, the disbelief that they even have stories worth sharing.  Their squinty eyes suggest sheepishness in divulging what they do not necessarily think is worth an incomplete sentence.  But the other half of the smile tells the story of freedom, as if in that question they finally have the chance to articulate how their unique past created them to be who they are today.

We too must ask ourselves that same question.  What is our story?  Do we know what path we took into education?  Conceivably, these questions may open sour wounds left untouched by time.  These questions could reveal a past not yet understood but crucial to our teaching philosophy.  Perhaps we know our stories well, but have not had the chance to compare them to others, and like my student, feel sheepish in sharing any part of it.  That "half smile" feels ever present in our lives; "...why would anyone want to hear my story?" we think.  

Norman Maclean, author and narrator of Young Men and Fire offers his story of maturation as a way for us to relate and understand our own.  He suggests, “The nearest anyone can come to finding himself at any given age is to find a story that somehow tells him about himself.”(145).  At any given time, at any given stage, we are the culmination of our past; finding the connections between them not only gives us our story but an awareness of who we are today, and who we are as educators.

Today, therefore, I implore you to join me in reflecting on the past.  Reflect with me over these questions, as they are the essence of who we are today:

•   What is my story?   

•   Why did I decide to become a teacher?   

•   Who were the teachers that impacted me as a student, what did they do?

•   What is it about my story that I want my students to know?     

In knowing our stories, knowing why we chose teach, we will begin to understand all that it is we want to offer our students.  We did not come into this vocation with aspirations of becoming state robots teaching unclear state standards.  We came into teaching seeking something more, desperate to share more; knowing our stories opens the opportunity to discover what it all is.....