First Day of School Poem

I wrote this poem to introduce my classroom to my students.

Now

This…
This is the NOW.
Not the then, not the soon, not the past or the future,
not the could have been or the might still be
This is the NOW.

Who you are right NOW is the reason I am here.

I’m not here to talk about
what you did
how you ranked
who you don’t like
why you don’t care
That’s not why I’m here.

I’m not in the position to decide
who you’ll be
what you’ll become
where your path leads
why you will succeed
That’s not why I’m here.

I’m here for the NOW.

“OK, so…what do we do NOW?” You ask. “What is this all about?”

Well…this is not about YOU
but it’s not about ME either.
This is about US.

It’s about respect; it’s about community; it’s about caring for each other;
It’s about … oh – blah, blah, blah, blah!

You’ve heard this all before!
NOW, we’re gonna own it.

This is about moving forward
not backward, not backsliding, not backpedaling,
not back anything!

This is where we’re
responsible for our actions
AND
accountable for our choices

This is where things make sense;
where nonsense is not welcome.

This is about creating a place that has
what we need
what we want
and what we hope for

THIS IS THE NOW.

So,
let’s do this
let’s be this
let’s become this
Because no one else is gonna do this for us.

This is ME. This is YOU. But…this is really US.

And it’s time to get started.

just…

about…

NOW.

What I Learned Today #3 (Pluto and Plasma - Admitting you're wrong)

They Might Be Giants recently released a CD/DVD called Here Comes Science (the third in their "Here comes..." series). My wife and I have loved this band since college, and now our two children have become huge fans as well. For a long time, they have performed a great song called "Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)". My family loves singing along to this oddly catchy ode to the sun's atomic properties.

However, with the release of this new disc, the band has issued a retraction (in a manner of speaking). While the original sun song is still present, there is now an additional song called "Why Does The Sun Really Shine? (The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma)" that follows it immediately. The second song updates the scientific facts, discussing the nature of the fourth state of matter (plasma), and tells the listener in its lyrics to ignore what you learned in the previous song. Sample lyric: "Forget that song/They got it wrong/That thesis has been rendered invalid" Check out this link for a more detailed explanation.

In addition, they've recorded a great song that discusses the true nature of our solar system, indicating Pluto's new status along with other named dwarf planets. Taken with the songs about the sun, these choices by They Might Be Giants have led me to what I've learned today as a teacher: When you have taught something wrong, don't just admit that you're wrong; start to make things right.

As a teacher, I have certainly taught things wrong or provided inaccurate information before. Many times, I don't figure this out until after my work with those students is done (usually as I prepare the material again the next year), but I often catch my mistake while I'm still working with the students. It is at that moment that I need to make the choice: Will I ignore the mistake, admit to the mistake, or work to fix the mistake? Each choice holds its own merits, but the lesson from this children's album points to best practices in education, namely:

What to do when you make a mistake (courtesy of They Might Be Giants):

1) Admit to the mistake immediately. This may involve the students losing an illustion that we are infallible, but that can actually lead to a better situation in a classroom. Students who see teachers that are willing to admit mistakes become more likely to admit their own mistakes.

2) Explain why the mistake was made. Rather than just saying, "Forget that, it's wrong!", point out what was wrong about the previous information and why people might have believed that at the time.

3) Correct the mistake by replacing the wrong ideas with the right ones. Too often, we ask kids to disregard information that we taught them, but it's still lodged in their memories (and it will often emerge inconveniently after we thought they knew it was wrong). By replacing "wrong" information with "right" information, we won't just address the issue; we'll make sure that it doesn't come back.

So, this fall, I am going back to school prepared to admit my mistakes and to help my class learn from my mistakes (as I learn from them myself). However, I wonder how many students around the world will be taught that there are 9 planets in our solar system, revolving around a nuclear reactor of a sun, just because it's easier to teach that (and use the "My very educated mother..." phrase) than to update our knowledge.

What I Learned Today #2 - (Listen to Older Folks)

This summer, I'm painting a house for an octogenarian woman (named Emma) in my parents' neighborhood. She is a fixture in the community, and she knows local history like nobody else around. Yes, she occasionally rambles on through her anecdotes, but she's fascinating to talk to.

While talking to me yesterday, Emma said something that not only stuck out, but really made me think. In fact, as I thought about what she was saying, I was considering writing this post. That, in turn, made me think about how many really intelligent things that people say to me that go in one ear and out the other. This led to what I learned today: really listen to people when they are talking to you; if they say something of quality, don't just note it, but try to use it.

So, what did she say? She was telling me the story of a man who did not have much intelligence but who found a job maintaining the carts at his local grocery stores. He cleaned, oiled, and repaired the carts, and Emma claimed that there were never better carts at any other store she's visited. As the man aged and eventually passed away, people questioned his sister about how much of a burden it was to take care of someone who she knew would never amount to anything. The sister's response? "My brother's life was a success. You're only a failure if you don't make the most of the opportunities that you're given."

Am I "cleaning the carts" the best that I can? Do I maximize every opportunity? I'm going to admit that I'm don't. But I'm working on it, and I'm going to keep this story in mind as I try to do my best each day as an educator. I'll also remember that I wouldn't even be thinking about this if I hadn't taken a moment to listen to and reflect on the words of a dear old lady.

New Blog Series - What I Learned Today

I've been thinking about starting a new series of posts on my blog. I realize that I haven't been a faithful blogger, but somewhere near the end of the school year, I had the idea that what I should really be doing with this blog is "noticing". Noticing things about my classroom, my students, my own children, whatever I stumble across that can help me refine and expand my abilities as an educator. I was always encouraged in college to complete formative and summative assessments of my work, but I was never very good at making that formal step; this series of posts will hopefully help me to be a more reflective educator while also providing anyone who might also read the opportunity to think about a point that has come up naturally in my teaching career. I hope that any readers enjoy these posts (and that they keep me honest about blogging consistently in order to use this tool effectively).