Mental Health

Even before learning of the shooting in Sandy Hook, CT I was considering writing about the struggle to keep a positive attitude in the classroom. This time of year is difficult because every one's thoughts are focused on friends and fun and celebration. We teachers pull out all our best tricks to capture the attention of our students enough to feel we've done something productive. I had a whole host of thoughts about overcoming frustration and maintaining a caring, supportive, fun and informative disposition, but all those thoughts are suddenly gone.

Now I'm thinking about what I teach my students. Many students in my general biology class (and even some in my Physics class!) don't even try to do the work before them. Their attitude is I'd rather look lazy rather than stupid. A safe learning environment is not just a place free from violence, but a safe mental place where their thoughts are not ridiculed. I have been most frustrated this week by my students' performance in my AP Biology class. They work hard (at least when they know a test is before them), but we are just not communicating and I've tried so many different ways to get them to let me in - to allow me to help them struggle through this difficult class. They are much more interested in each other.....after all they are seniors finding their way through the last phase of dependency.

My hope is that I am teaching all of my students that they are important and that we (the adult community) don't always understand their lives, but the differences are really quite minor. I want my students to know the value of hard work - to feel exhilaration when successfully tackling a problem. Even if it's just because they've witnessed me overcoming my issues. They should leave my classroom knowing that even though I am frustrated with them, I will spend hours over the weekend working on a new way to reach them. I want them to know they are never alone no matter how hard asking for help seems.

All at Once

Each profession has their host of acronyms, but somehow education cultivates an exponential new crop each year. Today we had a staff development day to try to get our collective head around all the changes to the new State Assessments which are tied to the common core and RttT, ACRE, PLCs, etc....This is my 11th year at my high school and I feel I finally understand the way change happens. Teachers start off in a classroom with a hand-full of core ideas/activities and each year they build a little broader foundation along with a few experimental diversions. As time goes by, the reservoir of materials can be sorted into files labeled: perfect for this concept, try again with modifications, or what a waste of time. Of course, the curriculum changes on a regular 3 to 5 year cycle (so never throw activities away - they may be back in style soon!). So part of why many educators are stressed these days is NOT because the curriculum is changing or the way teachers are evaluated is changing or the expectations and measurements of student performance are changing - we KNOW change is part of teaching. What is stressful is that everything is happening at once! In addition, budgets have been cut which increases the number of students.Then we have new technologies that make more data available that are specific to each student and provide a vast array of information that may help teachers really connect with their students - except that we have NO time to analyze any of this new data. Educators come in all shapes and sizes. So do students. Unfortunately time is one of the variables that never changes....... and THAT is stressful.

Embracing Change

Since I'm trained as a biologist and an educator, I've always embraced the phrase "variety is the spice of life", but this year I'm trying to live it in my classroom. True I've always incorporated some variety into my daily approach to education, but this year is different. This year I'm taking all the transformational talk surrounding the new common core and the essential standards (not to mention the whole re-vamping of the AP Biology curriculum) and really embracing the idea that we can accomplish a cultural change in education one classroom at a time.
     I like the idea of formative assessments (although I hate the name) because it validates what all good teachers are doing anyway - getting feedback from students and responding appropriately. As a science teacher, classes are a daily experiment with data collection. I also like formative assessments because of the change it has made in grading. For some reason it is easier to read something a student wrote, make comments and hand it back than it is to put a number grade on the paper. The biggest issue as I see it is the adjustment students have to make to getting feedback instead of a number grade. The other even bigger obstacle is getting them to embrace the struggle and let go of the idea of a "right" answer. This is a huge cultural change and it is painful.
     The roots of this curriculum change are far from nefarious, but the implementation will take the tenacity of gangsters. Teaching is an art - an intellectual art. It requires skill in motivating rebellious teenagers (in my case) to not only be cooperative, but to step outside their comfort zone and share their explorations. If we are serious about embracing the diversity of our students and making a safe environment for all of them to learn in ways that are most meaningful to them, then our cultural change needs to reach far beyond each individual classroom. The issue for many educators is will we stick with it? It will be difficult to transform student learning patterns, but they are much more open and flexible than many teachers, administrators, parents, departments or schools of education and certainly more than any politician out there.
     So why embrace this change? That's a question I hope to answer in this blog. It is my own personal journey through the public education system and I'm hoping it will sustain me for a few more years.