May 27th Journal

I wanted to touch a bit on last week's class discussion of the Hargreaves article. I had talked about this article in my blog last week since I had liked the article when I first read it. But, after our discussion, I had an even greater appreciation for the article. The main discussion - about being passionate about your job vs your job being emotional labor I thought was very good. I brought up the idea of a surgeon vs a pediatrition as a way to differentiate between these two. When I said this in class - I got a lot of really "are you crazy" type of looks. But, I think it really cuts to the heart of the difference (oh, I did not mean that pun, but I left it in because it was funny). If you are a patient - you want both to be passionate about their jobs - you want them to stay on top of the latest teachings and know the best, most current information. But, you do not want your surgeon to be doing 'emotional labor' - you want them calm and steady. Yet your pediatrition, you do want them to do 'emotional labor' in that you want them to reach out and really try to understand your child and any issues they might be having. I really found this discussion to be clarifying - how we must be both.

Yet I find this a little scary - one of the articles talked about how they 'fell in love with the kids'. And this really hit home - because I know how a 'break-up' feels - and I am really concerned that if I truly come to 'love' each child - how to I handle the 'break-up' that is inevitable at the end of every year (or two if we are lucky enough to loop). I am not naive enough to think that there will not be some children we are 'relieved' to pass on. But, I do think that to do our job well, we will become emotionally vested in each child - and then how difficult to just 'send them on' with no future feedback!

And then I wanted to touch a bit on one of the blogs you have the links to - Stephanie Jones writing about 'school sucks'. I appreciated her points - about how you can't make a big deal about some of the good things that happen to kids - since those good things don't happen to other kids and you don't want them to feel bad. Now, I see this point - and I totally agree we need to be aware of this. But, I was saddened to see the comments that you can't be excited for the child who spent part of the summer in Paris (example) since not all children got that chance. We, as a family, have made traveling a priority - we feel nothing replaces the ability to see other cultures (be immersed in them) to really appreciate the world. It helps to remove the US centric attitude that can be so pervasive in our culture (the thinking that the rest of the world revolves around the US). By making this a priority - we have sacrificed in other areas - we drive an old Honda with 230,000+ miles on it. I hope that my daughter is able to share this experience without being made to feel like a spoiled child. It is important and meaningful to her - and in many ways helps her grow. I just really think that we do need to 'level the playing field' for all - but not at the detriment of any. I need to read more of her blog - I was just quite turned off at the attitude that I felt from this section and it made me sad.

As for the chapters in Ayers - great chapters! The first one was on building an environment in our classrooms. We need to 'become aware of the messages' our environment sends was the first real lesson. Ayer's wanted 'to call out to students' creativity, adolescent energy, social responsibility and goodness'. Made me wonder - what do I want to 'call out to'? I want to definitely have it be inspirational - a very important thing for me is to 'inspire' each child to work to their potential. I want my room to be alive - to be exciting. To help the children want to learn by understanding what it means in real life. To have a say in the control and the learning that is going on in the classroom.

Another line that I loved - that I think could be posted in a classroom:
We provided the environment for learning and the invitation to learn. But it was their choice, their action, their courage that resulted in the thing learned.

Love the idea of cooking in the classroom - have thought many times how real this is to math. Wonder how practical this is to actually do in a classroom - would love to try! Also loved the idea of a plant - or an animal - in the classroom. I know this is sometimes difficult with allergies, etc, but would be a great idea for compassion and caring. And in our middle school learning class we are studying how there is an abrupt shift in the nurturing attitude of teachers in elementary grades and an 'all business' attitude in middle schools - wouldn't it be nice to have something like an animal - that wouldn't be a main focus - but would recall some of that 'cozy' feeling of the elementary school that the middle school kids still need (even if they won't admit it).

Then there was the 'Keeping Track' chapter. We have talked a lot about this issue - but I thought Ayer's comments on the three p's was good - Projects, portfolios and performance. I thought these were an easy three things to keep in mind as we struggle with the best way to assess our students performance in a variety of ways. Other than that, I think we have touched on most of the main ideas in this chapter about standardized testing and how it doesn't even come close to addressing all of the different learning that is going on in a classroom.


I guess that's it for this week - I am looking forward to doing my 'analysis' of my journal entries for the 'final'. I know I have learned a lot and have a lot to think about from this quarter.

Summary:

• Realize that teaching is emotional labor and it is critical to be emotionally vested.
• Appreciate the opportunities, joys and sorrows (large and small) of each child.
• Be aware of the message the environment of the room sends - chose wisely this message - let it inspire.
• Remember there are other ways than standardized tests to assess performance - try the 3 p's -projects, portfolios and performance