Here's what I wrote in reflection at the end of chapter two:
Okay, so I'm sitting here teary-eyed after reading this chapter. And again, I'm given words for why I feel uncomfortable being out of the classroom. It's because of the words on the bottom of p. 17 -- top of p. 18.
Students such as these walk into your classrooms in every size, shape, and color. You can't know their histories because their only control is control of their secrets. You are asked to create a safe enough place for them to learn, and for you to teach, and then are provided will ill-thought-out standards, drawn up by men and women so distant from your theatre of engagement as to be functionally illiterate in its regard. These people demand that you test memory-level learning and abandon the staples of real education -- response, expression, relationship -- to chance.
But many of you will refuse to do that, because you didn't invest years of your life getting an education and gathering the tools to follow your passion to be disallowed the right to make the connection with your students that could change their lives. No child left behind? Only policy makers and politicians would need a bill named that to remind them that leaving kids behind isn't a good idea.
I must copy this chapter for every single staff member at my school. I'd like them to experience what I'm feeling right now -- this reminder as to why we are doing this job in the first place. Little reminders like this never hurt.
This chapter also makes me feel urgency for school reform. I want to stand up and be bold and inspire change. (Now that makes me feel a little nervous inside!)
And I did copy and give it to my colleagues.
6 comments:
I'm re-posting & re-writing (just a bit) from one of your many other blogs:
OK Ruth, I just had time to read this chapter. It's been on my "to do" list and I'm soooooo glad I read it! First, it hits home for me. If I could put my philosophy of teaching into words, this would be it. Second, because I had just written about C in my blog and was thinking of this very topic. Great minds think alike, eh?
I'm curious as to the response you got from our colleagues. Wow. I was touched. So often I think a certain way, but I don't know why it seems "right." I don't know if that makes sense, but Crutcher validated my way of thinking and teaching. That makes me feel good. It's nice to know that I'm OK in how I approach teaching & the kids I work with.
However, it seems to me that is is not the way most adolescent teachers think-- Or, maybe a better way of saying it is that it isn't their priority. My number 1 objective is to try and create / foster a safe environment or relationship for my students. The rest seems to fall into place (or close to it) after that's been established. I guess I don't know how to help others see the value in this way of thinking.
This seems to be a defined line on both sides of this arguement... and then the excuses seem to follow about parents, internet, other influences, etc. I think that as teachers we have a powerful role to play in students lives. I think we can overcome many outside obstacles-- we just have to believe in our students, and also, in ourselves.
Thank you for sharing this article with me-- with us & bringing this to light. You are awesome Ruth!
:) S
I agree with Sarah. I don't think many middle and high school teachers look at kids on an individual basis, but instead, think of the "class." I know that was my mind set for many years. It is somewhat more difficult for middle and high school teachers to look at each student, though, when you consider they many have 100 or more students a day and only for a short time. Still, I think it can be done!
Conferencing has been my way to get to know my students. My teaching style has evolved over the past 20 years as I continue to experiment and try to find what works. This year I was planning to begin conferencing with my students on a regular basis. I wasn’t getting what I wanted out of them and finally realized that maybe I needed to talk one on one with them…DUH.
Although my teaching assignment has changed (I run a study hall while I am training to become a literacy coach), I have still worked in the conferencing aspect with my students. I have learned so much and I think they are more open to learning also! I conference weekly with each student about their grades, develop individual goals and plans to achieve those goals, and chart their progress. Not everyone is “passing” yet, but we are making progress. Conferencing has opened doors for me, and my students. Students know that I care about them. I talk to them about what I am reading and doing, and I get to help them think through their homework. I thought it would be hard “controlling” a study hall, but I don’t need strong-arm techniques, I am actually writing far less discipline referrals than in years past. We know and respect each other as individuals. I am no longer “that teacher” and they aren’t “those kids.” I love this job!
Getting to know my kids better through writing workshop (and now attempting reading workshop) is one of the best methods I could have chosen to get me interested in teaching again and gaining student interest. Workshop teachers talk to their students on a level of one to one about their writing and reading. Just addressing numbers of students with numbers is and will become a Visa mentality. Just keep the card (papers) coming through the system, and all will be well. It doesn't work in Visaland, and it doesn't work in an effective school environment either. Kids won't care if someone doesn't care and a teacher is a good place to begin. Not all teachers are teaching because they care. We all need to make a living, but if we're here to do the job, then let's do the job--caring enough so we don't bark as much on certain days and consider why this student isn't performing. It's not an excuse for them but a beginning for us to deal with that student.
Kids are so much more challenging now, and it's scary some days. The old classroom of students with parents at home are gone. We must offer stability and care, and that can be scary, too. We're still in the people business, however--more so than ever!
My response to Chris Crutcher's Flying Blind : I cried.
Day in and day out I work with students who have dealt with and seen more in their twelve years of life than I have in my thirty-seven.
Sometimes I wonder if I make any connections when I have 80+ students. I do get frustrated that I don't have more time to make those connections. The kids need it and crave it. How many times a day do kids want to tell us something from their day or weekend? I wish we had more of a chance to share non-curricular things with these kids.
I think the most important thing to remember is that no matter who the child is or what their past was like, they are all human beings and deserve to be treated with respect.
I agree with all the comments read, but I am constantly amazed that teachers don't realize the impact they have on kid's lives. I think pointing this out to them by providing the quote is a cool idea.
I consider myself to be one of the kids saved by a very talented, caring teacher, Bob Sharrow. My life's work is trying to provide just a fraction of what he gave to me to my own students and to give the teachers I coach an understanding of the impact they can have on kids' lives.
Nearly all of these postings include personal thoughts of being limited by time with students and overwhelmed by shear numbers of kids. I assure you all you are making the difference.
Ruth, I can empathize with your comments because I spent two years out of the room. I missed the immediate, direct, daily contact with students. Yours might be one of the most significant and selfless acts of teaching. As your teachers make shifts, the kids they have now and all future kids that the teacher has will be touched by your work, but you don't get the personal reward of seeing "your" kids immediate response, engagement, and smiles. The effect of your work, though, is increased exponentially.
I think some of the complex issues are the pricky outside of the teens. My own teens (live in my house) come across as don't approach me, don't talk to me, I am so cool, etc. As soon as a teacher actually does interact, the teenager does benefit. I remember reading (or hearing this) that this is the age group that needs affection and attention more then the toddlers. It is interesting that of course we want to encourage individual conferences in both writing and reading also.
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