What Is A Good Teacher?

What is a good teacher?  Who was a good teacher to you?

I bet if you asked a hundred people on the street that question, none of them would say it was the teacher with whom they passed the standardized tests or showed adequate yearly progress.

And yet, in just a couple more years, my state, Ohio, plans to assess teachers on just that--student performance.  While I do see value in standards and even testing, I do not think it is the only factor or even the most important one.

Here's the thing.  In my heart I know I'm a really good teacher, but the things that my students, their parents, and I believe make me good are not based on standardized test scores.  For example I had a student this past year who fell in love with reading novels, and this quiet girl is talking about these novels with her friends--but she didn't pass the reading test.  Shouldn't that count for something?  And what about kids who never do homework or read away from school?  What about the kids who live in chaos?  Or homes that place low value on the process of learning?

I'm reminded of the words I told my students the day before testing began:
I want you to try your best on the tests.  You have learned so much, and you have worked hard.  But it is much more important to me that you learn how to get along with other people and be kind.  I would rather have you find a book you love to read this year than worry about passing a test.

And then I saw the results today, and my belief in those values wavered.  For a bit I felt not enough.  I thought those scores determined my worth as a teacher.  As I processed I just thought about amazing moments of growth that I saw in my students--as they role played conflict resolution, as they planted a small garden, as they read novels in book clubs at the end of the year, as they learned to explain their mathematical thinking, as they moved to a new classroom at the end of January, as they led class meetings, as they took ownership of the classroom and cleaned the floors so well the custodian bought them pizza.

And as I wonder about this all, I wonder why other professions aren't judged and evaluated the way teachers are.  I wonder why we don't start paying dentists on the rate of oral health and lack of cavities in their patients?  Wouldn't that be the proof we need to recognize a good dentist?

Sometimes A Little Help is Good

I have a really difficult time asking for help. Really difficult.

It's even tough for me to accept help that I haven't asked for but know I need. A funny thing happened at yoga yesterday. I was doing a twist, and the instructor was walking around supporting and adjusting students. In my mind I was thinking, "Don't stop here," but since my telepathy is not too good, she stopped right with me. The funny part was with a little support I could move twice as far! We're not talking a micromovement. We're talking a giant step! It felt really good. And she said, "Sometimes a little help is good."

So why is it so hard for me to accept help? Why do I give sacrificially of my time to others but expect that no one wants to do that for me? What giant steps have passed me by because I wouldn't accept help?

Will you allow yourself to accept help today?

Take A Kid into Nature

So what happens when you take a kid into nature? Today is the last day of Spring Break. I'm finally starting to get over the eternal cold, but now the rest of my little family is down with it. And for the first day, it's finally really warm--over 75 degrees F.

Not ones to be daunted by running noses, coughing, and sneezing we decide a little fresh air will do us all good. So we pull out the big stroller and head down to the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath--which is just a couple blocks from our house.

Internally my heart resists. It's the last day of break. I want to lounge and work on braveteachers.com or just do nothing. But I know I will be sad tomorrow when I can't be with the boys, so there I am.

Some highlights:

~All the nature a two year old can observe--geese, birds singing, water, animal poo, rocks, leaves, etc.
~A small boy who wants to get out and run--and be chased!
~The same small boy squealing with glee at being caught and swung upside down.
~So many signs of spring--more on this tomorrow!
~And just as we were about to head toward home we met the most interesting guy with a parrot and saw a loooonnng train and an ambulance with its screeching siren rushed by.

We were absolutely blissed out--and this is what happens when you take a kid into nature!

What gives you BLISS?

What's Your Perspective?

So most of what I'm looking at this week I'm seeing from the perspective of a two year old. I'm blown away by how blissed out he is by nature--the sound of water, old pine cones, and the joy in a rock. I feel joyful just witnessing his joy.

These experiences make me think of how I'm really in a perspective rut. A few days away from my job makes it very easy to see how my thought process is stuck about curriculum and testing and procedures and so on. But I'm also in a perspective rut about my house, what I eat, how I relate to my family and friends, how I spend my precious and limited free time, and so many other ways.

I want a fresh perspective. I want to see a little rock as a fascinating new toy. Today's a great day to look at my world from another perspective.

Just take a moment to contemplate looking at your world from someone else's perspective. What's your perspective today?

Love This Brave Post

I just LOOOOOVVVVEEEED this post from Jen Lemen. It just oozes authenticity and real life and bravery and the struggle and the surrender.

Joy

What is bringing you joy today?

Lessons I'm (Re)learning

I'm coming out of one of those weeks where I ask myself what is the lesson for me in this? These are the tough kind of weeks when a person like me feels a little rattled to my core. My bravery has been tested, and the results are not yet in. When I told my brother that I thought it was odd that I lost my voice for about half a day, he responded with, "Stress can do that you know."

So here is the BIG lesson: I DO NOT HAVE A MAGIC WAND!

I sure wish I did, but I don't--not at work, or at home, or about my body, or my friends, or money, or my future.

