Saturday, December 20, 2014

A Profession Not a Hobby

When I look back over this school year there are two moments that stand out to me.  The first happened in 6th Grade English during our unit on August Wilson's classic play Fences.  In the middle of my lesson on The Great Migration (I wish that I had read The Warmth of Other Suns before I began the unit) I noticed Patrick rummaging through his book bag and raising his hand.  I called on him thinking that he had to go to his locker to locate a missing item. He reached out a crumpled packet of papers to me and asked "Ms. Cardwell, have you read this? I think that you would really like it." It was a copy of Richard Wright's short story "The Man Who Was Almost a Man."  For some reason this gesture really touched me; the act of a student connecting something that he read with another teacher to something that he was learning with me seemed really significant. The fact that he was able to make those connections and teach me something in return was wonderful.  And he was right; I did really enjoy the story.
Patrick Agboka, 6th Grade
The second joyful moment took place with Ishmam, a 7th grade student who I tutor at Allen-Stevenson.  We were working on a personal narrative and he mentioned that when he lived in Bangladesh his family would give bags of uncooked rice to the poor during holidays.  Offhandedly, I asked why the rice was uncooked and he explained that it was to give the poor the option to cook it or sell it.  We talked about how poverty was characterized by an absence of choice.  We talked about the nature of charity.  We talked about his family's opinions of the food stamp program in The United States and how it fit in with the uncooked rice philosophy.  These two experiences taught me something very valuable.  Teaching middle-school is about imparting information and skills, but it is also about being open to learning from someone a third of your age.

Too often, the only lessons that teachers learn in the classroom are similar to this:
Photo: Humans of New York
If you are a teacher you know that there are two times of the year when teaching becomes more difficult: the period between Thanksgiving and Chrjstmas Break and the period between Spring Break and the end of the year. Below is advice from my teacher friends about how to survive (and thrive) in "the noble profession:"

Find a way to both laugh and connect with at least one student and one teacher everyday. Celebrate the victories, big and small, and tell your students when they are doing the right things. They thrive on the positive reinforcement, and their pride in themselves will remind you of why you chose to be an educator.-Juliana G.

Try to be as self sufficient as possible...whether it's handling behavior or researching new content or best practices, while still being collaborative. -Joanna H. 

I always tell my students that they don't have to love the course, or any given novel or topic we're covering. It's of course great when that happens, but can't be expected. But what I do ask of each of my students is to find a kernel - something from each class, each book, each topic, that resonates with them and from which they can create meaning. It's my job as a teacher to make my instruction differentiated and interesting enough to provide the possibilities for that kernel, but it's the students' responsibility to find it and grab it.-Tahira C.

I leave work at work, and I try to have a separate life because if I didn't, work would consume all of my time! -Xzavier J.

Start the day off looking fabulous and the rest of the nonsense will matter less.-James A.  

If all else fails, head someplace fabulous like Corner Social and get happy at Happy Hour!
When your former students become teachers it's the greatest compliment!

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