Three Reasons to Be a Teacher

3 Reasons to be a Teacher:

1)  June

2)  July

3)  August

Ah, the dog days of summer.  Time to sleep in, enjoy coffee on the porch, take the kids to the beach and the park, travel, barbeque, camp, catch up on the latest gossip on daytime television, read novels from this summer's best seller list, and generally be responsibility-free for the whole season.  For many, this is what they think of when they think of teaching:  working a job that has the incredible benefit of three months of absolute laziness a year.  While this may sound enticing, anybody who has spent any time either with a teacher or as a teacher knows that this rosy picture of luxury is far from the reality of what summer is like for many people in this profession.

Summer vacation for me meant 80 hours of curriculum development work, confined to a windowless library at one of our district's high schools.  Thankfully, they were kind enough to assign us to one of the few air-conditioned places in our buildings.  We spent the first week being re-trained on the newly-adopted Common Core State Standards and were discouraged from working at our own pace.  What was touted as time for us to write curriculum turned into lecture upon lecture about how to create performance-based assessments, write standards-based units and lessons, and identify mentor texts and resources that we might use to support our instruction.  We then broke for the summer, planning to return to the table in August for the second half of this work, where we would reconvene in the confines of yet another windowless conference room at our district office, rested, relaxed, and ready to crank out all of the units we would need for the upcoming school year.

I then traveled to Minneapolis for five days to attend a conference on dual language immersion.  In the comfort of a conference room with light refreshments, we learned about the fundamentals of dual language immersion, the research that supports this type of instruction, and the effective strategies for pedagogy in this program.  Our focus was on using standards to design units, creating and sustaining the space for students to use language in our classrooms, and lesson planning in the DLI classroom.  My co-worker and I had brought our curriculum-writing resources with us to this conference, fully intending to continue our work back in our shared hotel room; however, after a long day of learning we were too mentally exhausted to get much of anything accomplished aside from dinner and a quick phone call home to our respective families.  "Don't worry," we assured each other, "the curriculum will get written soon.  We will just have to do it when we get home."

Well, now we're home, and now it's almost August.  In three short weeks, I need to have unit outlines, lesson plans, performance-based assessments and rubrics written, as well as identified mentor texts, graphic organizers, and protocols created for goal-setting and progress-monitoring for five different classes:  6th grade ESL, 7th grade ESL, 8th grade ESL, 6th grade Spanish Language Arts, and 7th grade Spanish Language Arts.  All of these courses need to be complementary to mainstream, core academic classes, and they need to be creative enough to engage the reluctant learners that I often find in my classroom.  Furthermore, the Spanish Language Arts classes need to follow the same scope and sequence as their English Language Arts counterparts without doubling-up on instruction or translating the ELA content.  As I'm sure you educators can imagine, this is truly an art form that requires constant collaboration with the ELA teachers--collaboration that may or may not happen this summer based on scheduling conflicts.

What could cause such scheduling conflicts, you ask?  Aren't the other teachers just lying around waiting for September?

Not exactly.  

Most of the teachers with whom I need to collaborate are teaching summer school.  Others are attending graduate school or taking classes--paid for with their own money and not reimbursed by the district or tax-deductible--to maintain their certification or to earn a small raise of less than $100 a month.  You might find teachers traveling to gain experiences they will take back to their classrooms, attending annual data retreats to discuss disproportionality in our schools and develop strategies for addressing specific needs in the upcoming school year, participating in school improvement focus groups, or tutoring children who need extra summer support.  Maybe they have other summer jobs that help pay the bills, or they are taking the time to catch up on professional reading that gets ignored during the hectic academic year.  As I created this list, I just realized myself that I need to update my Professional Development Plan (PDP), something I am sure many others are also writing this summer.  And, speaking of professional development, there are hundreds of hours being volunteered right now by educators in my district who are attending PD's on becoming Middle School Math Specialists, receiving training in Developmental Designs, and learning about how to use hip hop to design culturally-responsive units and engage students in their learning.  One of my friends actually organized an Edcamp here in the area for professional collaboration, and routinely learns in online forums as well.  Whatever they are doing, you can rest-assured that there is plenty of work being accomplished during the months of summer.

So why did I become a teacher?  Was it really for June, July, and August?  

In some ways, perhaps.

In June, I reflected on the beauty of a full-inclusion education, which is what my school offers.  I asked my students for feedback about what I, as their teacher, did that worked and how they thought I could improve.  I was reminded of the fact that I became a teacher to provide young people with a high-quality education that met their needs, respected their diversity, and challenged them to think critically about the world around them.

In July, I reflected on the power of a bilingual education, which is the direction in which my school is heading.  I asked questions and challenged existing systems in our school to help create the framework for high-leverage Dual Language Instruction in our building.  I was reminded of the fact that I became a teacher to advocate for student learning, to facilitate cultural and linguistic fluidity, and to prepare young people for our global society by giving them the opportunity to learn academic content while simultaneously developing fluency in two languages.

In August, I plan to reflect on effective pedagogy as I spend the last few weeks of summer writing the fall curriculum that will be taught in my school.  I will ask myself what students need to know and be able to do to be successful in the upcoming year.  I will remind myself of the fact that I became a teacher to design units of instruction that engage students to the highest level of their ability and beyond, reflect their interests, and teach them to respect themselves, each other, and their environment, while preparing them for higher learning or careers beyond high school.

