Last week I got my big feelings a tiny bit hurt. While responding to English 2 journals, I came across an entry that stopped me in my tracks. With the brutal honesty of a teenager, a boy (we’ll call him “David”) revealed that last year English was his favorite class, but this year he isn’t really feeling a connection.
I instantly became defensive. What does Mr. Greiner do that I don’t do? I’m trying so hard to connect with all of my students this year. That boy just has a chip on his shoulder. He obviously hates me for no good reason. Ugh. Why do I even try? Overreact much? But this Tuesday I spent some time observing in my colleagues’ classrooms as a trained IPI (Instructional Practices Inventory) data collector for my district. While I was predominantly collecting data about student engagement, I couldn’t help but notice the different teaching styles of my fellow teachers. One of my major take-aways came after visiting Mr. Greiner’s classroom: he was incredibly charismatic and engaging with his students. He cracked jokes, drew them in, and connected from the front of his classroom. He had their rapt attention. Well, no wonder David loved English last year! I’m boring compared to that! My reflections didn’t end there, though. That same afternoon, colleagues came into my classroom for IPI data collection, and I barely knew they were there. My English 2 students were all busy with their independent reading books while I held a quiet reading conference with another student. I sat next to him in the back of the room and asked a few questions about his newest book. We had recently upped his page goal for the week, and so we talked about his different reading rates and why sometimes we readers choose to read books twice. I wasn’t charismatic, and I wasn’t cracking jokes. But I was connecting in a different way. In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul writes of the Church that we are “one body” with “many parts.” In a way, I think the same can be said of a healthy school environment. While it goes without saying that all of the teachers in our district are gifted in teaching, we are gifted in different ways. Some of us command attention and teach through charisma and humor; others come alongside quietly and teach through conversation. Some teach best with well-documented lesson plans; others come up with new ideas at the spur-of-the-moment and teach through trying different techniques each year. Maybe we rely on the textbook or student-led discussions or hands-on labs. Walking through the halls of our school, you will see it all. As Paul writes, “If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” There are many teachers, but one school. Our students have different learning styles, so our different teaching techniques are desirable, even necessary. Maybe David will connect better with Mr. Greiner’s style, and maybe Monica will connect more in my room. That doesn’t mean I quit trying to engage with David. It just means I can show myself a little more grace if I’m not every student’s favorite teacher. Finally, more proof of our diversity working together can be seen in our school’s annual Homecoming video. Different members of our staff agree to be humiliated in front of the camera (and YouTube!) for the enjoyment of the student body. Some teachers shuffle feet in the background, some don outrageous costumes and flail their limbs unabashedly, and others just laugh at the rest of us from the auditorium. Many teachers, one school.
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Today my English 2 students focused on gratitude for veterans in their journals. I wanted to share some highlights here. I think high school students get a bad reputation for being ungrateful and selfish. That reputation isn't reflected here. "Thank you for all that you have done for us, and what you are doing right now. I wish I could say something more, but I am speechless. Speechless of how you used to (and some of you still) wake up every morning wondering if this day will be your last. Wondering if you are going to be shot down. I could never have as much courage as you do." "My grandfather is a war vet and I am proud to say it and I can't thank him enough for all that he has sacrificed just so me and my family as well as every other family went without struggle. This is a great day and should be acknowledged as such because without the heart of those men and women I don't think we would have it as well as we do today." "My cousins means a lot to me and I couldn’t thank them enough for what they do for people's freedom. If it wasn’t without them and other people in the military we wouldn’t have the freedom like we do today and without that our world would be completely different, I believe that we shouldn’t just celebrate them for making our freedom today, we should celebrate it every day." "I think that Veterans day should not just be one day where people can thank them it should be everyday so people don’t just think oh one day thanks and thats it. Having to wait one year to thank a Veteran for what they did is not right." "I would just like to say a thank you. I want to say a thank you to those people who fought but didn’t get to come back to their family or kids. They didn’t get to say a goodbye to them, they are just gone and I don’t really know how to express my gratitude for those people." "I am very grateful for anyone who has served the country. I think that most people don't realize how much they have given up for our country. Even though I don't show it a lot I am very grateful for anyone who has served our country." "I would like to thank all the veterans who served our country. I would also like to thank my boss who served and fought for several years and still works everyday all day even though he has really bad knee problems from fighting in Vietnam. When I get older I hope to serve my country as those are now and those who served before us. Thank all the men and women for serving and fighting for our country and our freedom." "In honor of veterans day I would like to thank everyone who has served or is serving. But more specifically my friends and family that are serving. They make me so proud for sticking up for what they believe in and freeing our country." "I am very grateful for all the soldiers that have fought to make sure that we have all the things that we have today. I am so grateful that some of my family are veterans and they fought to keep us safe and well. I thank my grandpa Dennis and my grandpa Ron for what they did to keep our country safe." "I believe that what the service the men and women did were amazing. If it wasn’t for them, we most likely wouldn’t be living the way we are today. We most likely wouldn’t have our freedom or be able to go to school. We most likely wouldn’t have the jobs we want, or even go to college." |
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September 2020
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