Invisible body of readers,
I must apologize for my lack of blogging. School has begun, and it is taking me by storm. That said, it's a really beautiful storm with lots of radiant, illuminating lightning and refreshing rain that tastes like discovery! I am learning so much, and my mind is truly blooming with all of this new knowledge.
A few things I've been a'pondering…
1) The politics in education - topics of charter schools, accountability, high stakes testing, and more. I'm just overwhelmed. I don't know how to sort out what's real and what's not. Before starting my program, I read Wendy Kopp (founder of TFA) and Deborah Kenny's books and was totally in favor of their ideologies toward education. I decided to check out Reign of Error, in which Diane Ravitch questions the privatization movement toward charter schools and the idea of "school choice." Actually, she questions pretty much all of the ideas I felt I was in favor of after reading Kopp and Kenny's books. She suggests that these ideas will benefit big money and that what we need is significant societal reform to tackle the real culprits, poverty and social inequity. My textbook has left me even more overwhelmed as I read about Social Reproduction theory, which suggests that schools actually promote educational inequity by
assuring that current class boundaries maintain intact. Woofta. I'm trying to let this all just sink in and not make any rash decisions on what I do or do not believe. That's hard for me to do. I want to know what I believe, so I can make informed decisions from those beliefs. I'm going to be reading Michelle Rhee's book Radical while finishing Reign of Error, so I'm sure my confusion will only surmount as I approach these two opposing perspectives at once.
2) Last night, I stayed up until 2:30am reading because I was completely RIVETED by my class reading assignment (see reference below to check out this fabulous reading - I believe it's taken from a textbook). Weird, right? It was on language in the classroom. The reading talked about how talking in the classroom revolves primarily around the teacher - 78% of class time on a given day is spent with either teacher talking or silent time - and his or her agenda. It made me question the way I speak with (and to) students and the purpose of my interactions with them. Are our interactions with students structured to coerce a specific answer out of them or to control student behavior? Or are they to facilitate genuine communication? I'd hope it's the second, but I don't think that is always the case. Further, the talking students are doing at school have very little in common with the talking they do at home and within their communities. There is a disconnect between their worlds of language, and this is a problem. What are we trying to teach students about the role of language??
Seriously, I could go on about a dozen more topics that are equally compelling to me, but I'd be here all night. I have some personal reading to go do. It's hard to make time for that with all of this beautiful class material, but I know how important independent reading is, so I'm intentionally making time for it. I'm big on Goodreads these days, and I've found it to be incredibly motivating. Check it out, and then pick up a book! :)
Keep those hearts and minds blooming,
Miss Elizabeth
Piper, T. (2007). Language & learning: The home & school years. Boston, MA; Pearson.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
Forthcoming adventures and where this girl is at
I am not sure if anyone is even reading this (I sort of doubt it), but that's truly okay. Just the idea of people reading my thoughts scares me some, so this is a big deal, even if nobody reads it. It's a form of personal development, a practice in bravery and commitment to (not-so-fearless) self-expression. I want to harvest the zesty truth telling I had as a girl and let the world know how I feel about things, even if that perspective is contrary to popular opinion.
Forthcoming adventures & where I'm at:
1) I am writing a book series? Eep, it feels odd to say that. It's not just any book series. It's targeted to a very particular population, and I think there is a very real need for it. It is close to my heart and stems from a life of experiences with a certain special someone. I've been meaning to begin for a few months now, and I finally started writing today. I have no idea how to do this, but I figure beginning is half the battle. Right?
2) I start classes in my Elementary Education Initial Licensure program on February 4th! While my heart is jumping to become a teacher, I think my brain still has a ways to go. While doing an assignment for one of my online math classes today, I realized there is still a lot I need to learn and even more importantly, remember. There are topics I've mastered a ridiculous amount of times (i.e. inductive and deductive reasoning, please just let me be) and still struggle with. My brain kicks in when I need it, but then my memory fails me. Thankfully, I will be teaching similar, if not the same, topics year after year, so I'm sure I'll come to master them in time. I'm glad that I have this perspective, as certainly many of my students will experience this, too.
Other things I'm really feeling:
-All things paper. Lovely paper products, particularly stationery, light up my heart in a weird sort of way. I love how paper, when brought to life with words and pictures, is capable of communicating love, expressing art, and embodying my current and past experiences. It just makes me so happy. Swear I'm not crazy.
-Feedly! Such a fab way to keep up with all of my sources of inspiration, particularly blogs. I probably follow 200+ now, and bookmarks were just NOT cutting it.
