One of my mottos is, "There's nothing special about special education. It's just good education." All the things that work in special education work in regular education. It's figuring out what works best for each child, how to motivate kids. And how to get them involved.
I read those words in a book titled Conversations with Great Teachers by Bill Smoot, who teaches in Palo Alto California, and who modeled what he did in this book on the work of Studs Terkel in books like Working. Bill asked if I would be willing to read his book. I began it today.
The words I have quoted are from David Lazerson, who teaches special education in Florida, has degree through a doctorate in multiple subjects, and is a member of the National Teachers' Hall of Fame.
I am not yet ready to write a review of this book. There are things I think I should share now, especially in light of some of the recent news in education.
Please keep reading.
The big story in education this past week is the series in the Los Angeles Times about the value added scores of teachers, with pictures and names being attached. There are lots of limitations to value added assessment under any circumstance, and the publishing of names in this case has angered many in education, and once again reopened the issue of how we judge teacher effectiveness.
I am NOT going to get into that topic directly, despite several people having urged me to write about the issues raised by the action of the LA Times, and the connection with the entire issue of using test scores in any fashion as a major part of evaluating teachers. I am, to put it bluntly, disgusted y Secretary of Education Arne Duncan approving of the naming of names by the LA Times.
I would rather transition towards the beginning of teaching by focusing on things that demonstrate what good teachers know, and how they teach. Let me simply offer the words of a few of the outstanding teachers interviewed by Bill Smoot, and perhaps offer a bit of commentary of my own. I will not further identify the teachers, because I believe the words will speak for themselves.
Let me start with words from Bill himself, in his introduction. He frames something as "the educational triad" which is the teacher, the student, and that which passes between them. Here he is talking about teaching as relationship, a concept to which regular readers of my educational posts know I regularly refer, influenced as I have been by the work of Parker Palmer. Let me offer several other quotes from Bill:
To allow oneself to be taught - to be changed - requires trust. The teacher must be deeply authentic in the classroom because that authenticity is the basis of trust.
We will encounter this notion in several of the comments of others.
Great teachers have a sense of their students as individuals, and they know that each individual is unique. One inherent challenge of teaching is that it is usually done in groups, and yet the teacher has to know students individually, and to understand their incredibly different ways of learning. The teacher also needs to recognize possibilities in each student that may not be apparent. Fourth-grade teacher Steven LEvey says he used to pray "to always see what is the genius in each child that makes him or her absolutely unique."
Now from some of those great teachers:
What I really love is when kids at any skill level seem to have a fire lit under them and they get excited about something and love it and really enjoy it.
The most meaningful learning is not imposed upon the student, but demanded by her, as she connects with and gets excited by the material at hand.
About being genuine with kids:
The kids see through sham - not just sham, but they see through somebody who's over-prepared, someone who's trying to hammer certain points home in an inauthentic way, somebody who comes in with an axe to grind, somebody who's not flexible or open. The kids are brilliant at seeing through all the ways that we hide inauthenticity/
And one thing they absolutely know is whether for the adult before them teaching is just a job or something more, such as it is for this teacher:
First of all, I absolutely love what I do. I often tell others that I don't think I chose teaching. I think teaching chose me. I knew from a very early age that I was going to be a teacher.
There is much of that statement that I could apply to myself, although I did not know from an early age that my fulltime occupation would be to teach. Still, even from an early age I was involved in teaching, and it was often a consistent part of the work I did - empowering others, even as a fire team leader in infantry training in the Marines.
It's a challenge for teachers who have goals in terms of character development to find ways to measure whether we've made an impact or not.
It is, it is not something easily determined by a multiple choice test. Nevertheless it can be as important as any specific content we teach, and often these are the lesson that students carry with them for the rest of their lives. It is why we must model for our students want we want for them, lest we give them conflicting messages.
A longer quote from the same teacher, but if you read it you will understand why I offer it:
When you teach these kids, you have no idea what they are going to become. You don't know who's going to become a fireman or who's going to be a neurosurgeon or who's going to work in a factory. But what you hope for them is that whatever they become, they will somehow be able to see all of life, and learn the lessons of life, and relate that to bigger principles of who we are and how we are related to each other. That would be my hope for the kids I've tuaght: to see that everything we do is somehow connected, somehow there's a spirit behind it. That we need to be able to see through the earthly artifacts to the principles that are behind everything.
It is why I say that I teach students, not so much a subject, although that is my listed responsibility. And do that, I and others have to keep in mind the wise words I now offer from another teacher:
They need to know you are going to set fair expectations and realize that even when I get upset with them, I still love them. And I tell them that - that I'm upset at their behavior, not at them as a person. Young kids want you to hold a grudge and be mad at them, so then they can be mad at you and have a reason for their behavior. I believe we need to set the example and hold them accountable.
Hold them accountable, young kids and not so young kids. For their behavior, while reminding them that we love them - which is why for many of us we persist in teaching despite the mandates and rules imposed from outside that interfere with real learning, that can prevent us from expressing that love and affirmation that is often a key to a successful learning environment.
And we constantly have to pay attention, to learn about our students and our classes, and to modify what we do accordingly, matching it to where they are and what they need. Or as another teacher puts it:
The other thing is that through the course of the year you get to know your class better. Every class is different, so some things that my class may have a lot of trouble with one year they're not going to have trouble with another year, and vice versa.
And there is also this, so appropriate at this time of year:
You have to into class that first day with the deep belief that every student is going to learn a lot of great math that year. And if you don't believe that, the kids will figure out that you're not int it all the way, and they won't come with you. But if you really do believe it, they'll trust you.
From a high school science teacher, an important connection with his own experience:
What I remember from when I was that age is that we really liked to know about our teachers. We liked it when they revealed themselves as human beings.
That can lead to sharing stories about oneself that make one vulnerable. That might not be the path everyone wants to follow. As the same teacher notes,
Often I think to myself,"Boy, I hope no one mentions that conversation we just had to an administrator or a parent." And it's not because I was nasty or did anything unethical bu just because something was a little racy or I allowed a little innuendo to fly around the room to get the point across - but it was effective. It made it a better class to be in for that period of time. I'd just as soon never have to defend it before the school board, bu the students learn better for it. Hopefully they'll walk out thinking about science in a more interesting way because it was made more interesting for them
. Here I am reminded that for me a conversation with a parent could well be a conversation with a school board member - one year I had children of two board members in the same class. I know my students talk about what happens it class. I suppose there is a risk in how this teacher - and I - teach. I, too, have occasionally wondered after the class if we should have gone where we did. But I start by trusting my students, because I want them to trust me. Perhaps someday it will get me in trouble. So far it has helped my students be more connected to what happens in class.
It is Friday evening. Today I was not at school. I have been home with the cats, or out drinking coffee while I read this book. Even when I do other things I often find myself thinking about my students, about how best to reach them. It is not so much my teaching them as it is our taking a trip together, one that explores content, feelings, new ideas. I will be learning from them, about them, and about the content, for they will see it through the lens of an experience very different than mine. Thus together we will be embarked on a joint experience of learning and exploration.
Today I was reading a book about teachers.
Today I read some words from teachers that connected with my own understanding of what it is I do.
Today I decided there might be some value in my sharing these words from teachers as the school year begins.
Peace.