The Power of Caring Educators

I'll be honest, it's easy to become jaded in education. New initiatives, students that don't seem to care, parents that question everything you do, not being respected in your field...it's easy to allow the stresses of day to day make you forget what made you want to go into education to begin with.

But then there are educators that are different. Ones that both value the relationships with their students and see the challenges of everyday as purposeful. I've seen many of those teachers over the years but in the last couple of weeks I have experienced two educators that truly challenge me to be more like them, to look at being an educator as missional.

As my role has changed over the last few years and I spend less time in contact with students I have less chance to be relational with them. But because of the two people I am about to share with you I want to make sure I am not overlooking those opportunities to be a caring educator.

The first person I want to share about I have never even met in person. Principal Todd Jackson of Sequoyah High School in Soddy Daisy, Tennessee has a heart for students. He leads a school that gives a student a "hands on" education. Many of these students haven't succeeded in the traditional academic setting for a variety of reasons but they can leave Sequoyah equipped to either go straight into a career or further their education. While I have never met Mr. Jackson, I have seen his heart for students. Last Saturday, my nephew Tanner graduated from Sequoyah High School. As Mr. Jackson stood up to speak to those graduates he was obviously overwhelmed with emotion in that moment. He couldn't hide it. As one person yelled from the audience while he was trying to hold back his emotions before continuing on in his speech, "that's a man who cares!" It was evident in that moment but it was also evident to me because this man had been investing in Tanner regularly. He had invited him to his farm and had Tanner work with him, hand in hand. He made a difference in Tanner's life. Tanner left for basic training on Monday and Mr. Jackson played a huge role in getting Tanner to that place. He is an educator that values the importance of relationships.

Secondly, is a teacher that retired from Chattanooga Christian School and someone I had the honor of working with for many years. Not only was she a co-worker, she was a teacher and tutor to my oldest child. Mrs. Pat Wilson was always a relational third grade teacher. Teaching was more than an 8-3 job to her. She would attend baseball games, recitals, and special events of her students often throughout the year. She always invited the students to her house for a party each year. She saw teaching as being in a covenant with the children she taught. She valued them in and out of the classroom. Last night, my youngest daughter got home from her senior trip to find a stack of graduation congratulation cards on the counter. In that stack was a sweet note from Pat Wilson encouraging Kendall for her future and congratulating her for her progress. What makes this unique? Pat wasn't even Kendall's third grade teacher. But she was Tanner's. And she has already asked for his address to send him a message while he is in the Army. This is what relational education looks like- even from a retired teacher.

I want to be more like these two people. I am a very passionate instructional technologist and I want all students to feel like a success in their educational endeavors. I do believe educational technology has the ability to help teachers better meet individual student needs. But the truth of the matter is, no matter how automated and effective edtech becomes there is NOTHING that will replace the power of caring educators. So to all of you that model this daily, thank you. For those of you that know there is room for improvement, like myself, take up the challenge with me. I am thankful for educators like these two that show me how I can better myself in an area where I hadn't even realized I was lacking.

Educational "Air Time"

Over the last couple of weeks I have really started looking more deeply at the way technology can enhance different learning theories and instructional practice. I realize that has made me hypersensitive to critiquing teachers and teaching styles in a way that I don't want to be. Needless to say, I'm trying to look at methods from a non-marginalizing approach and make the assumption that every teacher is trying their best to meet the needs of their classroom goals and individual students.

That being said I am currently feeling a little overwhelmed with some things that have played out lately regarding academic roles. Believe it or not I was a quiet high school student that rarely would have added value to group discussions unless I was point blank called on because of my shyness. (I  know...you are wondering where that girl is and wanting her to come back occasionally). I mostly made A's and B's as a self-motivated student in above-average ability grouped classes. I was a listener and got what I needed to make the grade but I did not really enjoy high school. High school did not feel relational to me for the most part.

As I have been looking at teaching methods I find myself wondering what are we doing to pull out students like myself. I know there are strategies for pulling in the outliers but do we use them? Is there a reason our students feel like outliers? Is it a perceived intelligence issue? Language issue? Apathy issue? Shyness issue? You have to know who your students are to fill the needs. And of course for me, I'm wondering if digital discussion boards in an LMS might be a solution to give the "quietest student a voice" a quote about technology I often requote from Jerry Blumengarten.

