You know when I first started reading this book I was a
little skeptical. Now that I have finished it. I must say, It was AWESOME. At
the risk of sounding a little flaky I identified so much with what this author
had to say. There are many points that
Ben made, but the one that jumped out at me the most is chapter nine. In that
chapter Ben talked about lighting the spark.
This chapter brought me back to when I first started
teaching. The nation wide accountability and assessment movement happened
during my second year of teaching. I
remember it being one of the most exciting times of my entire career. During
that year I took my fourth graders on an overnight campout, taught them how to
pan for gold, learned how to teach effective word study, and presented a full
production of James and the Giant Peach with my class. It was exciting because I was excited about
teaching everyday, and worked hard to make the most of it. I remember that my
students were fully on board with what we were doing.
Since then, I began to buy into the teaching culture. As I
look back I can see how my spark began to go out. I still love teaching, but can see my
enthusiasm for the profession has greatly diminished. This happened mostly because
I bought into the notion that I needed to teach in a specific way, rather than
teach from the heart. I began to let the culture dictate how I did my job,
rather than allow my desire for my students to me happy motivate what happened
in my classroom.
In the book The Art of Possibilities, Benjamin Zander talked
about how back in the day people would walk around with ember boxes so that
their spark would not go out, and they would not lose the ability to have fire.
As I look my attitude towards teaching,
and how it has been and what I have lost, I can safely say that my spark has
almost gone out.
I remember taking real risks when I first started teaching. I haven't taken. Those risks for a while. After reading this book, I feel it is time to start taking a few more risks in class again. For that I am thankful.
Greg,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. Early on in our program I remember wondering how I was going to be able to relate to all the educators in our program coming from a design background. Your post very poignantly brings to light what I've realized over the course of this program. We are all passionate about what we do.
From that most basic common ground it's easy for all to relate. And as you point out, losing the spark is something I think most of us can relate to as well. Reading your story reminded me of a few times I felt like I lost my spark and the actions I took to reignite it. A large part of which was deciding to go back to school.
Great job and good luck next month, we're almost there.
John
Greg,
ReplyDeleteI was moved by the introspection you expressed in your post this week. I know the difficulty of staying motivated and challenged due to the teaching culture you discussed. I think this book applies to all walks of life and experiences as there are so many areas in life where complacency and resignation to the calculating self become the norm.
I believe that time and experience are great teachers if we keep our hearts and minds open, but I also recognize that the culture in which we live sometimes makes standing for what we know is right and good for our students difficult. Honor and commitment to the cause of educating children is far too important to simply with the flow and take the easy way out.
That spark you have is fading, but not out. I hope that you have been as renewed and invigorated by what we have been learning at FullSail as I have. We already stand apart from our colleagues for this, but next is the challenge of lighting the torch that will lead us forward. I hope that you will take your CBR and make it a point of light for your life and career, that can help to reinvigorate your classroom, and your professional practice. Bring the outdoors lessons back into your curriculum and challenge the accepted norms by blazing a trail of unlikely learning scenarios that burn brightly in the hearts and memories of your students. This will become a stronger ember, and a more potent heat with your own passion used as fuel.
Thanks so much for sharing your journey and what reached you the most. So great to hear that you've been challenged to rekindle the passion that you have when you started teaching. My job is done here. :-)
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