Inspiration from Educating Esme

In my Stories of Teaching capstone class, we were assigned a memoir called Educating Esme. The book is essentially the diary of an eccentric, non-traditional, yet successful teacher (by my standards and standardized test standards). Esme has a personality that is VERY different from mine, yet I can see a lot of myself in her...and from our class discussions, so can many of my classmates. I pulled out a few pieces of inspiration from the book...things that I can relate to and things I want to remember as I begin my first year teaching:

Q: "What kind of classroom environment will you create?"
A: " Do you mean physical, emotional, or educational?" (p.4)

"I don't work for you. I work for the children." (p. 52)

"They know I  would never let them fail. That's why they do what I ask, no matter how much they complain." (p.69)

"I can only do what I know is realistic for me to be able to do." (p. 113)

"If I had a child, I'd want her for my child's teacher. Isn't that the real litmus test?" (p.139).

"Children rise to meet our expectations, good or bad." (p. 151)

"When someone asks me, 'How was your day?,' I never know what to answer. I have thirty-one days every day, a different day with each child." (p. 160)

"People snicker, 'Those who can't do, teach.' But, oh, how right they are. I could never, ever do all I dream of doing. I could never, ever be an opera star, a baseball umpire, an earth scientist, an astronaut, a great lover, a great liar, a trapeze artist, a dancer, a baker, a buddha, or a thousand other aspirations I have had, while having only been given one thin ticket in this lottery of life! In the recessional, as I watch them, mine, the ones I loved, I overflow with the joyous greed of a rich man counting coins. Wrongly I have thought teaching has lessoned me at times, but now I experience a teacher's greatest euphoria, the knowledge like a drug that will keep me: Thirty-one children. Thirty-one chances. Thirty-one futures, our futures. It's an almost psychotic feeling, believing that part of their lives belong to me. Everything they become, I also become. And everything about me, they helped create" (p. 194).

Letters to a Young Teacher (1) --diversity

I am reading a new book. Yes, I am reading a book--a real book, one that was written for adults. Even more importantly, I am reading this book on my own. I am reading it because I want to--not because someone has told me to. I realized on the way back from spring break that it was inexcusable to give up reading because school was starting. The educator in me cringes at the thought of not having time to independently read and learn through books because of a prescribed curriculum. The truth is, I have learned more in 86 pages on this book than I have learned in 3 weeks of class thus far. So I am reading instead of homework. I will get to homework (and Relay, cleaning, laundry, pre-institute work, packing, cooking) eventually, but for now I am reading and learning.

I am about 1/3 of the way into Letters to a Young Teacher by Jonathan Kozol. Kozol uses a letter format to give his views and commentary on teaching. His letters are a correspondence (integrated with personal experience) that show a mentoring relationship he has with a young teacher in an urban Boston school district. The book is filled with advice, anecdotes, and commentary. I LOVE it. While I do not agree with every word he writes, I share his basic perspective and feel that his letters and wisdom will be invaluable as I begin teaching.

Chapter 8: The Uses of "Diversity" brought up a poignant point about education. An ugly truth that we all know, but it is easier to ignore. He argues that most schools are not any more diverse than they were when Dr. King was protesting segregation. Personally, I was lucky enough to be placed in a school that was very diverse, but looking at some of my other placements, this was not the norm. In my preschool placement in a suburb of Cincinnati, all of my students were white. In my work-study preschool in Avondale near OTR, my students were all black. Less than 15 miles apart, my students lived and had vastly different lives and school experiences. Seperate and unequal by geography, but still only 15 miles apart. It really is devastating to look at how far away fifteen miles really is. How can we teach diversity authentically when our children really have not experienced it? Is the "message" of diversity really enough? As a teacher, I likely cannot change the school composition and boundaries for my students, but my hope is that I can explore diversity with them beyond a surface level understanding. My students at Fairview showed me how capable children are of understanding social issues and accepting and celebrating children from other backgrounds. My only hope is that I can do the same in a different setting with my own classroom of students.

In Kozol's words teachers have a choice on how to teach diversity:

"Education, no matter what the rulebooks say, is never absolutely neutral. We either teach our children it's okay to write and talk about the things they think to be the truth or else we teach them that it's more acceptable to silence their beliefs, or even not to have beliefs but to settle for official truths that someone else has carefully prepared for them." (p 86).

Book Review: A Chance to Make History

I love Cincinnati Public Library. I really do. Their holds list, unlike the libraries in my hometown actually delivers a book to you...sooner rather than later. I was shocked when only days after requesting Wendy Kopp's book A Chance to Make History it came in to my home library. 

