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It isn't much but all I have is enough.
When I look at their bright faces,
part of me wishes I could be a personal one on one Socrates or Plato to each one...
pouring out everything I have but more importantly, helping them extract all of the greatness within.
Great teachers are always known by the great minds they inspire...
if I were only that great.
I doubt Plato had poofy hair that just wouldn't sit down and Socrates probably didn't have a hole in his sock.
The thing we have in common is that they showed up. Consistently and daily, they were there teaching.
And there is the difference.
There is a big difference between being called a teacher and teaching.
That is why some people are so mad about teachers. Some teachers aren't really teaching at all.
Teaching doesn't mean I'm in the middle of a quiet circle of cross legged agape children hanging on my every word.
Sometimes it means they are in the middle of a loud circle of conversation close to hanging on the rafters with excitement.
Many Don't Want Excitement
I don't subscribe to this new model of destroying the classroom and everything it has been because I think that great learning experiences have always been exciting. It is just that we've gotten to the point that many administrators and teachers don't want excitement. They don't want surprises. When surprises happen, they're afraid of ending up on the front page of yesterday's news.
Most educators would rather float quietly in the cess pool of monotony than surf the big waves of learning. Big learning can be scary and have a bit more excitement than you want.
We're supposed to have stoplights on our wall that show the sound level and that get to red when the kids get too loud.
The kids think it is fun to make the light move so they work together to get louder.
Instead it should be fun to learn our topic. Instead of gami-fying misbehavior and thus, making it attractive, we should be gamifying the learning process. Leveling up. Challenges that seem insurmountable. Personalizing learning in powerful ways.
Today, I will be a teacher who is teaching with all she has. I have a plan. I am ready. I am armed with arms that love and appreciate these kids.
I am teaching. Are you?
