Carla wrote:
I was telling Carol that standardization is coming to my school district in the worst way. They want everyone teaching the same thing on the same day. So much for teachable moments. It isn’t expected to fully take over world languages until next year, but my principal said if that changed he would call me right away. I started my summer with this info, and it sapped any desire I had to think about school; it just seemed to hopeless. But now that the new year is here, the same old hope is back, a chance to start over with a new bunch of students and see where we can go together. I had a bunch of aha’s at the end of the year that I hope will bring a lot of positive changes.
One of my aha’s came this summer while I wasn’t thinking about school (a teacher never really stops thinking about school I guess…). Simon Sinek who wrote Start with Why had a Ted talk about how to motivate and inspire people. You start with why and work outward towards what and how. Most people and businesses start with how and work inwards toward what and why. If your why is evident in everything you do, people who resonate with it will stand with you. If your why is not evident, or if people don’t like it, they feel manipulated or controlled when you try to get them to move with your how. So I have been trying to search out my why for Spanish class and figure out how to make it more evident. It’s so personal. It varies from teacher to teacher.
Another aha came from watching my husband with his grandfather. His grandfather has Alzheimer’s, and keeps wanting to get back to the house to his wife, who died, and is no longer there. And besides, the house is not really habitable. My husband was full of compassion, honesty, patience and even light heartedness in convincing him to stay the night (and gradually, the week) with my in-laws. His grandfather was constantly forgetting their conversations as well as forgetting the past, so information was not helpful. What Brian told me was that he needed to create an atmosphere of peace and safety for him so that he could rest. He took what his grandfather was emphasizing and used that to create that atmosphere. It’s hard to get across in an email… But I think this applies in the classroom too. My husband’s grandpa needed information appropriate to a 3 year old, and my students need info appropriate to a 13 year old. Both need a safe and peaceful atmosphere. Brian has been the only one who has been able to do this for his grandpa, and he has done it repeatedly these last two weeks.