Saturday, January 16, 2016

Whooo aaare you? Who, who? Who, who?

Recently, my #ed584 grad class was posed a series of questions to blog about. Every couple of weeks, I'll pick one to blog about, then throw it out there for others to think about for themselves. Maybe you'll even feel compelled to share your ideas, too.

This week, I chose the question: "Who are you? (kids will be who you are, not who you want them to be)"

This is the type of question I love to hate and hate to love. You know why? It makes you uncomfortable. It makes you take a look at yourself, an honest look. Inevitably, you take into account the idea of what you have of yourself, but also, how you feel yourself being perceived by others. Sometimes, not just perceived, but maybe even judged by others *screeeeam!* Ultimately, this question provides us with an opportunity we rarely get to do and often times, never as our kids to do: reflect.

As a teacher, I know I tend to be quirky, funny in a nerdy way, and probably overwhelming. I sometimes talk to fast, make jokes that are way over kids heads or things that may be too corny, or delivered too quickly for anyone in the room to actually find funny. I think I do this because I always feel rushed. Rushed by the clock, the students' expectations, the teacher's expectations, whom I'm supposedly co-teaching with, and rushed by my internal mechanism to teach the skill or content as quickly as possible to get outta the way and let the kids start working.

However, I know I'm dedicated, professional and compassionate. I never belittle students or deliberately intimidate anyone. When I'm on the clock, I work from buzzer to buzzer, offering support to anyone for anything that I might encounter. I know that I genuinely want to do a good job and always seek ways to improve things.

So tell me: who are you? (Who, who? Who, who?)


5 comments:

  1. Mike, I find myself in the same situation often: rushed, and I don't like it. Why should we have to rush to finish something? Why can't we just get through what we get through, and pick it up the next day? Why do we have to have an exact start and end to a lesson? I know the answers to these questions vary greatly depending on who you ask, but it really forces us to think about what "good" education really looks like. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Replies
    1. Thanks! Love those guys, I think they're gonna be a big hit. Glad, but sorry to hear you feel the same way in your classroom: rushed. Do you feel rushed by the ticking clock of curriculum and assessment? I mostly feel rushed by my co-teachers' impatience and Ss attention span.

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  3. I share your discomfort with the question. It is interesting that you and Chris as high school teachers feel the same sense of haste as elementary teachers feel. I, too, wonder why? As we skip pebble across the top of the pond, topic to topic, all we do is make more work for ourselves (or colleagues) in the future because there is not the depth necessary in our instruction for the students to own the knowledge. Also great song.

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  4. I share your discomfort with the question. It is interesting that you and Chris as high school teachers feel the same sense of haste as elementary teachers feel. I, too, wonder why? As we skip pebble across the top of the pond, topic to topic, all we do is make more work for ourselves (or colleagues) in the future because there is not the depth necessary in our instruction for the students to own the knowledge. Also great song.

    ReplyDelete