100th Blog Post

Well it took me about seven years but I made it to my 100th blog post.  I'm not sure how I have stuck with it so long but it has been more rewarding than I thought it might be when I started.  For the sake of looking back feel free to visit my most notable posts:

First Post (Poorly written with comments I wish I could take back)
Most Visited (17,000 + views)
Least Visited (1 view but a personal favorite)
Most Controversial (Lost some Facebook friends over this one)
My Favorite

If you took the time to look through any of these you can definitely see that this is an evolving endeavor for me.  Blogging is, for me, the exchanging of ideas.  The internet allows me to publish ideas and for others to engage them whether they agree or not.  I actually first was turned on to blogging in 1994.

That last sentence may sound a little weird.  The history of blogging can be traced back a ways but blogging as we know it took off in 2001 or so.  As I said, I am a believer in the exchange of ideas.  The first time I had that light bulb moment was in high school.  My friend's dad, Harry O, wrote a column in a small paper called the Weekly Review.  I couldn't wait to pick a new issue and read what he wrote.  We were not affiliated with the same political party and I often did not always completely  understand the issues he was writing about.  But, by reading his column I wanted to learn more about what was going on in our community.  He was a great writer and very engaging.  That's how blogging was done in those days, in print.  Not everyone had access to be a published columnist back then but now we do.

The internet and social media provides the ability to not just make us published authors, but also to read from a diverse group of authors.  I would not consider myself an author mostly because I am a terrible writer, but I can share ideas and engage other people.  My reach has not just been in my local community but across the nation.  Yes, little ole me has engaged people from a far off lands that I will never meet.  They were drawn to the ideas I've shared because we share a common profession and value set.  How awesome is that to know you can have that type of reach?

So what are you waiting on?  It is true that a lot of people will not read what you write.  It is true that people will not always agree with your perspective.  Don't let that hold you back from sharing ideas.  Someone can benefit from what you write and you may just feel liberated for writing it.  Take the leap and start a blog.  You just might make it to 100 and beyond.

Heartbreak is the Quality of a Great Teacher

At EdCamp West Frankfort this year I sat with many gifted and caring educators from all over the region.  In one particular session the conversation shifted to the notion that teacher training does not adequately prepare people to teach in today's climate.  After all, the game has definitely changed in the past few years with RTI, SB7, SB100 and now ESSA.  Yes the acronym machine is still running at full capacity.  My comment to this was that teacher ed programs especially don't prepare you for your first heartbreak.

My first heartbreak took place in my first year of teaching.  I was subbing for a teacher and as I began to carryout the plans for the class, I noticed a student with her head down appearing to be asleep.  We will call her TW.  Because I was a sub I had to be tough and not let the kids take me off the beaten path laid out by the teacher.  I asked her to keep her head up and participate.  She looked at me and then put her head back down.  I got out a referral form and wrote her up.  I laid it on the desk beside her head and she saw it.  She then told me, "Your name must be Mr. Ass because you're an asshole!"  I wrote her up again and sent her out of the room.  I think I may have only wrote four slips my hole first year and she was two of them.  I didn't see much more of TW that year but she found her way on to my World History roster the next year.

TW was a tough kid.  Always looked angry and didn't see the value in anything.  At least that's what I understood of her the six times I saw her the first semester.  I just happened to be on the truancy review team and she landed on the docket for a meeting.  I was prepared.  I was ready to explain how she wasn't attending and was not making up missed work.  I was ready to tell the social worker about her attitude and her lack of drive.  I was a well prepared professional ready to participate in the system of getting this kid to love my World History class and therefore love school all together. (insert sarcasm here)

Instead I got to hear her story.  She had a drug dealer for an older brother.  From what I heard he was a successful one.  She had an addict for a mother that rarely left the house.  No one had any insight on her father but she had three younger siblings.  TW walked them to school everyday and was their caregiver at all times.  She was only 15 and her childhood was being robbed from her.  I felt foolish for not taking the time to understand her but hey, I was just utilizing all the rules and tools we were taught in teacher school.  We were always told that teaching was an art and a science at SIUC, but what was never in any book was the power of the relationship.

My relationship changed with TW.  The way I spoke to her and how I articulated her value all changed.  She noticed the difference and attended more.  She was making up school work, passing my class and even smiled a few times.  When I had lunch room duty she would be my enforcer if a kid didn't listen to me.  She would always ask if I wanted to cut in the lunch line.  It is safe to say she didn't learn anything about world history and I'm okay with that.  She did learn that she had a positive connection with a dedicated adult.  It wasn't until this realization that I considered myself an actual teacher.

Here is the tough love part.  If you are a teacher and have yet to have your own heartbreak or feel incapable of one, go find a new job.  Kids don't need people who get a teaching degree so they will have a "job".  Kids need people who get teaching degrees because they realize the unlimited potential to change lives.  Those are the people who get their hearts broken often.  They care about the outcome, therefore it's personal.  Despite moving out of the classroom and into an office, I still get my heart broken and want to crusade for a student quite often.  But now it's different.  I get to support teachers that get passionate for a student that they can't reach.  I get to help them realize what I did so long ago.  Heartbreak is a quality of a great teacher and if you are doing you were meant to do, you won't just have one and you won't allow yourself to avoid them.