Who Are You?

Today was the first meeting of the entire faculty at the new school. If you’re new to this blog, here’s an update: I’m moving to a new school, and I found out today (contrary to that linked post) that I have TWO windows. I didn’t turn on my lights once today, and it was by far the best day I’ve had in a school thus far into my career. Not because there weren’t any kids around, but because I could use natural light to utilize the environs. It’s a beautiful thing.

At this first meeting the principal handed us a sheet to fill out. This before launching into a Q&A about the changes we’d like to make in ourselves as teachers; the changes we’d like to enliven within the students; the changes we’d like to make in education in our city and state. And while I principal might not have addressed his goals as directly as he could have, I know that these goals are in the back of each teacher’s mind: What are we going to do to open a new school?

We shared a few things, and I shared my own with the group. But before I turn in the questionnaire to the principal, I’d like to share them here. What follows are the questions on that sheet of paper, along with my answers.

I am a young-ish man; still new to teaching. I teach 8th grade Language Arts. I am a husband, a father, and I feel that I am still a child and thus still able to connect to the kids. I am a reader. I am a thinker. I am a camper. I am a cook. I try to be that ‘renaissance man’ in every way I can, and so I am an artist, a scientist, a lawyer, a mathematician, kook, and thief. I am malleable, and am willing to take on any challenge teaching brings.

What do you stand for and believe in?

Sadly my political views are cinched off by the morals of teaching. Should I teach or inform about certain topics, I’d come under fire. And so I teach around those beliefs. I do honestly believe that every student can and will learn. I honestly believe that our current education system dumbs things down for the kids. I honestly believe that students can be treated as adults, and I believe that we should give the kids the best, most honest education we can provide. I think we should expose students to every type of reading, writing, philosophy, science, and practice we comprehend, and I think we should also work to learn those things we do not comprehend. I believe that teaching opportunities happen every day and every minute for the students, but I also think that we teachers need to seek out those teaching opportunities for ourselves. We we encounter something we do not know or understand, we should work to educate ourselves. We should pass on what we’ve learned to the students. If the job of an educator is to be a parent, then we must strive to answer every question of “Why?”

Where do you want to take us?

I want to take our faculty and our student body beyond what’s expected. If our ultimate goal is to create critical thinkers, then we need to act as critical thinkers. I think we need to open the boundaries of our teaching and step into the ether to answer the questions our students seek. We need a willingness to say “I don’t know the answer to that question,” when the kids ask difficult ones, and we need to be able to share with our students the process of learning that information. Kids aren’t dumb, they’re inquisitive, and they need and seek guidance. We can’t tell them what to think (unless it’s a scientific or mathematical proof), but we can show them that asking questions requires a follow-through.

Why you?

Because I actually care about walking kids through a series of hoops to show them that life is not a series of hoops. Life is a series of conflicts and resolutions. Our job is to make our students able to take part in the resolution. My job is to make them realize that if they don’t take part in creating their own future, someone else will do it for them, and that won’t always work out to their liking.

What qualifies you for this job?

I’m here, aren’t I?

But a more serious answer would be a copy of the previous answer: I want to help students see that school is not a punishment; I want them to take an active part in learning learning learning. I want them to succeed and I want to take them to a point where there figure out that what you do in life is not something you accept.

What makes you think you can do this?

Sheer defiance.

Do you really know what you’re getting yourself into?

No, I don’t. And that’s why having this opportunity to open a new school is so interesting to me. I don’t think I’m valuable to the community, and I don’t think I can adequately provide an education to my students. I don’t thin I can learn the kids as individuals. I don’t think I have the skills to teach, and I don’t think I model the skills students need in the future. I think I’m learning right along with the students, and I think that I model a self-deprecating person. So maybe that’s a strength. If I am at all capable, it’s to show students that I am currently in class alongside them. I support them. I am them.

What changes are you planning to make?

• I want to enter us into the Scripps spelling bee.
• I want to have my students participate in NPR’s StoryCorps.
• I want my students to participate in the NaNoWriMo.
• I want my students to Read 4 Novels.
• I want my students to write 10 papers.
• I want my students to learn research and writing by doing both for their other classes. Meaning, I want to help create a cross-curricular educational process for the kids, where they research and write for their other classes. I want them to use my class a method to learn how to learn about the topics in other classes.
• I want to enable the creation of a learning community, and by that I mean not only the students, but to bring in their parents as co-learners and advocates for the education system.
• I want to be a smarter teacher.
• I want to be a better teacher.
• I want to create a learning environment where the process (of all classes) leads to an attainable goal for all students.

And while all of this is still preliminary and completely unsubstantiated, It’s my plan.