Mr. Mac

Mr. Mac
A Classroom is a Community

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Academics is the TOP goal in the Classroom. Really?


     Many years ago, just before I entered my first classroom, my goal as an educator was that of any novice teacher; I wanted to fill young minds with knowledge.  By the end of that first year, the goal I had set went right out of the window!  Well, not really out the window.  I just packed it away in a safe place.

     Filling young minds with knowledge sounds great, and is the expectation of what we do of layman out in the world.  But, this goal is unachievable on its own.  This is not to say that an educator won’t ever fill young minds with knowledge, rather…it simply can’t be an attainable goal right from the start.  This knowledge acquisition can only be attained by students after much groundwork, legwork, blood, sweat, and tears!  By October of my first year teaching I knew that in order for me to teach pedagogically, I had to first Unteach, engage, entertain, reconstruct, and inspire.  Once all of this has been done (That first year), I unpacked my original goal.

     UN-teaching begins the first moment of the first day of school.  A handful of our kids enter our classrooms (Every year) very knowledgeable about how to work the system.  The attention seekers, the bullies, the blurters, the note-passers, the chatterers, the I-will-get-sent-to-ISS-and-get-out-of-classers, etc.  The behaviors these kids exhibit are learned, so they can be Unlearned.  Shed light on the ugly, and shore-up the weak.  Stand your ground, and draw the proverbial line in the sand.  I could give much advice on how to handle this UN-teaching business, but it would all be MY way.  You must find your own way.  I do give some helpful hints in past posts if you are inclined to read them.  Just remember, all of us have a core.  The behaviors these kids exhibit surround who they truly are…their core.  Never stop, never give in…find the core of your kids!  Peel away the layers your kids have wrapped themselves up in!  Until you do this, nothing else can happen.  Nothing!

     Engage your kids.  Talk TO them, and not at them.  Ask their opinion on things.  Get them talking about something interesting to them.  Allow them to teach you something?  Validate that Math, or Social Studies, or Writing can be boring, and then show them how it’s not!  Be proud-as-hell for every accomplishment they make.  If they fall, encourage them to rise, then rise further!  Gear your lessons towards your kids…we are creative, intelligent beings…we can make anything interesting!

     If you have been teaching for a while then you know that deep inside you is a frustrated actor or a clown waiting for a chance in the big ring!  You must be unafraid to make a fool of yourself.  You must be prepared to laugh with your kids, and at yourself, but never AT them.  Make‘em laugh, make‘em laugh, make‘em laugh!  A happy kid will move mountains, and you will always have a captive audience if your kids know that when you are onstage…anything could happen!  This aspect, when used in the right amount of doses at the right times, will not only captivate your kids it will energize them.  Engagement goes hand-in-hand here!

     Many of our kids enter our classrooms broken.  Some have been abused, or bullied.  Others come from families at a poverty level so low that food of any kind is a luxury.  A few struggle and hate Reading, or Math, or getting up early because they were allowed to stay up till 3am playing video games.  Some will have one or both parents in jail.  Each kid you have has a story; some will have stories that will break your heart.  We can never take the place of a parent, but we still must parent nonetheless.  We must carry these kids, and work hard to establish trust.  Most of these broken kids have learned to trust no one.  We must make every effort to show WE can be trusted, and that our classroom is a safe place.  Never think that by just telling a broken kid to trust you, or that your classroom is safe will solve the issue.  Telling only works where time is concerned.  Listen, watch, listen a bit more.  It may not be possible to completely fix a broken kid, but you can plant a seed.  Perhaps, when June comes around, that seed you planted will grow, and allow your kid to see some light at the end of the tunnel; that maybe there is some good in the world.  Your efforts could cause a bit of reconstruction inside this kid!  YOU could be the one to make a difference.  THIS IS THE ULTIMATE GOAL!

     Finally, you must inspire your kids.  You must strive…everyday…to make your kids see that there is so much more inside them than what they came in with.  A happy kid WILL move mountains, but an inspired kid will build empires!  Give your kids a reason to want to push the barriers, and move outside of their comfort zones.  Travel with them every step of the way.  Take the kid that hates division, and show him that he hates it because of remembering the many steps it involves.  YOU work with him, have a classmate work with him.  Let him take the time he needs to get it.  Once he does…applaud, then share the wealth.  Have HIM help another student to learn it.  Now he is the teacher!  Get inside your kids, find them!  I promise you…each kid (At his core) is a shining beacon of awesomeness!

     Lastly, every year…at some point…I take out my original goal, dust it off, and put it into action.  Once I have laid the ground-work, done all of the leg-work, shed some blood, sweated profusely, and squeezed out a few tears…I know that I will have a class that will absorb, and apply all that I have to teach them.  Then, once June rolls around I pack it away again, and so it goes…year after year.  Oh yeah...and the prayer that I have made some kind of a difference comes into play. 

     I remember about ten years ago a parent asked me,

     “What is your goal in your classroom?  Wait, I know…teaching Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.”

     I told her, yes…I teach all of those things, but if I had a list of the top-ten goals in my class…academics would be number ten.

     The look on her face cracked me up!