The world lost Maya Angelou yesterday. She was 86 years old, and was a friend of learning and overcoming tough times. I love reading her writing, and listening to her read it with her mellifluous voice.
She wrote to inspire, teaching critical life lessons. Today, I'd like to remember her lessons through some quotes from her writing, in hopes that they inspire us in a time when inspiration really matters in schools.
She wrote to inspire, teaching critical life lessons. Today, I'd like to remember her lessons through some quotes from her writing, in hopes that they inspire us in a time when inspiration really matters in schools.
How many times do we hear our children tell their stories? Not just the spontaneous Monday morning "What I did over the weekend" stories, but when they open up about their lives. Are we giving our students enough opportunities to have their voice and choice in their learning, or are we allowing life in our classrooms to become too crowded by our teaching? How much are we letting kids talk and have a say and joy in their lives with us at school?
Are we getting our own teaching stories out? How closely do our students know us? About our families? Our struggles with our own learning? How often do we let them into our own minds to witness what good learning should look like? Are our classrooms and our schools places where learning can live because we give it life, not because we're following a guide?
There are so many changes to our field these days. What are we doing about it? Are we trying to make it better through our practice? Are we remembering that our classrooms and our schools need to be little islands that kids can go to so that they can escape the pain of the world, where they can explore and discover and learn? How do we fight the pessimism that hangs over our field, and not become part of the problem by letting the pessimism take over? You have to be optimistic and hopeful to learn something. How are we keeping the hope in our learning?
With all the demands on our field, we have to forget some of the things we've always done just because we've always done them. We have to remember that yes, teaching is an art, but it's also a science--the science of which we have to follow. There are best practices, and better practices. Sometimes we have to remember to forget what we used to do and make our classrooms state of the art by learning more about learning and putting that into place. As Maya Angelou might say, our students are all other people's babies, and they deserve no less than that!
This is one that's old hat for teachers. We didn't enter this profession for monetary richness, but because we knew we could make a difference in the lives of kids. However, it's easy to forget that. Last week we heard of a Brooklyn school cancelling its kindergarten concert, because they need time to make 5-year-olds college and career ready. Tonight I listened to a reporter interviewing three teachers with some 50 years of combined experience tell how they've decided to leave the profession, because the passion is gone. Some of the bean counters, as Katherine Paterson calls them, think we're just holding back and dangling more money at us in merit pay and bonuses will make us work harder. They don't realize that if they really want to support us,
they have to let us keep working with passion. What are we doing to keep our love of teaching alive for us? Professional reading? Professional writing? Professional conversation? Visiting other classrooms and other schools?
they have to let us keep working with passion. What are we doing to keep our love of teaching alive for us? Professional reading? Professional writing? Professional conversation? Visiting other classrooms and other schools?
It's so easy to respond to the misconceptions about the state of education today with negativity. We can complain about the parents, the funding, the testing, the standards, the politics. It's true, we have to allow our voices to be heard, but we can't let the problems surrounding schools today poison our work. How do we do that? How do we fight the good fight in a positive way? So many of us pride ourselves in figuring out ways to differentiate instruction, finding the avenue through which we can reach each student. Why can't we do that with those who critique us based on partial information? Why can't we figure out ways to positively rally parents, reporters, politicians, each in their own way? I think we can. We do it every day with kids, don't we?
Finally, we have to remember courage. Courage isn't being brave in all situations. It's not the absence of fear or doubt or worry. It's the ability to keep those feelings at bay, so that we can do things right by kids and by each other...courageously. How do we protect this greatest of virtues so that we can move on ahead, teaching with the enthusiasm we had on our first day of teaching many Septembers ago?
The answers to the questions raised by Maya Angelou's quotes aren't very simple...but they're easy. We do it for kids. When we focus on what students need by mixing what we know about best practices as we've learned through experts in the field with our own personal knowledge of each and every little guy and girl who sits with us throughout the day or ever has, we can find the answers to these important lessons that we remember today from one of our national treasures...Maya Angelou!
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