Long Distance Drunk (Professionalism):
For your listening pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJUDzqM_siA
If you're going to be a role model and a father figure for the children you teach you need to fully embrace and work towards becoming as mature and responsible as you can. Luckily, for us, the type of people who get into the Mississippi Teacher Corps end up already possessing a very strong work ethic and have been more on the responsible side since college to keep up with the type of high grades that are necessary to get into the program. Sound judgement becomes one of the first things that hits my mind when I think to myself what makes a teacher display professionalism. Being able to assess any situation objectively and make a fair ruling in your mind in a span of under three seconds. This applies not only to the children you grow with but also to the adult that you work with. You must always remember the phrase "justice as fairness." Now, Rawls discussed the idea as a conceptual basis in which one should base a society around and I utilize it as a methodology that acts as a barometer for my response to stimuli. Simply put, although I can't always be just, (i.e. I send the wrong kid to the hallway for talking) I can always be fair. (i.e. I always send a kid to the hallway whenever I hear talking.) That way the children know if I talk there's a 100% chance I or my innocent friend will get put out. You can't always have justice because people aren't perfect in their split second decisions of things. But you can always have fairness. MTC teaches fairness as consistency and I would wholeheartedly agree with that assessment. The same comes to your colleagues. I learned that to be fair I must make my sound judgement based off the intention of their actions rather than the actions themselves. Come from their standpoint to understand why they did what they did. It makes it easier to have an open heart and mind to the situation and helps you maintain the professionalism that is required for your job. If you don't act professional how will your children know how they need to act to be able to secure employment in their lives? You not only rob them of a secure education but the social knowledge they will need to pass any career limits test. If you act with sound judgement you will automatically garner the respect of your students for your consistency and fairness. This will enable you to lead them that they may also decide to act with fairness in regards to their various personal and professional decisions in life. You are molding the personalities of your children and teaching them the appropriate responses to to stimuli. It's hard not to let bias cloud your fairness and judgement in your first year of teaching. But, by your second year you realize what happens when you aren't consistent in that the kids don't view your mandates as reasonable or good in the long run. So, you make that adjustment, put bias aside and learn to practice what you preach. Professionalism is sound judgement that results in fair decisions that are consistent with all personal, private, and vocational matters.
Polar Opposites (Transformation):
For your listening pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TvH6twZClM
When I first arrived at Holly Springs Summer School in the summer of 2015, I had no idea what teaching was like in any form or fashion. The thought of having to write out a lesson plan never crossed my mind and to be honest, before I started teaching, I assumed that teachers had it easy. The grading would all be done on the computer and you would get to go home as soon as you were done. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The first classroom I taught had a total of four kids in it. There were days when I only taught one kid, and I remember vividly teaching about the holocaust to one student. In fact, I taught her the entire day that day. Although, it took away the opportunity for me to learn classroom management in a real classroom setting I got plenty of practice with that during the role plays we did. In hindsight the role plays ended up being the most important part of what we learned during summer school for me. During summer school, I had a laissez-faire attitude and thought if I just showed respect it would be returned. When I got to Clarksdale, while I realized that was mostly true, I realized I also had to be ready to make an example out of some kids with a referral every now and then. I transformed into someone who thought they knew the profession into someone who got to experience the profession. I tell my friend Russell all the time that the amount of decisions we make in a day, albeit petty ones, has to take a toll on our ability to discern what is urgent and what is minor in our private lives. Almost, like a numbing quality of sorts in the capacity to detect emergencies. I realized it wasn't just my teaching persona that has drastically altered since summer school it was also my personal values system that changed. Mostly, it was how I perceived the world. I went from thinking that everyone has a purpose and a direction when I was at summer school to realizing that nobody belongs anywhere and nobody has a definitive path they must traverse. Earlier in my life, that would have shaken my faith in other people and my existence but now it provides a calm and a reassurance as to what me and my children are up to.
Further, in the beginning of my teaching experience I received alot of self doubt from myself. Not only myself but those in my personal life criticized my ability to be able to go into a classroom because I had been placed in a four person classroom. The most common thing I would hear is "you haven't even really done teaching yet. Four kids? That's tutoring, not teaching." And that last sentiment I would agree with today. But, that all melted away when I got to Clarksdale and was placed with a teaching mentor and a support system that was welcoming and encouraged mistakes. Our assistant principal at the time told me I was going to be one of the finest teachers in the building. That would be realized a year later when my leadership earned me the teacher of the year award. Digressing though, I went from being self-conscious and frankly scared to be reassured and supporting.
