Leading From The Heart

by Tracy Rosen, teaching & consulting since 1996, blogging about it here since 2007. All views are my own and you should take them with a grain of salt, I do.

Month: January 2008

  • Amen of the day for 01/13

    You must learn…just like I told you…You must learn. KRS One

    Here’s what’s appalling, to me. Every year we get 180 days to work with young people and every year we waste most of their time getting students ready for our past instead of getting them ready for their future. We focus on curriculum instead of kids. We focus on the way we wish things were instead of the way things are and we expect kids to relate to that.
    Glenn Moses    , in comment to Pete Reilly’s LeaderTalk blog post Appalling

    mp3 originally downloaded from www.hiphopassociation.org

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  • Changing Space

    Photograph by Edna Vite “Mandalas are utilized in all cultures as transmitters of energy,” Vite says, explaining that they can transform negative energy into positive energy. According to Vite, people use mandalas to cleanse spaces of negative energy, as well as to meditate and to energize themselves.

    Last week Jose wrote:

    I stayed in my classroom until 530pm making sure that, when the kids
    came in the morning, they had a more comfortable setting for themselves
    than what I felt I provided. I’m tired of the negative energy my
    homeroom class has, so maybe if I change the environment a bit, I’d get
    a little more positivity back.

    I’ve been trying to do the same and when I started my response to his question, “how?” it turned into this blog post.

    Here you go, Jose.

    How I did it? No, more like how I am attempting to do it. It’s always a process….a long one ;)

    Physical environment.
    I’ve got an interesting dilemma because I’ve got 2 distinctly different groups in my class – the 12-15 year olds and the 16-19 year olds (don’t ask how that happened). At first I had the older group (6 altogether) sitting at round tables at the back of the room with the younger group (8 altogether) scattered around the front at individual desks – facing all different directions because at the beginning of the year some of my kids couldn’t deal with looking at each other, too much of a distraction.

    This week I changed it up a bit and I decided to place some of the younger, more challenged students at tables with an older student or 2. So far so good. I’ve seen some mentoring already. And I’ve placed my major behaviour time bomb (remember the desk flying incident?) near the door so he can quickly leave when I signal him to go for a break or when he realizes (if we ever get to the point where he can self-assess his anger levels) that he needs one himself.

    Head space?
    The mentoring I mentioned above is helping. Instead of constant bickering I’m hearing more helping. Could it be that I am seeing more tolerance? I think maybe. Time will tell. That was a side effect of the physical space thing though. Something I started this week is a daily quote analysis. I work with kids who have a difficult time with text and being able to fully analyze a cohesive piece of text has been good for them. Instead of doing it every once in a while as a class, this week I tried it every single day and I gave groups of 2-3 students their own quote to look at it. I’ll keep you posted on how this goes. I’m liking it so far.

    Like I said, it’s a process….

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  • Amen of the day

    It’s been a long time coming, but I know a change is gonna come. Sam Cooke

    “Now let me say right off, I can’t do this by myself. I’ll need all the help I can get. I’ll need support from like minded people who know that changes at school need to be made so that these kids who are disconnected from school, from home and/or society can gain a sense of belonging, feel needed, useful and reconnected.” Elona Hartjes, think big, start small, act now

  • Change…the 6-letter 4-letter word aka Wishes, Hopes, and Dreams the Remix

    I closed my last post with this quote from the stunning Invincible:

    Metamorphosis, no better metaphor for this.

    here’s the link one more time for your listening pleasure. Go here to see credits.


    And post-post discussion (aka comments, I guess) is gravitating around the concept of discomfort and learning.

    I am propelled to reflect on both the quote and the discussion.

    I have not been feeling comfortable lately in the classroom. Before the holidays I was burnt out and definitely not pushing myself to do anything novel with my students – almost questioning my decision to return to teaching. My back went out, I took sick days.

    Metamorphosis, no better metaphor for this….

    Change is not easy.

    I have been suffering in my discomfort.

    Change is not easy. For me, my students, the attendant in my classroom.

    I’ve worked with teaching assistants before, but never with one who is in my classroom 24/7 and who was there for a couple of years with a different teacher before I got there AND who is bound by union regulations to certain activities. I’ve worked with students with disabilities before, but never such a diverse group as I am working with now.

    I am becoming a different teacher. Metamorphosis, no better metaphor for this….

    To do this, I need to balance:

    Charlie Parkerbuddha for Fern
    ACTION and REFLECTION

    I read Jose’s post The Great Dissenters and I think of the discomfort the teachers in his school are experiencing and I think of the potential for learning and change if it is examined more closely by more people, in the way that Jose is starting to do – with a balance of reflection and action.

    I read Elona’s post Helping Kids with Learning Disabilities Change Negative Habits of Mind and I am witness to the balance of reflection and action as a result of discomfort that led to learning.

    I read Pete’s post I Don’t Want to be the Bad Guy and I am reminded of the choices I make everyday and how I can choose to explore my struggles and discomfort in order to learn and change ….or…not.

    And I reread Marilyn Taylor’s work (2004) on learning and change and remind myself:
    “The challenge of the red zone [discomfort, disorientation] is self-inquiry about the nature of the disorienting experience and pursuit of learning from it.”

    And even though I read and remind myself about all of that….

    …change still remains a 6-letter 4-letter word a lot of the time. Luckily I don’t mind swearing once in a while.

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  • Wishes, Hopes, and Dreams

    If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn – Charlie Parker
    Ok, it’s way about time I take a good hard look at my wishes, hopes, and dreams. How can I move towards a better future unless I define what I wish, hope, and dream for it?

    I know that I can be a good leader. I’ve been floating for the past month or so though. I’ve been letting things slide in my classroom, I’ve been hiding from my work, I haven’t been digging deep into the planning of what my students need or what I need.

    On Monday I will be back to teaching after this holiday break, and on Tuesday I will be back in the classroom myself as I begin my PhD studies.

    My wishes, hopes, and dreams?

    Courage – to keep pushing the envelope with my kids and myself. To not let ourselves get too comfortable because I know that true learning needs discomfort. And to stand up tall in the discomfort and plug away even harder.

    Strength – to keep my vision clear and to not let it be chipped away by criticism (“that’ll never work”)

    Structure – to keep my focus I will need to build and maintain a solid structure to help balance my PhD work, my work with the kids, my personal life

    Fun and Laughter – without that, all else is useless :)

    buddha watching over Fern

    I’ve also been thinking of a recent conversation I was in over at EdTech Journeys about coaching. I love the coaching I receive from my online community, but I also feel the need for some personal interaction – a phone call, a meeting over coffee…on some days over something a bit stronger.

    One of the wonderful things about blogging is communicating with others all over the world. I realize, though, that I have not encountered anyone else from Montreal here! It’d be lovely to meet with some of my blogging friends in person, to add another dimension to the reading/writing relationship that I cherish, to add depth to the conversations, to add some soul.

    I’ll leave this post now, thinking about how to turn that last dream into something real…and welcoming any other suggestions…feeling reflective at the beginning of this new year
    Tracy

    Metamorphosis, no better metaphor for this.
    ~Invincible

    mp3 No Compromises originally downloaded from: FREE THE P! Palestine Takes NYC’s East Village by Storm, article by Remi Kanazi, The Electronic Intifada, 17 October 2005 is from www.freethep.com compilation which is a fundraiser for the film Slingshot Hiphop ! Many thanks to Invincible for allowing its use here.

     

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