As my free time is limited, I was only able to read a little bit at a time, but every minute spent reading it was more than worth my while. Here is a taste of the book for you:

Unfortunately, I did not get to go back and re-read/ take notes on it as planned (it is due back tomorrow), but here are some impressions of the book. The things that stayed with me even a couple weeks after reading it:

- Kopp does a great job of talking about the issue of educational inequity. She approaches the subject with a very realistic, yet optimistic tone. 

- Teaching is leadership. This is something that is so clear to me, but that I find missing from much of my educational coursework. There is more to being a teacher than caring about children (not that caring for children is not a critical part of being a teacher). There is more than knowing curriculum content. Teaching is a holistic profession and the traits of a great teacher are almost synonymous with the traits of a good leader. Kopp illustrates this point (as well as all of the other main points in her book with examples of successful teachers), but it was this passage that really hit the point home for me:

"Every time we study teachers who are having a profound impact on the opportunities facing children growing up in low-income communities, we find teachers who operate like the most effective leaders in any context. They establish an ambitions vision for their students' success that will make a difference in their academic and life trajectories. They invest in other-students and their families--in this vision and in working hard to reach it. They are purposeful and strategic in moving toward it, constantly evaluating their students' progress and making adjustments to ensure their success. When they encounter obstacles, they do whatever it takes to overcome them, exerting extraordinary time, energy, and resourcefulness. They reflect on their accomplishments and shortcomings, seek and find help from veteran teachers and other colleagues, and improve over time." 

I am pretty sure she just summed up the teacher I hope to be!

- I particularly liked the "Silver Bullets and Silver Scapegoats" chapter in which Kopp discusses many of the problems and "solutions" in today's discussion on educational reform. She explains that there is no one magic solution to education reform, but rather many factors working together.

- Kopp's final statement---simple, yet powerful: "We can unleash the potential of our urban and rural children to 'make history.' The question is simply whether we will."

As a future Corps Member, I am so glad that I took the time to read this. It gave me a better idea about what I am getting myself into and reaffirmed my decision to join Teach For America. I am excited to be a part of a group of people who are working together to make an impact on the lives of so many children--both in individual classrooms and through the national conversation on educational reform. 

I highly encourage anyone in the field of education to read this book. I am not saying Kopp has all of the answers, but I found the book a refreshing look at the state of education and education reform. For more information, visit the book's website: http://achancetomakehistory.org/

Review of Coming Back Stronger

As a supplement to my adventures in blog land, I became a book reviewer through Tyndale Blog Network. As a reviewer, Tyndale House Publishers provide me with a complimentary copy of a book, I read it, and then share my thoughts. My first book was Coming Back Stronger: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Diversity. This book is an autobiography of Drew Brees and this is what I thought of it:


Drew Brees' autobiography, Coming Back Stronger, tells the story of an admiral person and professional athlete who overcomes a series of challenges in his life and career. Though I am not a fan of the NFL, this novel was both interesting and inspirational. I find it hard to believe that one could not read it and take back some message, meaning, or connection to his or her own life. The novel really allows for the reader to get into the mindset of a quarterback. I enjoyed hearing about games from a player's perspective. The writing, in my opinion, could have been stronger. Bree's seems to want to open up to the reader, and does for the most part, but at times I would have liked to see more emotion and detail about how the challenges were overcome. The memoir was filled with cliches, but it is very apparent that Brees has not only embraced, but lives by what they represent. Regardless of the mediocre writing, I finished the book satisfied and with a genuine respect for Brees, his teammates, and family.


And what does this have to do with being a teacher? At first I could not tell you, but the more I think about it, the more it has everything to do with being a teacher. It talks about motivation--internal and external motivation. It talks about overcoming challenges and failures--something I expect in my future career and I expect my students to have. It talks about the importance of family and community. The biggest lesson I learned from this book was related to the issue of trust and support. In Coming Back Stronger Brees talks about the feeling he had when being recruited by New Orleans. It was important to him to have a coaching staff and teammates who believed in him--people who were on his side. This support helped him become a better player. In my mind, it is this same trust and support that students need to be successful. Students need teachers and parents who believe that they can achieve. Before we can give them content knowledge, they must be ready to learn. We, as teachers, need to support students in their efforts. Brees intends his autobiography to be more than about football, and as a future teacher who does not know a lot about football, I can say in this aspect he was successful.