I was 41 years old when I took the job as Curriculum Director for the Mediapolis and WACO school districts. I had been a teacher for 18 years so there were a lot of adjustments. Over the years as a teacher I attended a lot of conferences. I attended the Iowa Social Studies convention and presented. I regularly attended the Iowa Council of Teachers of English, served on their board and presented at several conferences. I also attended and presented at the annual fall conference of the Iowa Writing Project.
I always regarded them as highly professional experiences. I loved the stimulation and networking with colleagues who shared the same values about student learning and professional growth. I attended every session I could and I always came away from them recharged and inspired.
The first administrators’ convention I attended was something different! The first thing I noticed was that the sessions weren’t well attended. There were a lot of people at the conference but they weren’t going to the sessions. I soon discovered why that was happening. The sessions were terrible. The presenters weren’t well prepared and often seemed to be years behind the times. They didn’t reference research and when they did it often inferior stuff.
I guess I was disappointed because I had expected so much more! These were the leaders of our schools. These were people who were supposed to have a vision for education and strong knowledge and skills. I am sure some of them did but many perceived this conference as more of a vacation before school started.
I soon discovered that many of the conference attendees were off to the golf tournament. Others were shopping, hanging out at the venders’ booths or having a drink in a nearby bar and watching the baseball game. I am not opposed to any of those things but didn’t think the convention was the place to do those things. I was just used to a much higher standard. When I went to a conference I felt obligated to attend the sessions and engage in professional development. After all, why were we there if not for that?
Some of the venders had elaborate hospitality rooms at the conference. Free food and drink were abundant! I was amazed at what was available. I had heard of things like this in the business world but never imagined it in education. It was probably a violation of the gift law but I am sure no one even thought about it.
The free stuff (pencils, notepads and etc.) handed out at the venders’ booths was amazing. Several people, including me, went around filling our bags with all the goodies and taking the business cards of the sales people.
I still attend these conferences but don’t expect much more than to renew some old friendships. So I have become, to some extent, one of them. I still go thinking I am going to be challenged or inspired, but come home disappointed. I missed the stimulus and authenticity of the teachers’ conventions so I kept attending them even though I had crossed over to the other side, so to speak.
You are nothing if not a story. It’s up to you how good that story is.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
80s52 The End of the 80s
This is the last piece about the 1980s for a while. I move on to the 1990s with next week’s blog. I left out a lot of the 80s and will have to return to those years some other time. The 90s will be full of interesting and somewhat controversial things. Some of the things will be kind of sensitive so I may have to be careful what I say so as not to offend others. I am not sure how I will handle that and still try to tell the truth.
Let me get back to the 80s. I see a reoccurring frustration that pops up in the journals as far back as the late 1970s. It is the prevalent notion that if we just ran education like business everything would be all right. Over the years there have been panels, round tables and all sort of articles about how business can tell us how to run education. I even had friends in business that would tell how they could straighten us out. It always really annoyed me! I saw greed, corruption, and dishonestly prevalent in business and I wondered what part they wanted us to adopt?
After hearing a speaker tell us about how we really need business input in telling us what kids need to know in life I wrote the following diatribe:
“Business wants quiet, content, happy workers…Company people, people who show up on time, do what they’re supposed to do, when they are supposed to do it and then go home grateful that they have a job. What we have are noisy, malcontent, unhappy workers who think the company is out to take advantage of them so they take advantage of the company. They do what they have to do in a bored, uninterested way and go home angry because they feel powerless to change their own future. Quiet, intimidated, grateful workers. “
Business is about maximizing profit at any cost. Maybe education is supposed to maximize learning at any cost. Hmmmm…if that’s it, we are gonna need a hell of a lot more money! Lately, we have learned again that business doesn’t have nearly all of the answers. In fact, I think maybe business could learn a lot from education.
* * *
In December, I lament that I am not writing in my journal as much as I should. That is a problem that I had for years. I wasn’t carrying it around as much and so I didn’t have it with me sometimes when I could be writing. As a teacher I had it in my classroom with me but didn’t carry it as much when I shifted to the new position.
Moving from the classroom to an administrator position was a big change for me. I remember sitting at my desk and realizing I could go to lunch anytime I wanted. I was so used to going at a certain time each day with the kids that I just kept doing it. I felt a little guilty if I took a minute longer than the teachers. Teachers are so schedule and calendar driven, and I was too for 18 years, that it is hard to break that pattern.
Let me get back to the 80s. I see a reoccurring frustration that pops up in the journals as far back as the late 1970s. It is the prevalent notion that if we just ran education like business everything would be all right. Over the years there have been panels, round tables and all sort of articles about how business can tell us how to run education. I even had friends in business that would tell how they could straighten us out. It always really annoyed me! I saw greed, corruption, and dishonestly prevalent in business and I wondered what part they wanted us to adopt?