In fact I'm so limited on the amount of control and influence I have, that I'm embarrassed to admit how many places and ways I try to wave the magic wand I don't have.

For example, my job is to teach. I do not get to magically make children happy or organized or respectful or honest or kind. My job is to teach--beyond that I'm powerless.

This does not make me hopeless, but it does give me focus--an amazing amount of clarity.

I'm not sure when I lost that focus, but it did happen. I suspect it is tied up in desperately wanting the best possible future for my students that they can imagine--it's out of my control. My job is very specific in a very finite window of their young lives. I have no capacity to change their pasts. The limited impact I have in the present I hope will in some way carry over into the future. I get myself into trouble when I let my heart expect something else.

I often have described myself like a banquet chef. I know what kind of food kids at this age need to grow up healthy and live long prosperous lives. So I cook that food, and I make it look as delicious as I can with the limited resources I have. And then I set it out. They ultimately decide what and when to eat.

Don't you sometimes wish you had a magic wand?

Asking For Help

When I was a young woman I thought that being a grown up meant I would never need to ask anyone for help. So I muddled through many ups and downs, struggling alone. This became my habit, my MO.

This eventually developed into an almost paralyzing fear of being found out to be a fraud. Maybe I wasn't as together as other people. Maybe I wasn't as confident as I projected. Maybe I will disappoint you. Maybe I am human.

Today I look back and smile knowingly at that young woman. But even with that knowledge it's really hard to ask for help. I will most often wait till I'm at the end of my rope, holding on by my fingernails, and then I'll whisper a little, "Help!"

I'm pleased to say I am actively taking steps to seek out help. I'm also realizing and opening to the idea that it often is not coming from where I might expect. I'm also opening to the thought that help might not come when or where I expect it.

Here are some places I'm finding help these days:

• Brave Girls Club


• Brave Women's Breakfast


• Local Library


• Cyperspace--other blogs, especially


• The innocent laughter of children


• Smiles from strangers


• Affirmation cards

Where are you asking for and finding help?

Is the Tail Wagging the Dog?

So I just finished reading the book Brain-Based Teaching in the Digital Age by Marilee Sprenger (download electronically for free here). I participated in a little online group. We posted responses to different sections of the book. At the end we responded to where education is going. From my post below, you can tell I'm not feeling real hopeful.

I have great concerns for the future of education and our society as a whole. One only needs to look at a few news articles about a more technologically advanced nation, such as South Korea, to see some of the pitfalls of technology in society and the consequences of social isolation--such as an epidemic of online addiction and children starving to death while their parents gamed (New York Times article, May 2010). If public education is the foundation of democratic society, then we have a heavy burden and responsibility to recognize and deal with current issues, as well as anticipate future concerns. In the time I have taught I feel like the world of education has taken many steps back in the name of progress. Quite frankly I find it sad and depressing. It doesn't really matter what or how we teach if all the joy is squeezed right out for students and teachers.

I would love the number one priority of education to be fostering a lifelong love of learning. Why isn't it? I would like to see a close second be kindness and cooperation with other human beings. Why isn't it? I feel like these 2 are not valued by schools, parents, or students. I feel far from the mainstream of educators, when I express these personal ideals. Oh, I know we can't measure them on a test or assign them a grade, but so what?

I think if we continue on the course we are on, more learning will be online, and less learning will occur in a setting of human connection. I don't know how long our society will last, but at some point the pendulum will have to swing in order to survive.

I feel like the role of technology is all secondary to this. It's going to be here, but we could determine how much and how fast. I think we as a society should be defining technology, instead of it defining us.

So when all this gets me down I think about one of my education heroes, Deborah Meier. I think of what my heart has learned and my mind believed possible by reading her book The Power of Their Ideas. I think of her unflagging beliefs in the power of democracy in education.

And then when I know my ideals are still good, I turn to another hero, Parker J. Palmer, who allows me to believe that my passion comes from a deep place in my spirit. And I believe I should care for myself and my hope. Even if the tail is doing the wagging, it might not stay that way.

Where do you turn when you are down hearted about your professional passion?

What's With Truth?

I've been dealing with the truth for the past couple days. It's been painful, maybe even gut-wrenching. The thing that's crazy is that it's truth I've known inside me for a long time. It's been a well kept secret. It's one of those things that I thought not saying out loud would keep it from being true.

But in my pursuit of BRAVE, I've found truth to be popping up everywhere. I'm not talking the sweet sort of truth. I'm talking the ugly truth. It's breaking me open. I thought the truth was supposed to set us free, but there seem to be a lot of long dark detours on the way to free.

And with those raw emotions I went to school today. I wish I could have worn a sign that said, "Please be gentle. I'm fragile." Instead I had several encounters that made me feel way not enough. I felt all day like I sucked at my job, and I wondered why I didn't do more work over Winter Break. (There is something very sinister in that.) I think I was actually a good teacher today in the face of all of this, and I'm trying to believe that truth, too.

Here's my giving update:

#2 Lunch for Tammy

#3 Compliments to Cashier

#4 Math materials for team teacher

Happy New Year!

