In which I change the class, to change the world. By Paul Carver

At this point in my class, I was closing out a rocky year, but looking positively at the year to come.  I felt that a shift in paradigm had happened in me where I was refocusing my attention back to being student centered.  I still had a major question to answer, who do I want the students to be when they leave my class.  

I’m not sure if, for some of you, this question is very easy to answer.  Perhaps, you feel that you don’t have a lot of say in it because of outside influences weighing on you.  For me, I had a lot of difficulty defining the answer.  It felt like the answer was out there, buried deep down, but also on the tip of my tongue.  It was disconcerting knowing that there were simple statements that would define the point of my class, the point of who I was as a teacher.  My training was spitting out answers left and right, but they were all surface answers.  You know the kind, “by the end of the year my students will be able to bla bla at an 80% accuracy bla bla bla.”  This is not who I am as a teacher.  I want to illicit change on a deeper and more meaningful level.

A bit conceited sounding, but remember, I want to put students first, I want the change to impact them deeply and positively, I want them to leave my room full of confidence, passionate about learning, joyful discovers, triers of new things, impervious to the shame of failed attempts.   The question for me became, how to instill in my students these qualities, without it being my preaching these qualities.  How can students self discover their power, their tenacity for learning, their ability to have a positive effect on the world, if only their immediate world.  

Again, with help from mentors, spending lots of time reflectively, interviewing students, letting go of hard-fast misnomers of education, I came up with my curriculum.  Students were to choose at least one of the following goals and develop a project that satisfies it.  

Curricular Goals:

1. Make your world a better place

2. Do what you love

3. Learn new things

4. Support others work

You see, I feel that if students do these things, they begin to become lifelong learners.  They begin to see how their interests affect those around them.  They understand that they can contribute to the betterment of themselves, their peers, and the world in general.  My expectation, stated to the students is:

Expectations:

Learn how to create projects that are meaningful to you, have merit, and work to benefit your life or the lives of others

If you’d like to see more, check out on my Piktochart info-graphic.  Look at the purpose section to see how it interacts with my philosophy and the curricular goals.

In which I change the class, starting with me. By Paul Carver

In the middle of the second year of my class, I realized that something was wrong.  The students were disengaged, the work that was being done lacked merit and focus, and I was spending more time nervous about what would happen next then preparing to  celebrate the great things that would happen next.  

By that time, I’d pretty much exhausted my repertoire of things to try.  I’d gone from trying logical, to creative, to desperate solutions to find the magic bullet, or at least a stopper to plug the holes in what was quickly becoming a sinking ship.  Then as chance, or divine intervention would have it.  I met a parent who threw me a lifeline that ended up being more like a cruise liner, or maybe a chain of cruise liners.  This parent happened to be the Director of M.Ed. at McPherson College, Dr. Mark Malaby.  After talking for an hour at a routine function at our school, we scheduled another time to meet.  

At this meeting, he pretty much destroyed my class with a few simple questions.  Namely, “what is your philosophy” and “what is the point of this class”.  

Before the cringing starts too much, this wasn’t a parent interaction where the parent throws out deeply philosophical and personal questions meant to attack and tear down the teacher to gain the high ground.   This was a probing question meant to form a starting point which would later lead to great discussions, discover, and a new curriculum.  

After a few minutes of me blustering generic, collegiate answers, him smiling and waiting until I had finished, he asked what I really felt.  It was then that I realized that, while deep down I had a philosophy, I hadn’t developed one in a tangible way.  Something that truly guides you when you’re making plans, defending choices, and interacting with those you come in contact with.  

Over the next few weeks, I meditated on what I believed, who I wanted to be, and what I wanted others to see in me.  I came up with the following 3 hierarchical stages, or “laws of the teacher” that are my core values.  If you’re familiar with Isaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics, my 3 Laws of the Teacher are similarly structured.

They are:

1. The students’ lives come first

2.  Meet curricular goals

2.  Be a good colleague

Like the Laws of Robotics, the first rule must take precedence. The second rule must be followed unless it conflicts with the first, and the third takes place pending it doesn’t conflict with the first or second law.  This ensures the class is centered on the students, not on me, the teacher. After all, we are here for the students, not the other way around.

What is wrong with Professional Development?!

I've been there, you've been there, 15 minutes into the back to school inservice you are already checking your phone or email. Maybe you're a 'good' teacher and actually working on lesson plans! Our meetings are full important information, don't get me wrong, but how much do we PRESENT.?!?!

I love using the different modalities; visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.  There are great books about NOT just reading your Powerpoint and the importance of getting your audience involved.  Why is it so hard for us to do this for our teachers?

Let me back up, I'm really new at my job.  I am the Director of Technology in Staff Development, I know...it means I teach teachers how to use tech in their classroom.  I like Director of Instructional Technology...it rolls off the tongue.  Previously I taught Orchestra in this district for 6 years and have been Director of Instructional Technology for 1 month. (Full time, I did both for one year.)

I have big dreams and big hopes for not only myself but for my district.  I want the teachers in my district to want to be involved in training sessions. I want to see them connect with other educators and change how they teach.  I want our students to come to school and be inspired by the passion of their teachers.

It starts with me.  I feel the weight of the world, much like Atlas, on my shoulders to shape the teachers in my district to be leaders in their field, leaders in education, leaders in the community and leaders of our students.  I am terrified and excited all at the same time. My first goal is to open up our collaboration doors... #EdCamp418