Last summer I read a book about transformational teaching and it truly opened my eyes to why I become so frustrated with other educators. I agree with the authors almost 100% about why and how we teach students; however, there are several teachers I have encountered in my short career that probably would not agree with the principles discussed throughout the book, Transformational Teaching by Rosebrough and Leverett.
For those of you reading who are unfamiliar with transformational teaching, it is basically the why and how we teach- to transform the whole student. Contrary to transforming students is the common practice of feeding them information so that they can regurgitate their knowledge on a test. Transformational teaching involves teaching problem solving skills and identifying areas of strength and weakness in each student in order to challenge them to become the best they can be.
I always dreamed of being a transformational teacher- a person who touches the lives of others. Unfortunately, I feel as though I have gotten away from doing just that. In the book the authors mention that teachers can only control 14% of the factors that affect whether a student learns or not. Throughout the past two years I have been extremely frustrated with a lack of resources, which I felt had been holding back my ability to meet individual needs of students, as well as the attitudes of others in my building. The resources I speak of could be anything from a table with chairs to technology. While the attitudes of some of the fellow teacher are that of if a student does not understand a concept the first time they haven't tried hard enough. All of which I have realized this year as simple excuses. Transformational teaching doesn't need any of these things.
If I become an administrator or are viewed as a leader, as I aim to some day become, I hope that I can inspire teachers to become transformational and change the lives of the students in the building.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Fellow Teachers
Sometimes it is so hard to enter the front doors of a school building because of all of the changes taking place in education and more specifically in Tennessee right now. However, one thing positive change that has occurred in our school building in the past year is that the teachers have started supporting one another.
In most literature you read about teaching, it talks about how teaching can be a very isolated profession. I wish I could say that it wasn't, but at times it is. However, it doesn't have to be.
Teachers need to support one another, challenge one another, and inspire one another. Fellow teachers are the only ones who understand how difficult it is to stand in front of a class of thirty while your mind is dealing with human emotions and concerns. Fellow teachers are the only ones who understand how taxing teaching can be on your joints and vocals. Fellow teachers are the only ones who understand all the demands that are being placed on all educators. Fellow teachers are the only ones who understand how much you will sleep during the first week of summer because of all of the hard work you have put in over the past ten months.
So next time you find yourself frustrated when you enter the building of your school because you are being asked to return a phone call to a distraught parent, comfort a child who is dealing with more than most adults can comprehend or your administrator is adding one more thing to your plate, turn to your fellow teachers who will understand every ounce of what you are dealing with...and hang in there! Things will get better.
In most literature you read about teaching, it talks about how teaching can be a very isolated profession. I wish I could say that it wasn't, but at times it is. However, it doesn't have to be.
Teachers need to support one another, challenge one another, and inspire one another. Fellow teachers are the only ones who understand how difficult it is to stand in front of a class of thirty while your mind is dealing with human emotions and concerns. Fellow teachers are the only ones who understand how taxing teaching can be on your joints and vocals. Fellow teachers are the only ones who understand all the demands that are being placed on all educators. Fellow teachers are the only ones who understand how much you will sleep during the first week of summer because of all of the hard work you have put in over the past ten months.
So next time you find yourself frustrated when you enter the building of your school because you are being asked to return a phone call to a distraught parent, comfort a child who is dealing with more than most adults can comprehend or your administrator is adding one more thing to your plate, turn to your fellow teachers who will understand every ounce of what you are dealing with...and hang in there! Things will get better.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Reminscing
Sometimes as I look at across my class, I find myself yearning to relive my first few years in the classroom. Today I was wondering why that happens. Is it because I feel bad for the students I taught all those years ago because they were stuck with such an inexperienced teacher? Or maybe it is because I miss the camaraderie of the teachers I taught with at LaVergne? Or better yet, I wonder if I miss all of the late nights spent at school because I was busy being a soccer coach then too? Either way, lately I have missed my first few years in the classroom immensely.
As teachers prepare to retire at my current school in the next few years, I wonder if I will continue teaching for the next twenty years. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching. It just seems like there is so much negativity at times; how can one live their life surrounded by it. I hope those that are retiring realize that not only their students will remember them, but the other teachers they have encouraged and tutored will miss and remember them as well.
To all the educators that have gone before me- thank you! Thank you for inspiring me to become a teacher. Thank you for pushing me through my education, even when I didn't want to go after loosing my mom. Thank you for the experience you have passed along to me through our many brief hallway conversations. And thank you for deciding to become a teacher. The world of education would not be the same without the imprint you have left on the thousands of students, the parents you have encountered and the other teacher, just like me, that you have touched.
