Be Gone Political Correctness!

I continue to hope that our society begins to move away from the obsession it has with political correctness. My view is that political correctness has done more harm than good in the name of not wanting to label people or hurt feelings. Our society has become politically correct to the point of absurdity. It does not help anyone to overlook the fact that we all have cultural differences and a variety of issues that go along with those differences.

Creating schools that truly celebrate and recognize multicultural differences is a difficult task to say the least. At this point I think it can only exist within individual classrooms, and not entire schools. My reasoning is that I believe that until society comes to accept our multicultural differences, our schools cannot. On an individual classroom basis I feel that the number one thing that any educator can do to increase acceptance and awareness of the differences that exist between students and those students’ differences as compared to the teacher is to get to know the students as individuals. What is often overlooked by the teacher is the fact that the students need to get to know you. Many teachers never or rarely share anything about their own lives with the students, supposedly out of the fear that the student will know too much about them. My feeling is that the more students know about you, the more they will be able to relate to you and the greater the potential you will be able to change their lives.

Another essential key to getting students to become more accepting of one another’s differences and similarities is that teachers must be willing to reflect, and seriously analyze, their own teaching practices. It is vital that educators, from pre-school to graduate school, be willing to examine how they teach, analyze its effectiveness, know their students, and then be alright with making any needed adjustments even if it means taking yourself out of your comfort zone.
A couple of things I do within my classroom that really helps to bridge the gap of diversity is I constantly encourage students that make mistakes to learn to accept those mistakes and understand that making mistakes is part of life. So many of our students, particularly those marginalized, are so fearful of failure that they get to a point in which they do not even want to try anymore. I also set aside days that I reserve for simply sharing stories with each other about events and/or happenings in our lives. It is easier to accomplish as a teacher if you begin by sharing a story from your own life. I also like to have students draw their classmate’s names at random and have them write down at least one nice thing about that person. It goes a long way towards building acceptance among each other. The unfortunate thing is that in today’s ever increasing emphasis on high stakes testing it is literally sucking the options for creativity and exploration from the teacher. Namulundah Florence sums up the frustrations felt by many educators in the book Multiculturalism 101 on page 96, “Bureaucratic demands compel teachers to “teach to the test” rather than explore ways of making learning more meaningful.” (Florence, 2010)

AMEN!!!

Scabs and Failure

Once again faithful followers I have a summer tutoring story to share that treads ever so slightly upon the fence that separates sadness and hilarity. As I have mentioned before on previous post I would much rather laugh than cry, so please enjoy the following tale of scabs and failure.

Earlier today I had the joy of working with a student I have tutored before several times. I believe the little boy is 8 years old. Every time he has been assigned to my table, he seems to always have varying amounts of new scabs covering old wounds. This is nothing out of the ordinary as the rambunctious behavior of most boys his age often leads to accidents occuring. The issue I have is that half of the time he spends at my table is devoted solely to the picking, pulling, scraping, and jabbing of his scabs. It is disgusting, bizarre, and makes me want to vomit everytime I think about it like right now! It is clear from his perspective that he is not doing anything at all unusual or disgusting which creeps me out even more. Chances are he would be much further along in his parent's objective of improving his math skills if he were not engaged in trying to dissect himself half the time.

What added to the weirdness today was the following three things...

1) He kept crossing his eyes and looking right to left for some reason.
2) He kept taking his right hand, and using it to jab his left wrist in his mouth. He then
serenaded the entire table with a magnificent symphony of fart noises.
3) At one point when I looked over to check on his progress he was steadily rocking back and
forth while looking right in my eyes and saying, "You're crazy man!" To which I replied,
"If I wasn't, I certainly am now."

Now, depending on whether you share my philosophy of it being better to laugh than cry will likely determine your displeasure or enjoyment of how this strange story concludes. It may help for you to take into account all of which I just shared to truly get a kick out of this, and I'll tell you now I am so disappointed that this medium does not allow me to adequately express this student's body language and facial expressions that took place when the following conversation occurred at my table.

Me (assigning another student at the table her assignment) - Are you pretty good with division?

Girl at the table - Yeah, I love it!

Me - Great! You need to complete problems 1-14, and they are all division.

Scab Boy (who I did not even think was listening says the following to no one in particular) - Division...I have no idea what division is. I'm in second grade, and I'm already in summer school!