Questions for you all:
Regarding education: What are your thoughts on the Common Core State Standards? I am trying to learn more without identifying with a particular side of the issue. Above all, I'm for the kids, and whatever benefits them is what I will support.
Regarding spirituality: How do you incorporate your faith into your daily actions?
Keep those hearts and minds a blooming,
Miss Elizabeth
 |
| Fearless at 5: love her energy. |
1) I am writing a book series? Eep, it feels odd to say that. It's not just any book series. It's targeted to a very particular population, and I think there is a very real need for it. It is close to my heart and stems from a life of experiences with a certain special someone. I've been meaning to begin for a few months now, and I finally started writing today. I have no idea how to do this, but I figure beginning is half the battle. Right?
2) I start classes in my Elementary Education Initial Licensure program on February 4th! While my heart is jumping to become a teacher, I think my brain still has a ways to go. While doing an assignment for one of my online math classes today, I realized there is still a lot I need to learn and even more importantly, remember. There are topics I've mastered a ridiculous amount of times (i.e. inductive and deductive reasoning, please just let me be) and still struggle with. My brain kicks in when I need it, but then my memory fails me. Thankfully, I will be teaching similar, if not the same, topics year after year, so I'm sure I'll come to master them in time. I'm glad that I have this perspective, as certainly many of my students will experience this, too.
 |
| My heart is definitely in this. I love the kids. |
Other things I'm really feeling:
-All things paper. Lovely paper products, particularly stationery, light up my heart in a weird sort of way. I love how paper, when brought to life with words and pictures, is capable of communicating love, expressing art, and embodying my current and past experiences. It just makes me so happy. Swear I'm not crazy.
-Feedly! Such a fab way to keep up with all of my sources of inspiration, particularly blogs. I probably follow 200+ now, and bookmarks were just NOT cutting it.
Questions for you all:
Regarding education: What are your thoughts on the Common Core State Standards? I am trying to learn more without identifying with a particular side of the issue. Above all, I'm for the kids, and whatever benefits them is what I will support.
Regarding spirituality: How do you incorporate your faith into your daily actions?
Keep those hearts and minds a blooming,
Miss Elizabeth
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Half inspired, half reluctant
I am writing. This post is half inspired, half reluctant. I have so many words inside that just rush throughout me all day long, yet I find releasing them to be such a harrowing task. They never seem to come out right. However, being as I am going to be a teacher and encouraging my students day in and day out to write, I may as well practice what I preach and put a few words down on paper.
I am currently reading Emily Freeman's A Million Little Ways, and boy, has it inspired me. I've always been all for discovering my God-given passions and connecting with those truths that have always been there, inside of me. In college, I read Parker Palmer's Let Your Life Speak and struggled, like really struggled, trying to understand what my calling was. We did all these fancy practices to uncover them, "figure them out," and I just couldn't. I wanted to know my path so badly. The harder I tried to find it, I think the less success I had.
Now, here I am reading Emily's words, and I realize that at some point in the past year of, I did it. I found that thing that makes me come alive. The story of how that happened is another post entirely, but somehow, after years of having no idea of who I was, I figured I want to teach. I don't just want to lecture in front of a class and grade papers. I want to teach hearts and minds to bloom, just like mine has upon connecting with this massive, awesome love of mine.
Of course, upon figuring this all out, I am faced with a period of intensive waiting. Waiting at home to get a sub license (to fill time during my wait), waiting for sub jobs to appear. Waiting to get into a teaching preparation program, waiting for classes to begin (February 3rd). I've spent many a day of waiting alongside my twitter feed - an awesome yet horrible source of inspiration that taunts me with this teaching world I'm not quite part of. #edchatnotyet
Emily, on waiting:
"You are in a season of waiting. When you finally show up ready to release your art by being the person you believe you are created to be, there may be nothing more disheartening than to be asked to wait. The waiting can drive us mad if we let it. It can become a merciless dictator, shoving us into shapes we aren’t made for, shapes of worry and doubt and short tempers."
As I wait, I sub. These experiences are both enlightening and frustrating. I am so pumped to finally be in a classroom that I do not realize it is not at all what my teaching career will be like. I am told, "it will be different when you have your own classroom." I am told, "subbing is way harder than teaching." I am told, "the kids act way differently when their with their classroom teacher." After a particularly challenging day of subbing, I decide to take a little break. These challenging days cue self doubt. I ask my boyfriend, a teacher himself, if I'm really cut out for teaching. I want to be. I so want to be.
