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I Am That Teacher Too (Letter 2)
Ready for the first day of school and student input!
Dear Former Students,
What do I hope you remember about me?
Our Special Learning Space
I hope you remember our room. Bright, colorful, creative, inspirational. Most years, our room and our studies focused on a theme which varied from year to year. It might have been dinosaurs or space or animals. Maybe you were with me when we explored the rainforest. Whatever the topic, it was real; it didn’t just provide decorations. It was the springboard for learning—reading, math, language, science, social studies, art and music. We did it all centered around our theme. Sometimes we jumped outside the theme and that was OK. Creativity, learning, and children—none of them belong in a box.
I spent the summer vacation dreaming, planning, and creating for our learning base for the coming year. Until the Testing Monster emerged to swallow up the joy and adventure of learning. After that I spent summers investigating Common Core State Standards. I learned that first graders should be ready to do what had always been expected of second graders. I learned that a Kindergartener was a failure if he or she was not reading by the end of the year. I had nightmares of angry administrators and nonsense posters and charts. I tried to make sense of a disjointed melange, a mishmash of portions of reading programs, books, and plans stuck together by an “expert” to create a hideous and unworkable mess. BUT even then, I tried to create a warm and welcoming place to learn with a fun reading corner and an area for some messy art and forbidden science.
I know you must have felt my efforts. You would come into the room before school (and again at lunch) when you should have been on the playground.
You wanted to put your things away.
You wanted to say hello, to find out what we were going to be doing that day, not from the required posted chart, but from your teacher who had big plans for you.
You wanted to be reassured that despite your problems at home, you were safe at school and could have a good day.
Then after a hug or a smile or a moment to chat, I shooed you outside and we were both happy and ready to begin the adventure.
I am That Teacher Too (Letter 1)
In writing these letters to former students, I want to provide a glimpse of my classroom and inspiration for yours.
Dear Former Students,
What do I hope you remember about me?
I hope you remember smiles and hugs. I worked hard to make our room a safe and happy place. Even if I was having a bad day or you were having a bad day. I hope you know that I always loved you. I hope it showed in what I said and did. Each one of you was (and is) special to me. You have a personality and gifts that make you unique. I tried to help you find that best part of yourself.
All those beautiful new school supplies…
I also tried to help you get along with others and learn to share. We pooled all of our school supplies. That was initially hard for some of you. You had never had 24 perfect crayons all of your own. As a teacher I had learned that shared supplies last longer. I didn’t want anyone to feel left out. We avoided arguments over possession and cleaning up. Most importantly, it is hard to share so we worked on that first. When you are grown up, there is plenty of time to possess all by yourself. But I hope you will always remember to share.
I Am That Teacher Too (Introduction)
I have an enviable viewpoint: I am retired after 34 years as an educator. I loved being in the classroom, but then I received an incredible opportunity to work with the entire student body. I spent 14 years as a computer lab teacher. That job began as the ultimate in creativity and technology curriculum development and disintegrated into the role of babysitter so teachers could attend their Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings and the role of proctor for the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) exams. Then I ($$$$$) was replaced by an assistant ($) and offered a job in the classroom again. The enviable part is that I only put in three years as a classroom teacher during the current epoch of Testing and Tears. At that point, I had more than enough time in the system to say, “I will not do this to kids or to myself anymore.” I walked away at the end of the school year. Since I am blogging about education issues, it is obvious I have not stopped caring.
I recently read a blog post written by a colleague who teaches reading to sixth graders in New York state. She has to teach using modules aligned with CCSS and to subject her students yearly to the NYS high stakes test. Those tests sound comparable to the PARCC exams. Her post “I Am That Teacher” (https://standingupforthefuture.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/I-am-that-teacher/) describes how she wants to be thought of by her students as “that teacher.” Her post is the inspiration for my thoughts on how I hope my students remember me and my time with them. I will be writing from an Early Childhood perspective with a touch of PreK-6th grade computer instruction. I will be addressing my thoughts to my students as I used to do in a daily letter to them, but I hope that current teachers will get some ideas of what a classroom can be like without CCSS. Perhaps, if you are a renegade, you will feel support as you try to sneak in real instruction. Hats off to the blogger of STANDINGUPFORTHEFUTURE! You are a kindred spirit, and I know your students will remember you with smiles.
The information I want to share is much too long for one blog post, so I have divided it into sections (letters). I hope you will follow me and return to read these letters. Also, I encourage you to read the original post of “I Am That Teacher” for more inspiration.
Horses and Teachers Have a Lot in Common
I passed a field today where several horses grazed, each with a bird perched on its back. The horses were quite unperturbed by their friends. I immediately suspected a special relationship, not unlike that of teacher and student. The horse is the strong base that supports the bird both from the standpoint of safety (you can see a lot from atop a horse) and from the delicious morsels available in its coat. In a type of symbiotic relationship, the bird helps rid the horse of annoying insects.
Teachers and students enjoy a similar relationship. Teachers are the strong base that supports students. We hold them up so they can see more of the good in the world, we try to protect them from the evils that threaten their stability, and we provide knowledge to nourish their brains. Sometimes we provide food to nourish their bodies.
What of the symbiotic relationship? That holds true as well. Real teachers, the ones who hold their students close to their hearts, come away from the encounter enriched as well. Frankly, a paycheck may put food on the table and a roof over our heads, but the real pay comes in the form of hugs and smiles, of an understanding twinkle of the eye, of a thirst for more knowledge. It may arrive after weeks of explaining fractions or years later when a student returns to reminisce. The truth is real teachers thrive on teaching and learning. And most importantly, we never give up. We never try to shake the bird off our back, because when they are ready, they will fly.
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