In short, yes, I did become a teacher for June, July, and August, as these months provide me with the time I need for personal and professional reflection so that when the chaos of the academic school year begins I am well-prepared for everything that comes our way.  Cheers to all you other educators who also take this time to become better practitioners.  Our students and their families are grateful for your dedication and fortunate to have you as their educators.  Enjoy the rest of your summer and best of luck getting ready for the fall.

Harumph! Kids These Days! On Changing Our Tone About Young People

"There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children."

- Nelson Mandela

A lot has been said in the media lately about the degeneration of our youth and their seeming lack of moral character, their resulting destructive behavior, and their defiance.  I, personally, was involved in a conversation recently where the woman with whom I was talking mentioned how much she appreciates people like me who have a heart for educating middle school students because, if left up to her, "I would just want to smack those little brats around if I had to teach them!" she exclaimed.

Really?  Smack them around?  For what? 

Anybody who has gone through formal training to be a teacher and anybody who has worked with young people for some time knows that during these formative years they go through an incredible amount of changes, rapidly and chaotically, generally without a lot of understanding of what is happening to them.  The early adolescent phase (roughly ages 11-14) is exceptionally difficult for students physically, chemically, socially, and emotionally.  As their bodies grow faster than sometimes their brains can keep up, they begin to care about what others think of them and start to select friendships based on common interests or perceived identities.  They get very insecure about new physical developments--voices cracking, acne, clumsiness, becoming young women or men, newly discovered physical attractions, body image, self-esteem--you name it, they are confronted with it, all for the first time and all during these years. Intellectually, these people move from what developmental psychologist Jean Piaget terms, "Concrete Operational" thinking to "Formal Operational," which means that they go from seeing the world in very obvious, clearly defined ways to thinking in more abstract terms.  Ever try to use sarcasm or irony with an eight year old only to be left with crickets chirping or hurt feelings?  Walk into an eighth grade classroom, on the other hand, and it's practically the standard form of communication.  

All of these physical changes lead to further complications in terms of young adolescents' social/emotional development.  It is during these years that they begin to question the world around them, exploring their own beliefs and identities, and forming their own opinions based on their new experiences and brain capacities.  They become sensitive to issues of equity and social justice, often challenging disciplinary decisions they believe to be unfairly administered or advocating for some type of change in their community.  They squabble, goof around, fidget in desks that they are quickly outgrowing, and make and break friendships almost on a daily basis.  The mantra for middle school tends to be the idea of defining oneself and then defending that identity in the midst of peer pressure, cliques, "in" crowds and "out" crowds.  These are the years when bullying is heightened as insecurities flare and cause these young people to judge others they perceive to be different.  The irony is that all these young people really want is to be accepted, and in fighting for that acceptance, they often scramble over each other in the race to "coolness."  Anybody will tell you that the simplest way to define who you are is to identify who you are not.  Bullying comes from insecure people who target others who are not like them.

So what do we do to confront issues of bullying in our schools?  What do we do to guide these young people toward the kind of behavior that we adults deem "socially acceptable"?

Most of the time, we model exactly what we do not want them to do.

Turn on network television and you will see "judges" on tv shows using their position of power to berate people in their courtrooms; you will see politicians and talking heads demonizing teachers and launching vicious attacks on good people's character, all while yelling over them in interviews; and you will see an explosion of heated conversation about the story of a young person who was essentially stalked and killed by an adult for walking through the "wrong neighborhood" while wearing a hoodie.  Go to your favorite social media outlet and watch threads of people dehumanizing each other, name-calling and personally attacking people they don't even know for their opinions or beliefs.  Read how complicated issues get simplified, and people argue with each other using 140 characters or less.  Witness the rise of social media "trolls," whose sole purpose is to act as internet bullies.  All around us, figuratively and literally, wars are waged and lives are lost as bullying rages on a global scale.

We adults can't seem to figure out how to get along, yet we have the audacity to blame young people for their behavior? 

I suppose it's easier that way, for us to define who we are based on who we are not.  Being fixated on the woes of the younger generation keeps us distracted from looking at ourselves and challenging our own behavior.  When we disconnect from our responsibility for raising our youth, it becomes second nature to find someone else to blame for their behavior.  If it's not me, it must be the teachers.  If it's not me, it must be other parents.  If it's not me, it must be poverty.  If it's not me, it must be atheists.  If it's not me, it must be...well...anybody but me.

My challenge to you today is to begin to reflect on your own behavior, language, and actions.  How are you modeling the behavior you expect to see from young people today?  How are you actively engaged in being a positive force of change in our society?  Most importantly, how are you challenging your own beliefs, digging deep to find and address hidden bias and agendas, and possibly working through your own insecurities or fears?  Our young people need you to be there for them.  They need to see consistency in appropriate behavior to clearly understand and act on what is expected of them.  Above all else, our young people need you to love them, care for them, be kind to them, and give them the benefit of the doubt as they grow and make mistakes along the way.  Remember, you were once a member of the proverbial group of "[harumph!] kids these days," and you probably frustrated a lot of older people who did not understand your generation.  Treat these new young people how you wish you had been treated, and I guarantee you will see that just like you, they have many wonderful things to offer the world.  They just need our guidance to help them get there.