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Tag: Education

Oct152020

National Kindness Week

There comes a time in every life when change is necessary. Whether the change is a result of something that has happened existentially, or a change due to biological make-up, only you can determine how it will ultimately affect your life. The pandemic, social injustices and what I’ve seen of a percentage of American political leaders has affected me significantly. I never thought that I would see the day when content that I have read in history books are right here in the present, too real for anyone to deny. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere;” I gave myself more credit than I should have when I assumed that I understood the power of these words. Today, I understand the power, firsthand.

Although I understand–at some level– how difficult this pandemic has been on a worldly scale, I have yet to grasp the full scope of our brothers and sisters who have lost a loved one to this virus; I have yet to understand the magnitude of loss that some may feel having lost dream businesses, or not having enough to pay the rent/mortgage. I do not yet understand-nor do I wish to–the suffering and pain that the mothers, fathers, wives, husbands, and children have endured and continue to endure having experienced the loss of a loved one due to police brutality.

I’m here on this torn leather office chair, after 10pm, on a school night, trying to grapple with understanding why human beings are in such a divided state in the United States of America. Why is the school system inequitable, why? Why do citizens distrust each other, why? And what systems are in place to keep us in this revolving conundrum of inequities, inequalities and racial tensions? If the system was set in place by the founders, why are we still upholding their system when the world has drastically changed? My cellular phone requires regular updates, my laptop requires regular updates, my pedagogical approach and lessons plans are not as effective if I do not remain centered on my class dynamic and focus on what approach and plan individual students require. Similarly, our country requires modifications/alterations/unification, and perhaps, updating.

I have no grand scale solutions regarding what can be done to solve the issues at hand; I utter these words with the deepest sorrow. Instead, I write this evening to offer advice that may begin to move us in a direction of community and learning how to care for one another in a way that is most intentional, considerate, compassionate and selfless. If you have the ability at this moment to capture what it must feel like for those who can afford to have an elaborate Christmas celebration, you are capable of imagining my proposal. The country is in need of a kindness addition to our calendars; I propose National Kindness Week! A week of spreading kindness to loved ones and strangers. Mark Twain said, “Kindness is the language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” Considering this, I’m hopeful that kindness can also be a key to help break the barriers of some suffering and move us in a direction of human beings becoming more compassionate with each other. The following is an outline:

Kindness Week Focus

–Monday: Gift to family

–Tuesday: Gift to colleagues

–Wednesday: Gift to an essential worker

–Thursday: The just ’cause gift (to anyone you choose)

–Friday: Gift to self (very important)

Gift Ideas:

  1. A letter of gratitude.
  2. One of your favorite fruits (I like to share mangoes).
  3. Write a list of 7 things you admire about the individual. write each on a separate sheets of paper and place the papers in a brown paper bag with seven Hershey’s Kisses ( or another treat of choice). When you give the individual the bag, tell them they will have a message and a kiss for seven days; enjoy!
  4. Go on a 25-30 minute walk with a person and share how they’ve inspired you (for at least five minutes of the walk).
  5. Pick a flower (season permitting) for an individual and share why they deserve it. Please be as specific as you can be (i.e. here’s a flower for being such an uplifting person. The day you said….made a huge impact on me and I want to encourage you to continue being who you are).
  6. Share a small gift from your cultural background. For example, one of my students shared an origami crane with me and shared the meaning behind it (do you know if you make 1000, you can be granted a wish?).
  7. If you’re a poet, musician, or blessed with any type of creative talent, share your gifts. A friend of mine once played a tune on the piano to serenade a special someone who felt ill. They will never forget this creative act of kindness.

I am well aware that the ails we struggle with are not going to cease with this National Kindness Week proposal. If this was the case, one Christmas would have solved all of our issues. Rather, NKW is a renewal, a modification/alteration, a step closer to unification and overall great excuse to be kind with intension, especially during a time when the need for kindness is dyer. And of course, please wear a mask and be mindful of distance as you share your love.

What steps do you believe we can take to move in a direction of unification? I’m looking forward to reading your ideas…

Sep62018

The Importance of being in the “Trenches” with your Students

The Importance of being in the “Trenches” with your Students

Before teaching, I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to perform with my students. I never conceived of this idea because when I attended high school and college, I did not interact with my teachers outside of the academic setting. I would not bring myself to ask a teacher if they would sing a song with me or play a backing instrument while I read poetry. Sadly to say, I never witnessed my teachers reading and writing for personal enjoyment. I always assumed that’s what teachers did, however, I did not see my teachers model this.

