Teaching Passion

  As we near the end of the school year we can fall into a glut of negativity as certain things are really annoying to us on school day #179 that may not have been on day #1. We've tried a few good, and not so good, district initiatives. We need to create finals and study guides, and finish up grading on top of it. We've tried multiple interventions with a student, and his/her negative behaviors persist. Some mystery co-worker keeps taking the last cup of coffee from the pot and not brewing more! (editorial on coffee pot emptiers here) 

  While I hesitate to call it summer "vacation" because many of us stay just as busy with coaching responsibilities, summer school, second jobs, kids, classes, and conferences, the idea of summer is what keeps us going. Many of us even have countdowns on the board or we post "days until summer" on our twitter feeds. 

  Did you go into teaching so that you could have summers off? Probably not. So why perpetuate the myth a lot of the public holds?

  As we progress to the 2015/2016 school year, I urge you to shift focus to the why as an educator. Why DID you go into teaching? Why do you get excited when you are teaching certain things?

Build some new parameters that you are comfortable with and trust the students to explore their why as well. Project Based Learning (PBL) really focuses on this, but I am by no means asking you to jump right into having a PBL classroom next fall. Instead, I am asking that you pursue letting students apply some of their passions to your curriculum.

  Maybe you can recreate the excitement you had/have for becoming a teacher for a student in helping him/her to find something they are passionate about as well. If we are creating a classroom where doing the safe thing is always the right thing, we are encouraging our students to always go the safe route. If our classroom encourages interweaving things students are passionate and excited about, we will be encouraging our students to take risks and to continue to pursue their passions into adulthood. 

*"Have you ever met an adult who doesn’t like their job? I’ve met many. And it’s not necessarily their fault, our system produces many adults who failed to have a chance to find their passion through schooling and instead found that the best way to get by was to keep getting by…" (Re-Inventing School With Choice by AJ Juliani)*

LIFE LESSON: NO CLASSROOM NEEDED

As we know, many complex lessons don't involve standards and assessments. Here's one I recently experienced, and I hope time allows greater understanding of the big ideas:

My family visited a home this weekend humble in comparison to what we know. It was a tight space-- furniture cluttered the 5-room building, making any navigation difficult. As I sat down, I noticed several coasters on the coffee table, each depicting an eagle, an American flag, and “God Bless America.” I looked up and saw a worn, bare spot on the ceiling where water had done some damage. Duct tape striped a few openings. A little Yorky tried to lick our faces throughout the visit. Time was short-- a trek out to the Prairie Meadows casino for the weekly drawing awaited the host. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind’s ear, John Mellencamp’s “Pink Houses” seeped in.

The conversations were forced, but certainly tried. We learned of the burdens of ex-cons. There was no doubt as to the source of the problem; that was clearly accepted. No driver's license, the required classes, and mandatory hardline phone pulled relatives and others into the problem: chauffeuring, added bills, food, shelter, and external issues incurred.

And there's winners, and there's losers

But they ain't no big deal

'Cause the simple man, baby, pays the thrills, the bills,

The pills that kill

We also learned of retired relatives with health limitations. Retirement has been rough on the couple. A lifetime of low-wage labor jobs left little to live on, and an eviction ensued. The eviction turned them to sleeping in a car until they were allowed to bunk in a local auto parts store (when it worked out, and not during business hours). A marginally reliable vehicle didn't always get them to the store by closing time, which meant missing medications and the ensuing swelling of the legs. Destiny, apparently, the stronger prescription.

The big drawing time drew nearer and we collected to leave. I hung my head, trying to comprehend the gravity of these situations. I was thankful for what I have and what I've been given, but as I looked down, there it was again: “God Bless America.”

Little was said on the drive home. The enigma of the coasters proved a brain twister.