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!