I watched a powerful Ted Talk this evening that got me really thinking.

WHY?

What is your why?

Why do you get up out of bed in the morning?

Why are you a teacher? What do you believe your purpose as a teacher is?

Why are you teaching the content you teach? Why are you teaching it the way you are?

WHY? 

Simon Sinek talks about  ”How Great Leaders Inspire Action” and talks about how when we zero in on the why – we are communicating our CORE beliefs, our CORE purposes and then the how and the whats – rather than what typically happens – outlining the WHATS and sometimes the HOWS.

You see, for me the theme is not just a banner printed in my classroom, or on the front of our parent handbook. It is a focus for the year and this year has been set up to be the most profound yet. Why? Because we as teachers are seeking to be intentional in revealing God’s great story in all that we teach- because I get to reveal God’s purpose and meaning in ALL my classes. Why – because He created it all, He ordained it all.

It sounds simple – but that mind shift has so profoundly changed my teaching. He is Lord of all – and therefore – can be found in all subjects, objectives, and topics. I don’t have to awkwardly fit some christian perspective here or there,  or relegate discussions of faith to one or two classes a week alone. I finally feel that I am getting a handle on weaving meaning and true life – true faith impact into my teaching – into my lesson planning  - and also – into my daily living.

It’s PROFOUND.

To be steeped in meaning… to have a clear concept that not only do things matter, they matter tremendously to the ONE who created it all – and that my students and I all have key individual roles to play in that GREAT STORY.

We all want to know that what we do matters, and for my students – they want to know if what they are learning, doing and most especially, completing for homework, is actually going to matter in the long run. Beginning with revealing what part a subject, a time or a people group says in God’s big story has helped them with that and I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen this year!

As the Globe and Mail looks at reasons why boys are failing to keep up with girls academically, one of the paramount reasons is quite simply a lack of male role models. Further statements in the article illustrate this point well: “They’re getting the bias, unintentionally, that school is a girl thing,” says Mike Parr, an assistant professor of education at Nipissing University in North Bay, Ont. “They don’t see teaching or reading, or even learning, as a guy thing.”

Why is it that we are facing a lack of males in the teaching profession?

The article states that for some, it is the fact that they are so outnumbered. For others it is the fact that it is an underpaid, overworked and low in the social status profession. Sadly,  the most “troubling deterrent men cite is the fear that society – for historical reasons – is suspicious of a man who enjoys working with young children.”

We have got to build up the necessity and importance of males in the lives of our students, and in the lives of our schools. I know that our school would not be half as strong if it were not for the strong male role models we have. While a few of them are teased for their organizational skills, or in light of some of our very well-disciplined primary classrooms there’s may seem a little “loose” – the impression and indelible mark a man can make in the life of a male simply can not be replaced.

To attract women to the trades, billboard campaigns and the like were run. Do you think the same is necessary in attracting male teachers to the role? I know for me, first and foremost I will encourage those male teachers around me. I want them to know how greatly they are appreciated, valued and necessary in the lives of our students. Perhaps the ripple effect can start there? It’s small, but its a start.

“Theories abound to explain the new gender gap in education – slower brain development, video games that zap away study time, peer pressure, a lack of male role models at school and at home, and sons parented differently than daughters.

Compelling insight comes from Statistics Canada’s ambitious Youth In Transition Survey, which in 2000 began tracking 30,000 15-year-olds at 1,000 schools and 23,000 youths between the ages of 18 and 20. It finds that while overall marks, reading ability and study habits are the top three predictors of which teenager will go to university, parental expectations rank fourth.”

“I think too many of us accept the failure of boys, we say, ‘Well, that’s just the way boys are,’ there’s a social impulse in that direction, that even our expectations are lower,” Dr. Cappon said. “We don’t pay nearly enough attention to their needs and aspirations, take seriously their interests, and what motivates them, whether it’s reading comics or science fiction. It isn’t at all clear that schools have taken account of that.”

My question to you is, have you taken into account the motivations, likes, aspirations of boys in your classroom? I once heard of a Kindergarten teacher that had a counting activity that involved “poo” from animals! Gross to me – but that’s because I am a “lady.” What five year old boy wouldn’t be ecstatic to count the fictional  pellets of a rabbit in a field rather than teddy bears?

How about at an older level. I have a colleague that orders her Social Studies curriculum around a critical challenge that involves making a hockey jersey for the newest team to enter the National Hockey League. It covers all of her Social Studies outcomes with vegetation, surroundings and understanding how geography and so forth impact society, and yet she has chosen to approach it in a manner that instantly engages the boys in her class, greatly motivating them in fact!

