Last week, I had the privilege of hearing Eric Jensen speak about the effects of poverty on the brain of a child and how we can better help those students in our classrooms. I've heard Eric once before and like last time, he was excellent!
One of the central themes that he brought out was that teachers matter! In fact, they matter more than any other single factor, especially for our students from poverty, which where I live is about 50% of our students.
The issue is, they matter the most...that's good news, and bad news. The good news is, if we're doing our job well, it's a good thing. The bad news is, if we're not, it's a bad thing. The session was excellent. Here were a few comments from staff posted via Twitter:
I sat at a table of administrators. As Eric Jensen was highlighting the importance of students having great teachers and how we need make sure all teachers are doing what's best for students, I found myself thinking things like, "Man I wish "so and so" were here...they really need to hear this!" Or, "I wish I could get "so and so" to hear this because they just don't get it."
All of a sudden it hit me...I was so focused on the wrong thing! I was thinking about what other people needed to do instead of thinking about myself, and how I can do better. Someone needed to ask me, "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT????" I was perpetuating a problem, rather than helping things get better. I was selfish and proud. I felt convicted. It was kind of like when you're in church and you're thinking more about your spouse needing to apply the sermon than your own issues! It's wasn't good!
I got to thinking later about how natural it is for us to do what I did. We naturally don't really like looking at our own issues, reflecting on them and considering "what we're going to do about it." It's especially hard when we need to ask others for help.
I would venture to say part of what needs to be "reformed" in education is this mindset. We spend so much time looking outward; only thinking about what others need to do better. We only consider what students, parents, administrators, teachers, politicians need to do better, instead of asking what we're going to do about the problem? How am I going to make it better?!
Anyway, it was a kick in the pants I needed. Today, I'm focused on what I can do better in the position that I'm in to make things better. No matter what your role is in education, let's spend our energies on what we can control; ourselves! If we each do this well, things get better....
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