After hearing a speaker tell us about how we really need business input in telling us what kids need to know in life I wrote the following diatribe:
“Business wants quiet, content, happy workers…Company people, people who show up on time, do what they’re supposed to do, when they are supposed to do it and then go home grateful that they have a job. What we have are noisy, malcontent, unhappy workers who think the company is out to take advantage of them so they take advantage of the company. They do what they have to do in a bored, uninterested way and go home angry because they feel powerless to change their own future. Quiet, intimidated, grateful workers. “
Business is about maximizing profit at any cost. Maybe education is supposed to maximize learning at any cost. Hmmmm…if that’s it, we are gonna need a hell of a lot more money! Lately, we have learned again that business doesn’t have nearly all of the answers. In fact, I think maybe business could learn a lot from education.
* * *
In December, I lament that I am not writing in my journal as much as I should. That is a problem that I had for years. I wasn’t carrying it around as much and so I didn’t have it with me sometimes when I could be writing. As a teacher I had it in my classroom with me but didn’t carry it as much when I shifted to the new position.
Moving from the classroom to an administrator position was a big change for me. I remember sitting at my desk and realizing I could go to lunch anytime I wanted. I was so used to going at a certain time each day with the kids that I just kept doing it. I felt a little guilty if I took a minute longer than the teachers. Teachers are so schedule and calendar driven, and I was too for 18 years, that it is hard to break that pattern.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
80s51 More Poems and Prayers
As I have said before, my journals are sprinkled with poems and prayers and other strange musings. Most of the time they were just ideas and I never returned to them. There are a few that were eventually revised several times. Most were in the former category.
After a early morning trip to work at Yarmouth I wrote the following:
On the road to Yarmouth
Early in the morning
Squinting through the haze
Searching the prairie
For the buffalo
Wallow in the dust
Shake, snort, stamp
Like a clouds shadow
Thousands slide across the landscape
Are you there, buffalo?
Was that you?
The pavement whines me
Back to reality
But for a moment I
Touched the thoughts
Of an ancient hunter.
9/20/89
I was often trying to think of poems I could use with kids. I think I used this one once and never got back to it.
Get up in the morning
Make your bed
Brush your teeth
Comb your head
Eat your breakfast
Off to school
Don’t forget your books
Don’t be a fool
Keep a smile on your face
Do your best
Work hard and
You’ll pass every test.
* * *
Write a poem about Christmas
Write a poem about fall
Write a poem about anything
Anything at all.
Write a poem about ceilings
Write a poem about walls
Write a poem about anything,
Anything at all.
11/19/89
The advantage of using your own poems with students is that you don’t have to worry about copyright issues. I don’t recall ever using this one with kids but might sometime.
Come on! Let’s go on a journey
Come on! Get into the boat
You take an oar and I’ll take an oar
We’ll paddle awhile, and then float.
Come on! Let’s go on a journey
Come on! Get into the boat
You bring a book; I’ll bring a book
We’ll read awhile as we float.
Come on! Let’s go on a journey
Come on! Get into the boat
You bring a pencil; I’ll bring some paper
We’ll write awhile as we float.
12/14/89
In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down in Germany. I have often tried to write about current events. I wrote about it in my journal and then followed with this poem.
Walls fall,
Gates open,
The world turns
A new face
Away from
The arms race.
12/19/89
I don’t know how many poems you have to write before you hit on a good one? My guess is, for me, it is not even as often as one in ten. Some would say I have never written a good one. Maybe I should say a poem that I am pleased with doesn’t come often. It doesn’t seem to be something I can force to happen. I just keep trying and when you least expect it, it happens. I would say that is another reason to write as much as you can as often as you can and see what happens.
After a early morning trip to work at Yarmouth I wrote the following:
On the road to Yarmouth
Early in the morning
Squinting through the haze
Searching the prairie
For the buffalo
Wallow in the dust
Shake, snort, stamp
Like a clouds shadow
Thousands slide across the landscape
Are you there, buffalo?
Was that you?
The pavement whines me
Back to reality
But for a moment I
Touched the thoughts
Of an ancient hunter.
9/20/89
I was often trying to think of poems I could use with kids. I think I used this one once and never got back to it.
Get up in the morning
Make your bed
Brush your teeth
Comb your head
Eat your breakfast
Off to school
Don’t forget your books
Don’t be a fool
Keep a smile on your face
Do your best
Work hard and
You’ll pass every test.
* * *
Write a poem about Christmas
Write a poem about fall
Write a poem about anything
Anything at all.
Write a poem about ceilings
Write a poem about walls
Write a poem about anything,
Anything at all.
11/19/89
The advantage of using your own poems with students is that you don’t have to worry about copyright issues. I don’t recall ever using this one with kids but might sometime.
Come on! Let’s go on a journey
Come on! Get into the boat
You take an oar and I’ll take an oar
We’ll paddle awhile, and then float.