I myself find that I choose novels in class to read that I know the boys will enjoy? Why? Because typically, girls will always engage in school? They desire to please, achieve and do as they are told, however I have noticed that it seems boys need a bit more enticement. They need to be excited about the story, engaged in the plot in order to give it their full attention in class. Perhaps that itself is sexist, I know, and I do not mean to overgeneralize, but for those of us who are females in the teaching profession, it would serve us well to often account for the male perspective in our lesson planning, asking ourselves how engaged both genders in our class will be.

It started a few days ago however, quite backwards. Quite the opposite of today’s feelings of success and meaning. Instead, it was feelings of failure, obligation and “covering objectives.’ I’d decided to tackle the “Iroquois Confederacy” in a different manner and was doing some engaging activities and assesmbling a great lapbook of sorts as a way of capturing our information, but at the end of the day it was just that, information.

In the midst of it all, we are also running a school-wide election campaign. A student-driven project in which they dream of the best ways to spend 1000.00 donated by our Parent Action Committee. Students are oh so passionate and feelings were getting hurt left, right, and centre.

The light bulb went off. Here we were learning facts and information about a culture so steeped in valuing the individual, and their contributions no matter their age nor gender, that they could take up to a week to make a single decision by way of consensus. Their values permeated even their gardening, as they would grow the three sisters; corn, beans and squash in tandem so that they could be mutually beneficial to greater growth. Instead of learning more facts about this group, there were very applicable principles to be applied directly to our current situation. 

• The Iroquois deeply valued the individual, going to great lengths to ensure that everyone was able to participate in decision making and come to agreement.
• Compromise and conflict resolution strategies were abundant, and used in order to maintain peace.
• Active participation was used in order to create and continue to build community.

And so, in turn, we focused on the ideas instead of the information… the learnings I hope will last 20 years, rather than the simplified 20 facts.

Today we focused more and more on the WHY instead of the WHAT, and what a difference it made!

“All students can learn, in their own ways and in their own time.”

Our school has been engaged in a fantastic AISI project on assessment. I am learning how to assess less, give feedback more and hopefully to motivate my students in a way that encourages them to take more ownership of their learning.

I was going over some notes and reminded of this fact,  the ONE thing that
makes the biggest difference in a classroom for students is proper assessment… the single ONE factor. More than technology, more than unit planning, more than classroom management… proper assessment increases student engagement, motivation and success in learning.
Proper assessment helps students answer the following questions:

• Where am I going?

1. Provide a clear statement of the learning target
2. Use examples and models

• Where am I now?

3. Offer regular, descriptive feedback
4. Teach students to self-assess and set goals

• How can I close the gap if there is one?

5. Design focused lessons
6. Teach students focused revision
7 Engage students in self-reflection; let them keep track

“If my private world is in order, it will be because I am convinced that the inner world of the spiritual must govern the outer world of activity” – Gordon Macdonald  - Ordering Your Private World

I’ve been doing a lot of rich, deep reading lately. A lot of soul-searching, deep thinking, gut-level discussions about what I am doing and why. There is something about the deeply personal career of teaching that affects you on all levels, that its demands as well as its passions permeate every part of your being and bleed past boundaries.

I am learning the importance of discipline.

I am learning the importance of ordering my ways, organizing my desk, and prioritizing my tasks.

I am learning that “We teach who we  are” – as Parker Palmer says.

I am learning that because we teach who we are, we need to be our best selves, not only for our students but also for ourselves, for our lives.

In his book – Gordon Macdonald outlines the difference between people who are driven and those who are called.

• He that is driven is most often gratified only by accomplishment… someone who is called possesses a strength from within, a quality of perseverance and power that is impervious to blows from outside forces
• He that is driven is usually caught in the uncontrolled pursuit of expansion… whereas he who is called understands stewardship – having never “owned” success in the first place – they are really okay with surrendering it to He who created all.
• He that is driven is likely not to bother with growing in areas not directly tied to success – such as growing in terms of their people skills, whereas someone who is called knows keenly their areas for growth, they have no illusions about who they are and where they can grow.
• He that is driven tends to be highly competitive… whereas someone who is called possesses an unwavering sense of purpose – they are committed to something and nothing else.
• He that is driven is usually abnormally busy, adverse to play and usually avoids spiritual worship whereas someone who is called practises peacefulness and joy, embodying even a healthy distance from busyness and exceeding demands.
• For the person who is driven – what they do is indistinguishable from who they are whereas someone who is called has an identity already established in their private, spiritual world.

May I live today as one who is called.