On top of all this I helped lead Edcamp Gig City this past Saturday and when I'm looking at the feedback I can't help but think...even teachers don't truly understand how to best engage in group discussions. The overwhelming majority of the feedback from the 125+ attendees of  Chattanooga's 4th annual educational unconference was positive but the complaints all had to do with people taking up too much "air time," being dogmatic about their views, leading instead of facilitating, and griping about their world instead of speaking about disadvantages with hopes to find a solution by sharing. If educators themselves aren't good at this, that worries me a bit. When someone feels marginalized they shut down. That is the worst thing to happen in education. What skills can we use to prevent this from happening without seeming condemning and causing the opposite person to feel marginalized? And of course, as an instructional technologist I am digging and wondering how can educational technology best support the socratic method, small group instruction, lecture classrooms to best meet the needs of all students, or can it? What are your thoughts?

The Three R's of Teaching with Transparency

 In a recent #satchat Twitter chat, I was talking about being a transparent educator. Transparency is a hard and scary task- it is honesty and openness at it's rawest. It is something as a rule I run from screaming like a girly girl that just saw a mouse. It makes me feel uncomfortable to be that real with anyone- to lay open my insecurities, my strengths, my weaknesses- being that vulnerable...well it sucks. There is a good chance I won't be the "professional" I should be because it also means leaving my emotions open, and when my emotions are open- I cry. I'm a big giant blubbering ball of sniffle because I tend to feel my emotions, all of them, like the intensity of the sun. Just typing all this makes me fluttery in my tummy!

BUT, there are benefits to transparency. When someone is transparent, we trust them. Mother Teresa said, "honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway." Transparency is an unifier. Good things happen faster when others see that their leader is "human."

I'm playing the alliteration game strong lately but it helps me to remember things as I get older especially! As I look at the value of transparency, I see three valuable "R's" that happen when associated with the teacher profession.

• Transparency makes us RELATIONAL. If we are truly "ourselves" as educators, we break down the walls of pretense. We no longer have this added lingering "getting to know you' time because we are human to our students. We have allowed them to see us "horns, warts, and all." Our transparency helps us to be more approachable and in that, students feel comfortable letting us in their worlds. When we strive to have relationships with our students they notice, and most the time they want to be known. Think back in your lifetime, the people in your life you most wanted affirmation from were the ones that you were in relationship with- not some teacher that sat behind their desk and didn't even know your name by the end of the year. Being relational may mean taking what we have always thought of as valuable instructional time to just do things that allow safety and unity in the classroom. While it is scary to sometimes take time for things such as this, the culture of the classroom changes so much that accelerated learning can then happen due to these safe relationships.
• Transparency makes us RELEVANT. I am 46 years old and only remember a handful of my teachers names from middle and high school. Why is that? For the most part they were just a nameless face day after day imparting the knowledge I needed for the test. I was a quiet kid and flew under the radar making A's and B's most of the time. I took no extra energy on the part of the teacher because I was easy. To me, my teachers were an irrelevant part of my life- a necessary evil, if you will. They never asked why I missed school the day after I missed, they never wondered what I meant by a comment and where it might have stemmed from. They didn't know me so therefore they and their classes seemed irrelevant to me. As oppose to a few teachers that stand out in my mind- like my business education teacher who found me in the hallway at the beginning of my senior year to suggest I take "Accounting 2" in her classroom while she taught typing (it didn't really fit in my schedule) because "I just seemed to have a knack for accounting." I hadn't even thought about taking Accounting 2 but her interest in me made me want to do so. Is it any small wonder that I later became an Accountant and then a Business Education Teacher?
• Transparency makes us REFLECTIVE. Not just us as educators, but our students too. Transparency allows us to push our students a little bit deeper beyond the norm. By being transparent we can ask them WHY not just WHO, WHAT, WHEN, and WHERE, and there is a good possibility they will take the time to figure out the WHY just because we asked. A transparent educator can easily slip into the role of mentor. All of a sudden we aren't just the computer teacher but we are also being sought out by students as they deal with struggles, successes, confusion, and life. We become a safety net for our students through our transparency, a place where they feel comfortable (or at least not miserable) to reflect on decisions. As educators ourselves, transparency with ourselves allows for real, raw, deep reflection. Sometimes we are least transparent with ourselves as humans. We want to be a certain way so we convince ourselves that we are. If we teach and lead transparently, we will be less likely to be surprised when the world doesn't see us a certain way. We also will become more honest about where there is room for improvement in our lives. Which of course, can only lead to becoming better teachers.