Come on! Let’s go on a journey
Come on! Get into the boat
You bring a book; I’ll bring a book
We’ll read awhile as we float.
Come on! Let’s go on a journey
Come on! Get into the boat
You bring a pencil; I’ll bring some paper
We’ll write awhile as we float.
12/14/89
In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down in Germany. I have often tried to write about current events. I wrote about it in my journal and then followed with this poem.
Walls fall,
Gates open,
The world turns
A new face
Away from
The arms race.
12/19/89
I don’t know how many poems you have to write before you hit on a good one? My guess is, for me, it is not even as often as one in ten. Some would say I have never written a good one. Maybe I should say a poem that I am pleased with doesn’t come often. It doesn’t seem to be something I can force to happen. I just keep trying and when you least expect it, it happens. I would say that is another reason to write as much as you can as often as you can and see what happens.
Sunday, March 08, 2009
80s50 You Are Not a Teacher!
I remember sitting in the office of the Superintendent of one of the districts I would be serving as Curriculum Director and hearing him say, “You are not a teacher! You are not a teacher! You are not a teacher!”
I was shocked and didn’t respond. We moved on to other discussions but what he had said stuck in my head. I remember saying to myself, “I am a teacher and will always be one.”
I know what he was trying to do: to move me along in the transition from the classroom to an administrative role. He had good intentions but I wasn’t about to go along with it because I was sure teachers could think systemically and still be teachers. I was convinced that teachers and administrators didn’t have to be enemies. I was confident that I could help teachers and they could help me. I didn’t believe I had to have all of the answers and was willing to be vulnerable. Something so many others seemed so afraid to do. I knew it could be risky but believed that it was worth the risk.
I didn’t have the contempt for teachers that so many administrators seemed to have. I wasn’t sure how I would fit into the group. The six administrators I worked with in this role were a mixed bag. Some were professional and some left something to be desired.
Of the later, I was not amused by the jokes they told about teachers at administrative functions. I knew personally how difficult a teachers’ job was and wanted to honor them by treating them with respect and dignity. I wondered what kind of teachers some of these administrators had been. I am convinced that one of the qualifications for being an administrator should be having been a good teacher.
Some of those administrators ruled with an iron hand and tended to every possible detail that you can imagine. Others were hardly involved in the operation of the schools and saw themselves as more of a figurehead. They attended functions, represented the district, and expected the staff to do most of the hard work of running a school.
I need to say that not all the administrators I worked with treated teachers negatively but would say the majority did. I did work with some exceptional leaders. I promised myself that I would try to remember the good things they did and emulate them and remember the bad things and try to avoid those.
One of the unwritten rules is that you can’t be friends with the teachers you work with because you may have to fire someone. For me, that was all the more reason to have strong relationships. I believe it has always been easier to work with someone, provide constructive criticism, if I have a strong relationship with them. If I hardly know a person it is much more difficult to help them. I felt the same way about my students. Today, I think relationships are even more important than I thought back then.
I am still a teacher.
I was shocked and didn’t respond. We moved on to other discussions but what he had said stuck in my head. I remember saying to myself, “I am a teacher and will always be one.”
I know what he was trying to do: to move me along in the transition from the classroom to an administrative role. He had good intentions but I wasn’t about to go along with it because I was sure teachers could think systemically and still be teachers. I was convinced that teachers and administrators didn’t have to be enemies. I was confident that I could help teachers and they could help me. I didn’t believe I had to have all of the answers and was willing to be vulnerable. Something so many others seemed so afraid to do. I knew it could be risky but believed that it was worth the risk.
I didn’t have the contempt for teachers that so many administrators seemed to have. I wasn’t sure how I would fit into the group. The six administrators I worked with in this role were a mixed bag. Some were professional and some left something to be desired.
Of the later, I was not amused by the jokes they told about teachers at administrative functions. I knew personally how difficult a teachers’ job was and wanted to honor them by treating them with respect and dignity. I wondered what kind of teachers some of these administrators had been. I am convinced that one of the qualifications for being an administrator should be having been a good teacher.
Some of those administrators ruled with an iron hand and tended to every possible detail that you can imagine. Others were hardly involved in the operation of the schools and saw themselves as more of a figurehead. They attended functions, represented the district, and expected the staff to do most of the hard work of running a school.
I need to say that not all the administrators I worked with treated teachers negatively but would say the majority did. I did work with some exceptional leaders. I promised myself that I would try to remember the good things they did and emulate them and remember the bad things and try to avoid those.
One of the unwritten rules is that you can’t be friends with the teachers you work with because you may have to fire someone. For me, that was all the more reason to have strong relationships. I believe it has always been easier to work with someone, provide constructive criticism, if I have a strong relationship with them. If I hardly know a person it is much more difficult to help them. I felt the same way about my students. Today, I think relationships are even more important than I thought back then.
I am still a teacher.
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