Confidence is the largest transformation. Ability as well. I went from having no clue how to direct a think pair share to be able to direct it out of the blue in the middle of the lesson because I think it may reach a few kids. That ability comes from confidence. Anyone, I believe, can do this job. They just have to trust in themselves that not only can they do an adequate job they can do an amazing one. It all has to come from you. Work ethic is a large part of that too which was learned very well during the first summer at Holly Springs. If I could go back and tell myself anything during that time it would be just to soak it all in, embrace the suck, and do EVERYTHING that was taught to me there. It was all apart of what made me able to go and start teaching. Everything else I learned along the way just sharpened my tools. Without that summer school, I wouldn't have had the tools.
Heart Cooks Brain (Leadership):
For your listening pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qgEl4KWB4
There's two questions, possibly three, we bring up nearly class. What does it mean to be American? Why do we live? How should we live? And in socratic seminars and connections to the progressive response to the gilded age we come upon a crossroads between the ideas of social Darwinism and social gospel. We all claim we want social gospel but in our day to day lives our actions exhibit someone who believes more in social Darwinism. A discussion is had between these two ideas. Contrasts are made. Philosophers are created. How should we live? The conversations that philosophical perspectives creates enables the students to take ownership of their own learning. A leader can only be measured by his success when the people he is leading become leaders themselves. That's why when I say "What are we?!" They shout, "global leaders!" I respond, "all day, no question." Leadership in regards to instruction begins and ends with believing in your children.
Teacher leaders become social workers after school in discussions about their kids home lives. I, being a leader, don't consider myself an instructor, I consider myself a part time parent. I know instructors feel the same way when they say "my kids" or "my children" instead of "my students." Teacher Leaders have to be willing to provide emotional, spiritual, economic, social, and academic support to their children at anytime. Leadership isn't a 7-6pm job.
Being a instructional leader isn't just a mastery of your content and the incorporation of new ideas proposed by PD leaders. There's a grit or passion that needs to be there. I think people don't realize that unless they choose the profession. I'm glad I chose this profession. I don't think I could really do anything else. The leadership that I exhibit at Clarksdale has contributed to a culture change there where there is genuine pride in our school. The students come to athletic events more often and our data, in United States History, has increased every year to the highest the scores have been in three years. This year, my second year, I was rewarded and acknowledged for this with winning not just the Teacher of the Year at the high school but also the teacher of the year for the district. Leadership isn't about awards though. Leadership is about sharing passion and grit with the children. It's about inspiring the people around you that we can make a difference in these kids lives. All it takes is someone who believes.
For your listening pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJUDzqM_siA
If you're going to be a role model and a father figure for the children you teach you need to fully embrace and work towards becoming as mature and responsible as you can. Luckily, for us, the type of people who get into the Mississippi Teacher Corps end up already possessing a very strong work ethic and have been more on the responsible side since college to keep up with the type of high grades that are necessary to get into the program. Sound judgement becomes one of the first things that hits my mind when I think to myself what makes a teacher display professionalism. Being able to assess any situation objectively and make a fair ruling in your mind in a span of under three seconds. This applies not only to the children you grow with but also to the adult that you work with. You must always remember the phrase "justice as fairness." Now, Rawls discussed the idea as a conceptual basis in which one should base a society around and I utilize it as a methodology that acts as a barometer for my response to stimuli. Simply put, although I can't always be just, (i.e. I send the wrong kid to the hallway for talking) I can always be fair. (i.e. I always send a kid to the hallway whenever I hear talking.) That way the children know if I talk there's a 100% chance I or my innocent friend will get put out. You can't always have justice because people aren't perfect in their split second decisions of things. But you can always have fairness. MTC teaches fairness as consistency and I would wholeheartedly agree with that assessment. The same comes to your colleagues. I learned that to be fair I must make my sound judgement based off the intention of their actions rather than the actions themselves. Come from their standpoint to understand why they did what they did. It makes it easier to have an open heart and mind to the situation and helps you maintain the professionalism that is required for your job. If you don't act professional how will your children know how they need to act to be able to secure employment in their lives? You not only rob them of a secure education but the social knowledge they will need to pass any career limits test. If you act with sound judgement you will automatically garner the respect of your students for your consistency and fairness. This will enable you to lead them that they may also decide to act with fairness in regards to their various personal and professional decisions in life. You are molding the personalities of your children and teaching them the appropriate responses to to stimuli. It's hard not to let bias cloud your fairness and judgement in your first year of teaching. But, by your second year you realize what happens when you aren't consistent in that the kids don't view your mandates as reasonable or good in the long run. So, you make that adjustment, put bias aside and learn to practice what you preach. Professionalism is sound judgement that results in fair decisions that are consistent with all personal, private, and vocational matters.
