Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?

"Thank goodness for all of the things you are not.  

Thank goodness you're not something someone forgot."

~ Dr. Seuss

Well tis' the season!  I'm sure you've noticed the influx of Seuss related crafts and lessons that come out this time every year.  A lot of schools do some kind of Seuss related activity to celebrate the authors birthday and life of children's amazing literature.  Among other things I decided to try an emotional education lesson this week using one of my favorite Seuss books "Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are".  

One thing that surprised me was the difficulty of explaining the concept of "luck" to children.  Most children believed that it had something to do with money.  Winning money, finding money, having money.  And yes, in some cases that is true, but we also talked a lot about luck just generally being something good that happens to us.  Finding a toy we lost, having a family that loves us, winning a contest.  We also discussed what unlucky meant, which we decided was when something bad happens to us but we didn't do anything wrong.  Losing a toy or pet, tripping and falling down, knocking over a glass of milk at dinner.  These are difficult concepts for 4-year-olds, but we read the book over a few days and reinforced our ideas before each reading.  

I decided not to go into the idea of other people being more unlucky than us because it was a little advanced for kids who are still trying to understand any kind of luck at all.  I did, however, at the end go through and ask each child to name something that made them feel lucky.  Something that made them feel good inside.  Pretty much every child named their parents or family, so after each answer I would reinstate that they felt lucky to have a family that loved them; which hey, lets admit, is the best luck of all.  

Every once in awhile I'll do a lesson with my kids that reminds me how much learning we take for granted.  I don't remember learning what luck was, or how to define the feeling of something going wrong or right for me that I had very little to do with.  And sure, these kids would probably learn this on their own someday... but it never hurts the odds to have a head start!

Teach on!

Makings of a Master

A few days ago I heard someone referred to as a "Master Teacher".  From what I can tell the main credential for this title was the woman's incredibly lengthy career (84 years old and still at it).  This comment launched a discussion with a friend of mine over what really constitutes a "Master" teacher, and whether or not we felt as if we had ever really seen one in action.

For myself I feel lucky to say that yes I do believe I have seen a Master teacher, perhaps more than one.  I think a master inspires.  I think they are the ones who make teaching seem effortless in the moment but behind the scenes work the hardest.  I have seen teachers who work 3 different lessons into a twenty minute circle time.  Teachers who refuse to let a child with difficult behavior issues stop them from trying something new everyday to get through.  Teachers with a strong tone and a huge heart, getting 3rd graders excited about fractions.  Teachers who make it their mission to love the most difficult child in their class.  

So what makes a master?

I think confidence without arrogance has a lot to do with it.  Teachers who believe in what they are doing (sometimes whether or not it's the norm).  Teachers who teach because it is really what they WANT to be doing (don't even get me started on the teachers who are at it for the summer vacation or the ones who think they make great teachers just because they've raised children).

Masters aren't afraid to "lose" control because they know that control isn't lost if it is willingly given.  That noise and laughter aren't indicators that a class is wild, that learning doesn't have to happen in regimented silence, that sometimes messy is wonderful.  Along the same note I think a master understands that learning doesn't always happen on the schedule you plan it on.  That tangents can be just as valuable as curriculum, and that you are never sacrificing time if some kind of lesson is developing on its own.

I believe that masters ALWAYS take their work home with them.  It doesn't matter if you have been teaching for 50 years and have a file folio that rivals the Library of Congress, a master teacher will still be coming up with new idea's, because a master teacher knows that no two classes are alike.

A master teacher will NEVER let their feelings for a child get in the way of what that child deserves in their education.  In fact I believe a master teacher would go out of their way to make every child believe they are loved and valued.  We all have students that rub us the wrong way... but in a master teachers class, you would never be able to figure out who that child is.

So what do you think?  Have you ever been in the presence of a Master?  What are your qualifications?  When you think back on that favorite teacher... what was it exactly that made them better than all the rest?  I'd love to hear!!

Teach on!

Are You Kinder Than a Fifth Grader?

This topic was suggested to me by a friend who is currently working with teenagers.  Now I will concede that original audience is off my normal teaching radar by about ten years, but I think the issue should span every age range.

Here's the story...

As part of an assignment the students were asked to write down a list of ten interests.  Some boys in the class chose to use this opportunity to tease another student by commenting that his first five interests should be being gay.  The TEACHER then proceeded to laugh and say "number one could say guys, two could say guys, three could say guys...".

This serves as an extreme example of something that I'm sure happens far too often.  What happens when it isn't only the children that require the emotional education?  How do we, as teachers, deal with these kinds of situations when we see them happening?  We might consider it our job to step in when it comes to students, but what about the adults around us?  Not all situations are this clear cut, where I would probably just say go to a supervisor.  But whether we like it or not, as teachers, our opinions will find their ways into our classrooms.  And like it or not, the opinions of all the teachers around us won't always match our own.  Often times teachers can sound as ignorant as the students they are meant to be mentoring.

Through my own journey from student to teacher I hate to say that I've all too often felt small pieces of my soul lost in similar moments of helplessness.  It's not our place, not our class, not our student, not our problem.  I could probably go on for hours about how far this problem can stretch.  Love is a battlefield and so is teaching.  For every child we fight to teach emotional awareness, there are a thousand factors working against us, and to find those oppositional forces on what we thought was our own side can be heartbreaking.  I have no solution, I don't believe anyone does.  Just faith to fight the good fight.  By promoting emotional education we can only hope that we are in some small way preventing our students from someday causing the heartbreak.

Teach on