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.