In A Million Little Ways, Emily quotes Steven Pressfield:
“Self-doubt can be an ally. This is because it serves as an indicator of aspiration. It reflects love, love of something we dream of doing, and desire, desire to do it. If you find yourself asking yourself . . . ‘Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?’ Chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.”
This resonates with me and fills me up with such great hope. One day I'm all, "I'm made to connect with these kiddos" and "I will give all I have to ensure that they succeed" and the next day I'm feeling slightly crazy and am sure that I can't handle the politics and high stress environment that is teaching. Then I read this, and I think, or rather know, that all of these thoughts are an indication of just how much this all means to me. I come alive when I talk about teaching and education and children's futures. It's just all so big and scary, which is the reason I've shied away from it in the past. There's so much at stake when you're a teacher.
Okay, one more Emily quote because I am just so inspired and ready to get out there and DO THIS:
"Sometimes inspiration toward that thing that makes you come alive follows after you so hard and so loud that you look around to see how everyone else is reacting to this most obvious explosion of creativity happening right here in this room. It is bright and tangible and full."
This is beautiful and so YES. I feel this. I feel that inspiration.
xo
I am currently reading Emily Freeman's A Million Little Ways, and boy, has it inspired me. I've always been all for discovering my God-given passions and connecting with those truths that have always been there, inside of me. In college, I read Parker Palmer's Let Your Life Speak and struggled, like really struggled, trying to understand what my calling was. We did all these fancy practices to uncover them, "figure them out," and I just couldn't. I wanted to know my path so badly. The harder I tried to find it, I think the less success I had.
Now, here I am reading Emily's words, and I realize that at some point in the past year of, I did it. I found that thing that makes me come alive. The story of how that happened is another post entirely, but somehow, after years of having no idea of who I was, I figured I want to teach. I don't just want to lecture in front of a class and grade papers. I want to teach hearts and minds to bloom, just like mine has upon connecting with this massive, awesome love of mine.
Of course, upon figuring this all out, I am faced with a period of intensive waiting. Waiting at home to get a sub license (to fill time during my wait), waiting for sub jobs to appear. Waiting to get into a teaching preparation program, waiting for classes to begin (February 3rd). I've spent many a day of waiting alongside my twitter feed - an awesome yet horrible source of inspiration that taunts me with this teaching world I'm not quite part of. #edchatnotyet
Emily, on waiting:
"You are in a season of waiting. When you finally show up ready to release your art by being the person you believe you are created to be, there may be nothing more disheartening than to be asked to wait. The waiting can drive us mad if we let it. It can become a merciless dictator, shoving us into shapes we aren’t made for, shapes of worry and doubt and short tempers."
As I wait, I sub. These experiences are both enlightening and frustrating. I am so pumped to finally be in a classroom that I do not realize it is not at all what my teaching career will be like. I am told, "it will be different when you have your own classroom." I am told, "subbing is way harder than teaching." I am told, "the kids act way differently when their with their classroom teacher." After a particularly challenging day of subbing, I decide to take a little break. These challenging days cue self doubt. I ask my boyfriend, a teacher himself, if I'm really cut out for teaching. I want to be. I so want to be.
In A Million Little Ways, Emily quotes Steven Pressfield:
“Self-doubt can be an ally. This is because it serves as an indicator of aspiration. It reflects love, love of something we dream of doing, and desire, desire to do it. If you find yourself asking yourself . . . ‘Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?’ Chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.”
This resonates with me and fills me up with such great hope. One day I'm all, "I'm made to connect with these kiddos" and "I will give all I have to ensure that they succeed" and the next day I'm feeling slightly crazy and am sure that I can't handle the politics and high stress environment that is teaching. Then I read this, and I think, or rather know, that all of these thoughts are an indication of just how much this all means to me. I come alive when I talk about teaching and education and children's futures. It's just all so big and scary, which is the reason I've shied away from it in the past. There's so much at stake when you're a teacher.
Okay, one more Emily quote because I am just so inspired and ready to get out there and DO THIS:
"Sometimes inspiration toward that thing that makes you come alive follows after you so hard and so loud that you look around to see how everyone else is reacting to this most obvious explosion of creativity happening right here in this room. It is bright and tangible and full."
This is beautiful and so YES. I feel this. I feel that inspiration.
xo
Miss Elizabeth
P.S. I ordered 192 teacher stationery cards because I'm just crazy like that and they are cheaper in mass quants. Oh, and a $100 off coupon code (courtesy of my new obsession with entering online giveaways) helps. Check out Pear Tree Greetings for some super cute stuff. Can't wait to use them in…20 months?? Boo time just pass please.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)