As teachers prepare to retire at my current school in the next few years, I wonder if I will continue teaching for the next twenty years. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching. It just seems like there is so much negativity at times; how can one live their life surrounded by it. I hope those that are retiring realize that not only their students will remember them, but the other teachers they have encouraged and tutored will miss and remember them as well.
To all the educators that have gone before me- thank you! Thank you for inspiring me to become a teacher. Thank you for pushing me through my education, even when I didn't want to go after loosing my mom. Thank you for the experience you have passed along to me through our many brief hallway conversations. And thank you for deciding to become a teacher. The world of education would not be the same without the imprint you have left on the thousands of students, the parents you have encountered and the other teacher, just like me, that you have touched.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
To Make a Difference
In the teaching profession there are a handful of teachers that did not arrive at teaching simply because of the hours (trust me, they aren't what you think), or the retirement (that's not enough to live on), or the summer vacations (that's when professional development normally happens). A handful of teachers actually became an educator because they want to make a difference in the world. At first the difference that wanted to be made was to affect the life of a child...and sometimes that desire grows into more than just one child or a handful of children.
Lately, several teacher friends and I have found ourselves contemplating if teaching is allowing us to make the difference in the world that we set out to make. One such friend has decided she wants to look at the nursing field, while others are roaming lost trying to find that purpose in life. It makes teaching sometimes difficult to watch peers struggle with their purpose.
When did the world become so caught up in lobbyist, politics, and reform that it has forgotten about what is important. Each student has a genuinely different calling in life that standards aren't allowing teachers to groom.
This past week while talking to a parent I found myself frustrated. Teaching seventh grade English many students come to my class and can't identify a noun, verb, etc. in a sentence. As far as seventh grade English goes, my standards do not really cover that skill; instead I have to teach them how a noun functions in a sentence, how a verb acts in a sentence, or whether a prepositional phrase is acting like and adjective or adverb. So I spend most of the first semester reviewing concepts that are included in standards from third grade to sixth grade. Although I sometimes become frustrated, I know I must do this in order for students to grasp the application of the English skills I must teach them before they become eighth graders. However, as a teacher it is hard to explain to a parent that the student hasn't even learned half of what they will learn in my classroom and the year is over halfway over. Needless to say I sometimes feel defeated or question whether I am doing what is right for the student. Especially when parents call me a "hard teacher".
This past Friday I was talking to the math teacher on my team about the observation standards. This year in Tennessee teacher observations have changed, and although the majority of the process is a positive change, there are negatives to the areas teachers are judged. For example, a teacher is deemed successful by how many outside school events they attend. They are also gauged successful by how well students respect one another in their classroom, even if a teacher has no control over how much respect a parent shows others or how much interaction they have with the student to encourage respect. Frustrated by the changes, many teachers are wanting to leave the profession, forgetting why they became an educator.
Education is not about the standards. It is not about the summer vacations. Nor is it about successful an outsider feels a teacher is. Instead it is about making a difference in the lives of as many students as a teacher can during the ten months of students' lives that they fill the seats in your classroom. No matter how many changes or challenges a teacher is presented with, look in the eyes of a student or find a moment of success in a student's life and be reminded why you started teaching in the first place.
Lately, several teacher friends and I have found ourselves contemplating if teaching is allowing us to make the difference in the world that we set out to make. One such friend has decided she wants to look at the nursing field, while others are roaming lost trying to find that purpose in life. It makes teaching sometimes difficult to watch peers struggle with their purpose.
When did the world become so caught up in lobbyist, politics, and reform that it has forgotten about what is important. Each student has a genuinely different calling in life that standards aren't allowing teachers to groom.
This past week while talking to a parent I found myself frustrated. Teaching seventh grade English many students come to my class and can't identify a noun, verb, etc. in a sentence. As far as seventh grade English goes, my standards do not really cover that skill; instead I have to teach them how a noun functions in a sentence, how a verb acts in a sentence, or whether a prepositional phrase is acting like and adjective or adverb. So I spend most of the first semester reviewing concepts that are included in standards from third grade to sixth grade. Although I sometimes become frustrated, I know I must do this in order for students to grasp the application of the English skills I must teach them before they become eighth graders. However, as a teacher it is hard to explain to a parent that the student hasn't even learned half of what they will learn in my classroom and the year is over halfway over. Needless to say I sometimes feel defeated or question whether I am doing what is right for the student. Especially when parents call me a "hard teacher".
This past Friday I was talking to the math teacher on my team about the observation standards. This year in Tennessee teacher observations have changed, and although the majority of the process is a positive change, there are negatives to the areas teachers are judged. For example, a teacher is deemed successful by how many outside school events they attend. They are also gauged successful by how well students respect one another in their classroom, even if a teacher has no control over how much respect a parent shows others or how much interaction they have with the student to encourage respect. Frustrated by the changes, many teachers are wanting to leave the profession, forgetting why they became an educator.
