As an educator it is difficult to hear or be a witness when students are not having a good experience at school. You just want to reach out and make everything right.............. How can you help to bring about change if those at the top are convinced that "all is well"? Students feel disenfranchised, disconnected, and worst do not trust those who should have their best interest at heart.
This failure to connect has produced a rather negative school climate where interactions are purely punitive, unsafe, and cold. Can one assume that learning is taking place? Does a school exist? Research has shown repeatedly that students learn from teachers who they trust and whom they believe genuinely care about them. Further, it is imperative that their psychosocial emotional needs be met. Learning takes place when people feel connected and there is structure. Did Linda Cliatt-Wayman get it right? What are the lessons to be learnt here? How do we move forward?
A few weeks ago I was at an event to kick start Homecoming. Since it is a shared campus all the schools in the building were present in the auditorium. At the beginning of the ceremony, the mistress of ceremony(mc) publicly acknowledged the respective administrative body of each school.When the names of a given school administration were called the student body was strangely quiet. They were even a few "boos" scattered here and there. I was both mortified and embarrassed! The students have clearly made known how they feel about their administrators. Can it further be elaborated that this was how they felt about their school........teachers included! I could not help but to think.......Have the adults in that given school failed to connect with the students?Is this a school on the brink? I was deeply troubled. If this is the current reality, can it be said that those students have a school? Is there learning taking place in the classrooms? What good is it if the students don't feel "good" about their school? What are they really trying to tell us? Are we listening? What can we do about it? The students have stopped cheering. Who will champion their cause? Let's get the students cheering again!
Summer is gone but still we reminisce about what there was and what should have been. As educators there are certain lies we tell ourselves. Though the act of lying should not be condoned oftentimes we opt for what makes our lives easier - more of a survival technique.
Lie # 1: We will be using our summer for resting. Truth: We use the time to catch up on all those things that we did not get a chance to do during the school year. In fact we may have even scheduled a few professional development here and there! Lie # 2:We will not be involved in anything related to school. Truth: We may have discovered that a cursory glance through our email reminds us up a seminar that we have signed up for that is related to our practice or reading an article that brings us "back to school"! It may also be something as simple as organizing your home office or work space and "wham" you are transported back to school. Then again, there are those of us who love our students so much we decide to do summer school just because....... Lie # 3: We will not be thinking about students or practice. Truth: Biggest lie of all! We are always thinking about how we can improve the lives of our students even beyond the walls of the classroom. Just take a look at the personal learning networks (PLNs) on twitter and the various summer boot camps for teachers! Lie # 4: What happens in school, stays in school. Truth: Every thing that happens in school shapes our core beliefs and practice. We are school. We go to school every day! Alas, without even realizing, summer came and went. You have spent the entire summer planning and preparing for the new school year. There are some for whom this is not true and this will show as the school year unravels. Tom Hierck says it best...... ".....even in the quietest moments of relaxation, it doesn't take much for the mind of the professional educator to wander to thoughts of students past and present. Being an educator is not a profession, it's a PASSION." So what's your biggest lie? Please do share! Have a Great Week. Petreno
