Last week, Anthony Purcell of Random Teacher Thoughts issued an edu-blogger challenge which he kindly initiated by responding to his own questions. It concludes by asking the respondent to name five people he or she would love to see complete the challenge as well – making this a blogger pyramid scheme of sorts.
One of the folks I named was Matt Cone, who is not actually a blogger, edu- or otherwise. He is, however, a helluva teacher and education consultant, and wildly entertaining for someone so much smarter than me. He doesn’t even Tweeter, so I had to tag him on Facebook just to get his attention.
I’m glad I did, because this was the result.
What has been your ONE biggest struggle this school year?
I’m sure that there will be a lot of responses that deal with issues of students feeling too entitled, lacking “grit,” and being unable or unwilling to work for things these days. These are all very valid observations/complaints.
I, however, have struggled more with convincing them of the larger picture for which they should be working. I teach U.S. history. In years past, I have taught American government. Both of these classes take on a new tone during election years. It is already difficult for students to confront some of the big issues of U.S. history (slavery, the plight of Native American peoples, etc.) without students developing an overpowering sense of cynicism. I still, in light of everything, believe in this country and what it’s supposed to stand for.
That has been hard to sell to students in the current political climate. The pervasive anger, lack of civility, and name calling brought about by the current campaign makes it hard to sell students on the idea that our system, with all of its inherent flaws, is still the best option. And lest we point our fingers in only one direction, this problem originates on both sides of the political aisle and is amplified by the dueling echo chambers of social media. If you don’t agree with one side, you’re a tree-hugging, America hating, Socialist who is simply awaiting the imposition of Sharia law. If you don’t agree with the other side, you’re a Bible-thumping, gun toting, misogynistic racist who simply hates everyone and everything.
As a history teacher, I know that this is not new. The campaigns of the late nineteenth century were as bare-knuckled as they come, and race-baiting fear has been used to win elections for far longer than anyone wants to admit. However, it is getting harder and harder to point to true leaders who are looking for real solutions to America’s problems, and that is making it harder and harder to teach classes whose main goal is to build solid citizens.
TWO accomplishments that I am proud of.
I won’t point to two specific things here, but I will address two ways in which my life as a teacher has changed.
First, I have been a better leader. I was a department chair for twelve years. While I did enjoy being a part of setting the agenda for may department, hiring new people, and providing input on issues with our administration, dealing with budgets and supplies, going to more meetings than I care to count, and being a constant conduit between my colleagues and my administration finally wore me out. One of the biggest things I had to do was be a filter. My administration did not necessarily need to hear every complaint or comment made by my fellow teachers; my fellow teachers, in my opinion, did not need to be privy to every minute detail and every edict handed down from admin. The only to filter some of this out was to absorb it, and that can be mentally and emotionally taxing. At the end of the 2013-2014 school year, I resigned that post.
As odd as it sounds, stepping out of “leadership” was the first step toward being a better leader. Much of the time I spent in meetings is now spent working through the new AP US history curriculum and developing lessons on both content and skills. I have used the redesign as an opportunity to have my team re-evaluate the way we do some things in our classes. Energy that used to be spent managing the budget and monitoring supplies is now spent mentoring new teachers. I am now a lot freer to say what I want, rather than what I’m supposed to, and I have built up enough credibility on my campus that I can still walk into my principal’s office and give my two cents. It was my principal, in fact, that confirmed all of this for me. I told her that I had to learn how to be a leader when not in “leadership.” Her response: “those are the most important leaders to have.”
My second “accomplishment” is not an accomplishment in a traditional sense. I guess it’s really more of an affirmation. I attended the school’s musical this year (a fantastic performance of “Legally Blonde”). During intermission, three former students approached me and told me that they knew I was there because they heard me laugh. I have been told that my laugh is not particularly obnoxious or grating (though that may have been to save my feelings), so I took that as a great compliment. In a dark room with more than five hundred people in it, my students could discern my laugh. There’s only one way that’s possible: they had heard it enough to know that it was me. The fact that laughter is big enough part of my class that this could happen is, to me, a great accomplishment.
THREE things I wish to accomplish before the school year is out:
I had to re-work some of my class resources last year to accommodate the AP US history redesign. I have had to re-re-work some of those resources this year to accommodate the new and improved redesign, as well as a new textbook. I am looking forward to getting that done.
I have set a goal to integrate more web-based tools into my class. Google Classroom has been a nice addition, as has the timeline generating tool, Preceden. I would like to use more web-based tools as we get into review season in (yikes!) a few more weeks.
On a related note, I would like to do more with podcasts. “Freakonomics” and “My History Can Beat Up Your Politics” have great podcasts for social studies. I would like to find more; more importantly, I would like to do more with them than just dump one more thing onto my students’ plates.
FOUR reasons why I remain in education in spite of the tough culture.
1. It’s still fun. I get to work with great kids and, as I said before, we get to laugh a lot.
2. I teach at the school from which I graduated. I have always viewed teaching as a way to give back to the community in which I grew up. Being a part of the community especially important to me as my hometown continues to evolve and as my kids grow up here.
3. I’m not sure what else I would do. This is not a lamentation about not being qualified to do anything else, though having taught in one place for almost twenty years does make me a less attractive candidate in this job market. I simply can’t think of a job that combines my love of learning, my love of kids, and my love for my community into one job that someone will actually pay me to do.
4. I pulled some new teachers into my office last week and pulled an old yellow file folder out of a file cabinet. I told them “This is my ‘warm fuzzy’ file. It has letters and cards from former students in it. You’re good teachers and you’re gonna get a lot of these. Keep them. You never know when you’ll need to pull one out and read it to remind yourself of why you’re here. Also, just know that I keep this file in the bottom drawer here; so if I get hit by a low-flying blimp tomorrow and someone needs to plan my funeral, you’ll know where to go.”
We get a lot of grief from outside. We’re punching bags for politicians, targets for lawyers, and scapegoats for parents. On the inside, however, where it counts, we do sometimes reach the students. As corny as it sounds, it does make the rest of it worthwhile.
FIVE that I hope will answer these. (I guess I’ll link them to this once it’s out there)
Lee Ferguson – A personal and professional mentor and friend. I hope to be like her when I grow up.
John Stewart – He is a great sounding board for ideas. There have been many times that I have sent him an e-mail and said “does this sound too crazy?” John does what I do, but in a completely different set of circumstances.
Matt Tassinari – As with John, he is an APUSH teacher for whom I have a lot of respect and dear a friend who teaches the same class that I teach to a radically different demographic.
Renee Birdsell – A good friend and colleague who is looking at all of this with much younger eyes than mine.
Lance Morse – Lance is a new friend who teaches theatre. I would love to hear what it’s like in the trenches of fine arts education.
RELATED POST: Blue Serials (2/7/16) {contains links to a dozen or so other responses to the challenge.}