Wk 3: Reading - The Art of Possibility: Response to Susan O'DayI must admit that I really liked theses chapters of the book. There were a lot of statements that really resonated with me as a teacher and as a person in general. I know that theoretically I am the leader of my classroom, but I must admit that it is very hard to play the role of facilitator for my students and very easy to play the role of the sage on the stage. The idea that I should be listening for my students’ passion is something that I have had to work very hard at. So much rides on test scores today that it is difficult to turn over the reigns of learning to the students. It is hard to give the students the ability to flourish and direct themselves when I know what they need to know for the test. I will definitely have to work at finding some sort of happy medium when it comes to allowing my students to take the reigns in the classroom.
I must admit that I love rule #6. I am always telling new teachers to chill out because if they don’t they will not last very long as teachers. I would like to think that I am pretty laid back as a teacher, but my calculating self was in complete control my first 2-3 years of teaching. I tried to control every aspect of my classroom and I would get infinitely frustrated when everything did not work out perfectly. I eventually had to ask myself why I was not happy as a teacher. My calculating self believed it was the students and the school district. If I just moved to another school district everything would be better because they were the problem not me. My central self knew that I needed to relax so that not only would I be happier, but so would my students. Teaching in survival mode is no way to really teach. When I started subconsciously following rule #6, I started to notice that many of students were decidedly anti-rule #6. A student can’t be disappointed with receiving an “F” on a test if they assume that they were set up to fail from the beginning. They assume that the teacher does not like them and deliberately made the test too difficult to pass. Their calculating self is protecting them from having to take responsibility, but their central self knows that they failed because they did not study. They will “preach” to their classmates about this particular injustice, but in a one-on-one conversation their central self will allow them to acknowledge and, in essence, own their failure.
I really like the idea of learning from your mistakes rather than just focusing on the failure. It is better to acknowledge where you went wrong and get over it. I often see students that make a mistake while working on a project and rather than fixing it and moving on, they dismiss the project as too hard and unfair and completely give up. I always tell my students to try and you won’t fail. What I tell them is not necessarily true. You may try your hardest and you may very well fail, but the journey is worth the effort. I take the philosophy as a teacher that I will not fail a kid that is trying. I tell my students this because if I can get them to try and keep trying no matter how many times they fail then they will have learned something.
The idea that we, in essence, speak our reality into existence is something that I see everyday at work. I hear teachers say that these students are horrible, so the students behave horribly for them. They failed to realize that there may indeed be one or two “horrible” students in the bunch, but the other 145+ are just average teenagers. By labeling the students they close themselves off to any good things that may happen in their classes with those students. This is a shame for both the students and the teacher.
I really liked the idea of giving way to passion. Noticing what is holding you back is a process that can take a lot of time. All human beings can place blame for their short comings, but having to delve into the real reasons why you are stuck may force you to look at a side of yourself you don’t want to see. Allowing yourself to participate wholly is also another difficult step in giving way to your passion, because what happens if you fail? I firmly believe that in order to be an effective teacher you have to be willing to fail and fail often. Some of my best lesson plans came from some of my worst disasters.
The idea of BTFI is something that is very personal to me. When my father had a stroke on August 14, 2002, my family was not prepared for our new reality. He had spent 6 months in various hospitals and rehab centers when it came time to decide when to bring him home. It was never a doubt that he was going to come home because his greatest fear was to be put into a nursing home and forgotten. The whole family started going to rehab sessions with him so that we could take care of him when he got home. After about a month, we realized that this was going to be a lot harder than we all thought. In a meeting with the therapist, she stated that there was no way that we could bring him home because he would tear the family apart. We actually started to doubt ourselves and that reflected in our training sessions. We were trying to do everything their way and were not thinking about his pride or dignity or the fact that we love him. He became a chore and that was not right. After one particularly hellish session the therapist reiterated her beliefs that my father needed to be sent to a nursing home. I’m normally very laid back, but the wench ticked me off. I told her that the only way that he was going to a nursing home was “over my cold, dead, Irish body and since I was pretty sure that she was not going to kill me could she please shut up and get back to work. “ My father started giggling like a five year old…which really didn’t improve her mood. In that instant I realized that in our doubt we had forgotten about him. He came home two months later and has been home ever since. He actually got better after he left the rehab centers because we all said “F*** It” and did what we had to do to be a family.Posted by Susan O'Day at 5/21/2011 09:01:00 PM
1 comments:
I agree with you that these chapters were quite enlightening and insightful. Control seems to be an issue that every professional and individual has to deal with and one that is not easily relinquished. However, it does seem rather apparent that when we allow students to have opportunities to create, explore and lead that true learning takes place and our facilitator role becomes so enjoyable.
I also agree that mistakes should be embraced, instead of dominating our perspective for learning. I believe Zander’s teaching speaks loudly to his students when he asks them to raise their hands and shout the words, “How fascinating!” every time they make a mistake. I have a piano student that gets so frustrated with herself, all most to the point of tears, every time she makes a simple mistake. I have began working with her to embrace these simple mistakes because they help us direct our attention to the places we can work on so that the final piece is one with which she can be proud. This perhaps is one of the hardest for me because I too, have a hard time with making a mistake, but over the years have been learning to lighten up and take myself less seriously, as Zander recommends.