Educating and Education

Thank you to my wonderful sister who sent me this:

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

As I embark on my path to becoming a professional and leave school far behind I am realizing that in order to really be the best teacher that I can be I need to continue educating myself. I do not just mean that I need to go to grad school to get my teaching license and complete an MAT, but I also need to explore articles, books, podcasts, blogs, NPR pieces, etc. that are related to what is happening to me right now. In school I studied the sociology of education to some degree, and I was fascinated by the evolution and degeneration of the American school systems. So fascinated that I decided this is my cause, or this is my calling. It is my calling to work relentlessly to close the achievement gap in America's schools, and to work to truly offer an equal education to all students. I exclaim to my students at least on a weekly basis that it is not fair that they are far behind their high-income peers in their academics and that I am here because I believe this is an injustice and I care about helping them learn. This is something that gets me fired up, something that puts tears in my eyes, and something that motivates me on a daily basis, and something that just generally gives me chill bumps. So why would I ever let this passion and drive be consumed by the daily tasks that come with teaching and overwhelm me on a daily basis? Well teaching is overwhelming, I make tons of important decisions everyday, I appear (or at least attempt to appear) composed and motivating towards my students every minute I interact with them, I plan, preplan and lead a professional learning community. What I am trying to say is that a teacher does not just teach. So what, you might be thinking, so why in the world did you post this TED talk and why are you talking about the responsibilities of a teacher?

I believe that Ken Robinson is right. I think that schools have the potential to kill student creativity. I couldn't help but think of all of my ADHD students when he was describing the dancer. I couldn't help but think about how testing for some of them is only a source of frustration rather than a mark of success. But Ken Robinson, let me ask you this? How do I teach a classroom that is full of dancers who cannot progress through school if all they do is dance? So here's my challenge of the week (well really for the year): My challenge is to promote learning for my dancers, my singers, my artists, my talk show hosts, my doctors, my lawyers, my veterinarians, my athletes, without stifling their creativity, and I must do this while simultaneously teaching them state objectives, and ultimately testing their mastery.

At Cornell I frequently questioned my professors who could effortlessly theorize about educational issues, without ever having stepped foot in a title 1 classroom or any classroom at all, and today I continue to question them. It is all well and good to sit up on the top of the hill that is the Ithaca campus and look down on the world as if it is all a game, but the reason that no person has been able to solve the civil rights issue of education in America is because the theories, and the practice do not connect. So my goal is to educate myself everyday through different outlets in order to save the children's education. If you ever want to share articles, podcasts, etc. please send them my way, and help me resolve the civil rights issue of our time.