Education is not about the standards. It is not about the summer vacations. Nor is it about successful an outsider feels a teacher is. Instead it is about making a difference in the lives of as many students as a teacher can during the ten months of students' lives that they fill the seats in your classroom. No matter how many changes or challenges a teacher is presented with, look in the eyes of a student or find a moment of success in a student's life and be reminded why you started teaching in the first place.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Positivity
With all of the drama going on in the field of education currently, a professor recently reminded me that all of the drama cannot be changed, but what can be altered is our attitude. So the next time you feel like complaining, try "lacing up your boots, and getting to work" because it is the children we are fighting for. Such a helpful reminder during this time of change. Thanks, Dr. Roberts!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Observations
As many educators in Tennessee are aware, the new observation method- TAP- has caused many to question their professional decisions. Yesterday I read an article in which legislatures are reconsidering the benefit the new observation model has on schools. Although observations need to occur, the time a teacher has throughout the day to be a human adds to the stress the model is creating.
Recently I found myself recalling my student teaching experience in New Zealand in which the teachers received an hour and a half of unstructured adult time. Thirty minutes in the morning are set aside for the teachers to socialize together during morning tea, while an hour is given for lunch. Oh, how I long for the socialization and non-structured time.
Of course the observation model has areas that need to be addressed. For example, not every administrator is addressing the "unannounced" observations the same. Some teachers are told when the observations will take place, while others are completely shocked when others enter their room. Another thing that I do not think is taken into consideration is the extra responsibilities teachers are asked to take on. Although I have gotten better at telling an administrator "no" when asked to take on something, there are still times when I say "I don't think so" and somehow I am still wrangled in to doing it. Often times that means my classes are interrupted by communication from the office, people coming in my classroom, and expectations or deadlines that have to be met and yet my planning period is not long enough to meet them.
Don't misunderstand me- I enjoy the idea of administrators being in my room more often; personally, they aren't in my room enough. However, I think there are other things in the American educational systems that need to be looked at first in order to retain good and even great teachers.
Recently I found myself recalling my student teaching experience in New Zealand in which the teachers received an hour and a half of unstructured adult time. Thirty minutes in the morning are set aside for the teachers to socialize together during morning tea, while an hour is given for lunch. Oh, how I long for the socialization and non-structured time.
Of course the observation model has areas that need to be addressed. For example, not every administrator is addressing the "unannounced" observations the same. Some teachers are told when the observations will take place, while others are completely shocked when others enter their room. Another thing that I do not think is taken into consideration is the extra responsibilities teachers are asked to take on. Although I have gotten better at telling an administrator "no" when asked to take on something, there are still times when I say "I don't think so" and somehow I am still wrangled in to doing it. Often times that means my classes are interrupted by communication from the office, people coming in my classroom, and expectations or deadlines that have to be met and yet my planning period is not long enough to meet them.
Don't misunderstand me- I enjoy the idea of administrators being in my room more often; personally, they aren't in my room enough. However, I think there are other things in the American educational systems that need to be looked at first in order to retain good and even great teachers.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Values
In class yesterday we began discussing educational values. We went from talking about the individual concepts that we, as individuals, desire in education to the overarching themes instilled within the souls of students enrolled in teacher courses at local universities. It really made me think. Have all of the teacher education courses I've endured valued the same thing in education?
Overall, the three universities I have attended, although very different, have held one core value. They have shown future educators and administrators to not loose sight of the most important thing in education- the students. If they were trying to instill within me a different value, it may not have stuck due to my real life experiences. Whether they were nihilist, theist, or any other belief, it rarely affected me in my education.
Unfortunately, there are only a few classes that have any sort of lasting affect on me during my education coursework. These classes are the ones that dealt with diversity, a concept I see negated all too often in our public schools. I have also been inspired by the fellow students in my classes. I'm in awe of the variety of people I encounter, and yet, we all agree that education needs to be altered.
No matter what the concepts are that I value in education, I will always place the students in the center of my actions.
Overall, the three universities I have attended, although very different, have held one core value. They have shown future educators and administrators to not loose sight of the most important thing in education- the students. If they were trying to instill within me a different value, it may not have stuck due to my real life experiences. Whether they were nihilist, theist, or any other belief, it rarely affected me in my education.
Unfortunately, there are only a few classes that have any sort of lasting affect on me during my education coursework. These classes are the ones that dealt with diversity, a concept I see negated all too often in our public schools. I have also been inspired by the fellow students in my classes. I'm in awe of the variety of people I encounter, and yet, we all agree that education needs to be altered.
No matter what the concepts are that I value in education, I will always place the students in the center of my actions.
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