I hope you see bright light and shining stars surrounding you in the new year. And I hope you will shine brightly, too! Happy New Year!

Looking for Color and Giving

Can you believe the year is over? I can't! This week I've gone through such a wide range of emotion.

In the midst of it all my little family took a trip to Nature Realm that is part of Summit Country Metro Parks. The Visitor Center is perfect for young kids--hands on stuff. A naturalist even shared a Fox Snake with Sam. (I stood back--not a big snake fan-understatement.)



While at Nature Realm I was struck by how colorless, gray, and bland the snow covered, barren landscape looked with just a passing glance, but what incredible colors were a gentle gift to anyone who took a little extra time to look. The subtle horizon color when I looked at the tree at the top of this post. And these few stragglers looked like nothing but twisted brown on a little bush, but what surprising colors were there when a flash was added.

This made me think about how often I spend the winter from this point on rushing by and only seeing the gray. I wonder what I will find if I take a little time and shine my own light on the world around me.

In an attempt to shine my own little light, I have joined the 29 Day Giving Challenge. I've written about book 29 Gifts by Cami Walker here and here. I'm looking forward to keeping you updated on what this means for me and the impact of intentionally recognizing giving.

So as we say good bye to 2010, what are your plans for the new year?

Simply Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone simply Merry Christmas!

There were lots of internal and external forces that tried to pull us into more complicated holidays, but for the most part we have resisted. This has given us so much more joy.

What did you do or leave undone to find joy this season?

Christmas Vacation, Here I Am!

My highlight since I last wrote was going to look at lights to celebrate the Winter Solstice with my little family. There is nothing like driving around in the dark at 6 p.m. with an almost 2 year old in the back seat shouting, "More lights! More lights!"



I made it! Winter break is here. It's hard to believe that it's Christmas Eve Eve. Since I last blogged I've made it through Christmas with my family, lots of my little family spending extra time with my husband's family, wrapping up the short by challenging week at school, and just trying to be gentle with myself and others.

While not everything is wrapped and ready I'm in a surprisingly good space with myself. I believe this is in large part due to the class I've been taking. (You can find out more by looking at Jen Lemen's blog on November 19.) It's been so much about waiting and patience. The power of this is just beginning to seep in and cause a shift. Without forcing or pushing or manipulating anything I'm more calm than ever.

Yesterday just as I packed up my bags and fed the fish I got to enjoy yoga nidra. I left so relaxed I didn't even feel like I had capped the Christmas volcano with my students for the past 3 days!

What are you doing to be gentle with yourself?

Unfolding

Life is unfolding just as it should.

I historically pride myself on making some good homemade gifts. I've made calendars with my watercolor paintings and photographs. I've made scrumptious treats, scarves, adn the such. This year I'm stuck. I can't think of anything people actually would appreciate to purchase or make. I have lots of anxiety and stress about this-this morning I felt panic.

And then I thought: life is unfolding just as it should.

I'm holding on to that today. I'm trusting that when I really need it, I will have what I need for others.

Exuberance

So this weekends has been one of enjoying the season for our little family. I don't think this is going to be one of those Martha Stewart holidays where everything looks put together. I would guess that it's probably going to be whatever the opposite of that is. (I base my hypothesis on the fact that the decorations on the bottom half of our tree are constantly being rearranged and often ending up clumped in one spot! And the fact that my first day of winter break is December 23.)

But if the little things count for much we are going to remember this December for many years to come. Saturday evening we ate a little meal as the tiniest snowflakes flew in the air, and then we were inspired to walk around our neighborhood all bundled up looking for "mas liths"--the i is long--let me translate: Christmas lights. We didn't even bother to stop for the calm and well appointed decorations. Nope we headed straight for the most garish displays possible. It's funny how when you look at the world from a child's perspective that way over the top seems just about right! We chose to say repeatedly, "Look at that exuberance!"

And as I write there are real snowflakes falling, and for the first time the little fellow is all bundled in a snowsuit while being pulled on a sled. And while his nose turns pink you just know that he is feeling exuberant.

And so I suspect that even if I had time to make 57 varieties of cookies or make the perfect gift for everyone or have well appointed decorations, there would be no more exuberance than seeing my son's dad try to get that son's boot back on while the little boy giggled and rolled in the snow.

Darkness and Change

It's crazy to see how quickly winter is approaching. There is snow in the forecast for tomorrow, and it's dark so early in the afternoon. I know it's not technically winter, but tomorrow is December.

I've started an amazing class this week. I'm a little shy to mention it. I think it's going to be really powerful--even life changing.

Today's feature revolved around darkness. It just got me thinking about how much I don't like the dark. I feel physical disoriented in the darkness. Sometimes it's even hard to catch my breath in the dark. I can't stand caves.

Sometimes I even move toward ANY light just to escape the dark. Who knows what could have been waiting on the other side of that darkness? Morning follows night. Spring follows winter. What raises such fear in me? Why?

How do you feel about darkness?