“This” changed when I became a teacher. Over the years, I have engaged with my students on a number of creative projects. I have sung, read poetry, danced and acted with my students. This student/teacher interaction was made possible by the environment I currently reside in. I live in a setting where students are comfortable with calling me by my first name and they are equally comfortable (I hope) with joining me in the creative process.

I am aware that there will be times when writing or performing with my students means that they will see me when I am most vulnerable. This is never easy, considering I was raised in a “the teacher is always right” culture. Well, I’m here to say that this teacher is not always right–my creativity does not always flow within a classroom session–I do not always hit the right notes when rehearsing a song (or performing for that matter); when I made this admission, I became more at ease with constructing a sonnet, or a short story alongside my charges. I also felt more at ease experimenting with rhythms and improvisations with my charges because the pressure to be “right” or “perfect” was no longer a hindrance.

I’ll use the “jazz…” in “Jazz and Blackboards” to share an example of my vulnerability in the presence of my students. When I initially sang with the big band, I knew that some of my English students would be backing me with their instruments. I was also aware of the limited time I had to rehearse songs, considering the intensity of the school year. Admittedly, I was nervous about not hitting every note and phrase correctly because that “incorrectness” would be a direct reflection on me (my character, my teaching, my learning process). This, however, was not completely the case. Through intense reflection and maturity, I realized that my students needed to witness how I struggled to get to the point of mastery. They needed to witness how I coped with not always hitting the right notes.

A former student of mine thought I had a natural talent because he never observed my rehearsal process. After joining the band, he apologized for saying that I was a natural–I could have taken this as a real insult, or I could have taken pride in knowing that he witnessed how I worked and rehearsed to get to the point of mastery. I chose to go with the latter.

The Takeaway

Overall, one has to understand that being in the trenches with one’s students is going to be quite the vulnerable experience. At the same time, modeling the process of what it means to persevere and work to the point of mastery is essential for knowing what it means to learn.

As always, I like to leave you with a song to connect with the ideas presented in my posts. The following song has two purposes: 1. It serves as an example of a song that I had challenges with during rehearsals because I felt that the original could not be covered.  2. It also serves as a thank you and farewell to Aretha Franklin who taught us all about what singing from the soul actually sounds like.  Enjoy…

I’m looking forward to hearing from you! Please feel welcomed to share an experience where you felt most vulnerable, or share your thoughts regarding being in the trenches…

Aug232018

Informing Teaching Goals According to Nation’s Report Card

As a member of the International Literacy Association (ILA @ www.literacyworldwide.org), I have access to national and international reading trends at various grade levels. In addition to this information, researchers in the education field with specific interests in the area of literacy, share strategies, lessons and ideas implemented in classrooms across the country that empower young readers. This past week, I was intrigued by the ILA’s response to The Nation’s Report Card @ www.nationsreportcard.gov (2018), which provides graphs and statistics to show how students fare, overall, with reading proficiency. Overall, nationally, we have flat-lined in this area with no major improvements for the past decade. Unfortunately, the inequalities are most evident in schools where mostly African American, Latino and international students attend.

Why is this the case? According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or the NAEP, this is the case due to systematic misalignment (ILA, 2018). Essentially, All involved in the school system, especially teachers and principals must have an intentional plan to change the course of student reading proficiency levels. Although there is no “…singular solution…”(ILA, 2018) in remedying our flat-lined reading scores, focused attention on curriculum, content and grade-level texts can have a major impact on student interest and ultimately an improved report card.

As an English teacher and reading specialist, this information is most important for informing my teaching goals. The following are ways in which I plan on instructing with the NAEP report in mind:

  1. Allow students the autonomy to select reading materials throughout the year
  • Independent reading projects during at least one term in the school year
  • Share novels, short stories and poems that have made an impact on my life and ask students to do the same
  1. Focus more on end goal curriculum planning
  • What should students know by the end of their four years in school?
  • What should students know by the end of the year?
  1. Embrace other content areas to inform instruction
  • Connect the background information of a focal text with what is learned in other academic courses
  • Collaborate with colleagues across disciplines

The ILA’s report is correct in stating that there is no singular solution to improving overall student reading proficiency (ILA, 2018). We can begin, however, through intentional systematic approaches that aim to serve the student demographic struggling most. If, through research, it is discovered that a particular demographic is achieving at a higher percentage than the nation’s overall report, we should also be willing to adopt that particular demographics’ strategies. All in all, we must “Wake Up” as the late Teddy Pendergrass suggests:

What are your thoughts regarding the Nation’s reading report card? I’m looking forward to your subscription and comments….