Called to be an educator – called to be a colleague, a friend, and yes – called to many different hats – but ultimately – called to be the best ME – to live out the identity that I know deep within. May that be who my students meet as they enter the classroom – not the driven Cheryl that can sometimes creep in… that can sometimes take over.

The third reason for the complexities of teaching, an often overlooked factor is the fact that:

we teach who we are.

“Teaching emerges from one’s inwardness. As I teach, I project the condition of my soul onto my students, my subject and our day together.” Parker Palmer

Days when I am stressed, distracted by other job demands, family demands, life demands… it clouds it all. Even though I try to keep it all together, try to prevent it from bleeding from one section to another – it happens – time after time. When I haven’t been able to spend some quiet time in the morning – giving thanks for the day at hand, spending time in reading and reflection, and setting forth some goals and intentions for the day, I feel that I am starting the day on the wrong foot and forever feel that myself and my students – we just aren’t on the same wavelength.

Truth be told, it is probably because I started out on such a sour note, waking up late, or not feeling well, or berating myself for not accomplishing this or that. When I am “pulled together,” drawn in, deeply grounded in who I am and how I am to inspire and how I hope the day will unfold – I know that oddly enough – I am so much more flexible – more resilient and able to deal with the days surprises. Why? Because I took time in the morning to start off on the right foot.

Palmer goes on to say ” When I do not know myself, I cannot know who my students are… I will see them through a glass darkly, in the shadows of an unexamined life… when I cannot see clearly I cannot teach them well.”

It is essential that we know ourselves. That we examine the way we tick, the whys. That we know what helps us feel successful and what are triggers that make us feel exposed and inadequate. When we take the time to examine our own lives, we are able to see clearly the strengths and needs in our students. Without such clarity… we are operating blind – adjusting this thinking that it’s a symptom of that and so forth. We run around dizzily, putting out fires with a garden hose when we should be looking deeply and letting lose the hydrant.

And so, I conclude – because we teach who we are… we need to care for who we are. Life / work balance are noble pursuits, contentment in life is important, spiritual, social, physical and emotional health are valid concerns and areas that need our care. Time away from the classroom and the marking is just as essential as any first-rate pd, for it is in the space and silence that we can examine our lives.

“The unexamined life is not worth living.”

-Socrates

Daunting tasks, so it seems. Caring for kids is synonymous with being a teacher. If we didn’t have a soft spot for youth – there are so many other jobs that would not require report cards, lesson planning, marking and some of the other “perks” that come with the job.

But caring isn’t enough. It isn’t enough to help us see past the hurtful insults hurled at one student from another because things aren’t good at home. It isn’t enough to give us insight and hindsight and all other forms of sight to know how to deal with behaviour issues in the classroom.

Caring. Caring is key. But from there is is a genuine willingness to see each student as an individual – a smorgasbord of personality, attitude, hormones, and so, so, so much potential.

Another thing that I have found to be helpful in dealing with the complexities that exist with students, is my willingness to be vulnerable myself (while maintaining professionalism). My students appreciate it when I admit my wrongs, when I apologize and admit when I don’t have all the answers or I really didn’t handle a situation like I would have wished. Asking for their forgiveness and another opportunity to  try again, or to set expectations and consquences together… it goes a long way in building trust and a positive repore with my students.

And while all that is complex… it makes complexity #2 a little less so.

To read about complexity #3 – “We Teach Who We Are” read more…

It is no wonder we feel that our knowledge is at times partial and flawed. No matter how much research and reading that we do  - we will never have full mastery on our subjects. That kind of control is always going to be outside our grasp, far beyond our reach. To some, the definition of a teacher is to have a master teach others, where as I much more prefer the analogy of the teacher as facilitator, gardener or coach.  If find that the more I step outside, or more-so out from under, the need to be the expert… the more I am released from the burden of responsibility and ownership of the learning, and instead feel FREE to lead, guide and encourage.

Let me illustrate:

Teacher as facilitator:

I looked up the definition of a facilitator – and found “someone who makes progress easier.” BRILLIANT! That is TRULY the direct translation from French to English. Facile = easy… and so directly it is translated to an “easinator.” What a great definition – what a great truth. A teacher is there to make progress easier – be that assessing needs, pointing out gaps, offering up strategies to address areas that need development, and tracking that progress.

Teacher as Gardener:

I love the notion that a gardener tends to each plant, shrub, bush and tree with what each individual needs. The gardener ensures that growth conditions are optimal and that each plant gets what they need as far as nutrients go to gain the greatest growth.

Teacher as Coach:

When I teach from a place as a coach – I see my job not as an expert behind a podium, but as a coach alongside – helping, assisting and encouraging my students to reach new heights.

Complexity 2:

Our students are even more complex than our subject matters. To read more...