I realize that I have a sick, rather dry, sense of humor but the inflection of his voice, the look on his face, timing of the statement, and his overall body language was one of the funniest things I have witnessed in quite some time.

Blog Q and A - What are the best things about teaching?

Why Do Teachers Teach? Finally My Thoughts...

As I posed the question 'why do teachers teach?' last week on this blog and facebook, I knew I'd receive a variety of responses and I certainly did. Humurous answers ranging from "because we're all irrational and slightly insane" to "cause you get a check and you enjoy the pain". While both responses are quite humorous, the scary part is that there is a bit of truth in each of the statements. I also had a lot more serious offerings including "I have the ability to make or break a child's spirit every singl". day. I can either instill in them a passion for learning or a distrust of teachers" to "I love to see the look on a student's face when they have been struggling to understand something, and then you see the light bulb go off when something finally clicks and you know they now get it". Both very thoughtful insights into the ever elusive answer to the always difficult question of just why do teachers teach.

The reason this question is so hard to answer is because there is not really a correct answer. Every person that chooses to make teaching their profession does so for their own reasons. Unfortunately , I feel all of us in the profession can rule out money as a reason for choosing to teach. So why do we sacrifice so much of ourselves as educators when we're clearly underpaid and in most regards under appreciated. The reason(s) that each of us choose to teach is often quite personal, and done for purposes so powerful that the hours of personal sacrifice, emotional turmoil, and low wages do not factor into our career choice.

For years now I have pondered my own answer to this question, and I'm still not sure I know all the reasons why I chose to teach. What I do know is this, and though this will sound incredibly hokey, I think the profession actually chose me. As early as when I was in middle school I can recall thinking how cool it would be to be a teacher. I have always been very fascinated by the power that teachers have to change lives. Additionally, I chose the teaching profession as a way to help me right the wrongs of my youth by helping my students not to make the same mistakes I did. Validation is another reason I teach...validation for my existence on this planet. Why spend the short time we have on this earth doing anything other than helping others?

More reasons coming soon...

Blog Q and A - Why do Teachers Teach?

Please feel free to leave your ideas about this topic, and I will share my thoughts and feelings in the coming days. Until we meet again...

Changes

For those of you that don't know I'm in the midst of currently pursuing a Master's degree in Middle Grades Education with a concentration in English, and I completed an assignment today for one of my classes that required me to read a book entitled Who Moved My Cheese? The book basically deals with change and how we choose to respond to those changes that so frequently occur in our lives. While the book was certainly a fascinating read, what I found more interesting is the coincidental timing of having to complete this assignment with all the recent changes in both my personal and professional life. One of the many lessons I took away from the book is the fact that changes are inevitable in our lives, and that instead of instinctually assuming that all change is synonymous with bad it stressed the importance of visualizing and embracing all the good that can come with change.

On a personal note the recent, and unexpected passing, of my grandfather last week was definitely a change that I was not prepared for, and it was quite difficult to find any good that could come from his death. However, something good did come from the unfortunate circumstances. I was able to reconnect and bond with my half sister during the 3 day trip to Georgia. Seventeen of those hours were spent with her and I passing the time talking on the way down and the way back. She is soon to be 20 years old and I have been absent from her life for the majority of it, due in large part to my being unable to let's say 'get along with my father'. I have carried around guilt for years, and I was finally able to explain myself and apologize to her for not being the brother I wanted to be. To my surprise and delight she accepted my apology and we ended up having a wonderful time. We had so much more in common than I would have ever thought possible.

Professionally, I will be faced with many changes in the coming school year and reading the book Who Moved My Cheese? has better equipped me to handle those impending changes. The first change for next year is that I'll be teaching 8th grade, instead of 7th, which I have taught for the past two years. I must admit that I have been anxious and excited about the changes associated with the move. The other two changes that I have not been so excited about is the departure of the principal that hired me, and the idea of having to adjust to the new principal and all the changes that will entail. Additionally, I will be teaching a new class as part of a county adopted literacy program called LANGUAGE! To say the least I was not looking forward to teaching this new program, but I am now ready to tackle the challenges that lay ahead. A question asked repeatedly by one of the main characters in the book is, "What would you do if you were not afraid?" It is this question that I will use to guide me next year as I'm faced with these new changes.