Polar Opposites (Transformation):
For your listening pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TvH6twZClM
When I first arrived at Holly Springs Summer School in the summer of 2015, I had no idea what teaching was like in any form or fashion. The thought of having to write out a lesson plan never crossed my mind and to be honest, before I started teaching, I assumed that teachers had it easy. The grading would all be done on the computer and you would get to go home as soon as you were done. I couldn't have been more wrong.
The first classroom I taught had a total of four kids in it. There were days when I only taught one kid, and I remember vividly teaching about the holocaust to one student. In fact, I taught her the entire day that day. Although, it took away the opportunity for me to learn classroom management in a real classroom setting I got plenty of practice with that during the role plays we did. In hindsight the role plays ended up being the most important part of what we learned during summer school for me. During summer school, I had a laissez-faire attitude and thought if I just showed respect it would be returned. When I got to Clarksdale, while I realized that was mostly true, I realized I also had to be ready to make an example out of some kids with a referral every now and then. I transformed into someone who thought they knew the profession into someone who got to experience the profession. I tell my friend Russell all the time that the amount of decisions we make in a day, albeit petty ones, has to take a toll on our ability to discern what is urgent and what is minor in our private lives. Almost, like a numbing quality of sorts in the capacity to detect emergencies. I realized it wasn't just my teaching persona that has drastically altered since summer school it was also my personal values system that changed. Mostly, it was how I perceived the world. I went from thinking that everyone has a purpose and a direction when I was at summer school to realizing that nobody belongs anywhere and nobody has a definitive path they must traverse. Earlier in my life, that would have shaken my faith in other people and my existence but now it provides a calm and a reassurance as to what me and my children are up to.
Further, in the beginning of my teaching experience I received alot of self doubt from myself. Not only myself but those in my personal life criticized my ability to be able to go into a classroom because I had been placed in a four person classroom. The most common thing I would hear is "you haven't even really done teaching yet. Four kids? That's tutoring, not teaching." And that last sentiment I would agree with today. But, that all melted away when I got to Clarksdale and was placed with a teaching mentor and a support system that was welcoming and encouraged mistakes. Our assistant principal at the time told me I was going to be one of the finest teachers in the building. That would be realized a year later when my leadership earned me the teacher of the year award. Digressing though, I went from being self-conscious and frankly scared to be reassured and supporting.
Confidence is the largest transformation. Ability as well. I went from having no clue how to direct a think pair share to be able to direct it out of the blue in the middle of the lesson because I think it may reach a few kids. That ability comes from confidence. Anyone, I believe, can do this job. They just have to trust in themselves that not only can they do an adequate job they can do an amazing one. It all has to come from you. Work ethic is a large part of that too which was learned very well during the first summer at Holly Springs. If I could go back and tell myself anything during that time it would be just to soak it all in, embrace the suck, and do EVERYTHING that was taught to me there. It was all apart of what made me able to go and start teaching. Everything else I learned along the way just sharpened my tools. Without that summer school, I wouldn't have had the tools.
Heart Cooks Brain (Leadership):
For your listening pleasure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qgEl4KWB4
There's two questions, possibly three, we bring up nearly class. What does it mean to be American? Why do we live? How should we live? And in socratic seminars and connections to the progressive response to the gilded age we come upon a crossroads between the ideas of social Darwinism and social gospel. We all claim we want social gospel but in our day to day lives our actions exhibit someone who believes more in social Darwinism. A discussion is had between these two ideas. Contrasts are made. Philosophers are created. How should we live? The conversations that philosophical perspectives creates enables the students to take ownership of their own learning. A leader can only be measured by his success when the people he is leading become leaders themselves. That's why when I say "What are we?!" They shout, "global leaders!" I respond, "all day, no question." Leadership in regards to instruction begins and ends with believing in your children.
Teacher leaders become social workers after school in discussions about their kids home lives. I, being a leader, don't consider myself an instructor, I consider myself a part time parent. I know instructors feel the same way when they say "my kids" or "my children" instead of "my students." Teacher Leaders have to be willing to provide emotional, spiritual, economic, social, and academic support to their children at anytime. Leadership isn't a 7-6pm job.
Being a instructional leader isn't just a mastery of your content and the incorporation of new ideas proposed by PD leaders. There's a grit or passion that needs to be there. I think people don't realize that unless they choose the profession. I'm glad I chose this profession. I don't think I could really do anything else. The leadership that I exhibit at Clarksdale has contributed to a culture change there where there is genuine pride in our school. The students come to athletic events more often and our data, in United States History, has increased every year to the highest the scores have been in three years. This year, my second year, I was rewarded and acknowledged for this with winning not just the Teacher of the Year at the high school but also the teacher of the year for the district. Leadership isn't about awards though. Leadership is about sharing passion and grit with the children. It's about inspiring the people around you that we can make a difference in these kids lives. All it takes is someone who believes.