Love & Marriage

With my fifth year wrapped up and my sixth year as a teacher quickly approaching, it’s officially the longest relationship I’ve ever been in. And this last year wasn’t such a good year for us: I doubted, dreaded going to work on some days, and the D-word flitted through my mind like a nervous fly (ditch-ditch-ditch!). But I’m glad we made it through the rough patch, because I think there’s something special about teaching. I really do.

A great book called Tools for Teaching has reinvigorated me. In the book is a chapter about Preferred Activity Time (PAT) which are 20 minutes given every Friday that can be added onto or taken away according to the entire class’ cooperation throughout the week. One idea for a PAT is playing academic baseball.

1. Create a baseball diamond in front of the class with masking tape and blank white sheets of paper.

2. Divide the class up into 2 teams

3. Have a “batter” come up from one team, and the teacher is the pitcher who asks if the student would like a single, double, triple, or homerun questions about that week’s lesson. If the students get the question right, they actually stand on base.

4. If the batter is wrong, the teacher calls out “Fly ball!” and the other team who should have their notes out in front, has a chance to answer and make an out.

5. The final score isn’t just based on the number of runs made. Instead, it’s RUNS-OUT=FINAL SCORE. That way, an out becomes a very big deal.

If implemented well, PAT wouldn’t just make every Friday something that the kids and me, the biggest kid in clas, look forward to, but it would increase cooperation, responsibility, and diligence…everything that I dreamt of instilling as a young, love-struck teacher. And, there's also the perk of wearing a baseball player's uniform to match the theme. Moments like these, little glimmers of hope encased in one silly game, make me fall for teaching time and time again.

Education for all

"More broadly, the single most important way to encourage women and girls to stand up for their rights is education, and we can do far more to promote universal education in poor countries"- Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Just like Greg Mortenson, Kristof and WuDunn highlight education as the greatest weapon to fight against the injustices facing third world countries. Which brings me to my first point-why is education labeled as being so important? Aside from my obvious bias (ie. love) for education, I think it makes perfect sense to have an educational safety net set up for struggling countries. Tragically, the most devastated countries around the world suffer from constant, tumultuous change. There is no one right answer available for all the varying questions cropping up about healthcare, government's duties, citizens' roles, economy, etc. But by promoting education, activists such as Mortenson, Kristof, and WuDunn are advocating the rather simple notion of helping the nation's citizens think for themselves, instead of coercing another more powerful nation's notions onto them.

Helping other countries is an enormously complicated issue that I've gotten a glimpse of by standing on the shoulders of these authors, but it's interesting to see how education is unabashedly praised as the catalyst for change. Which brings to my second point.

On my very first interview with LAUSD 6 years ago, I was handed this:

My interviewer gave me this after asking me why I wanted to teach and I answered, "Because it's something I know I'll do passionately". Perhaps he knew that I would inevitably resort to shut-up-and-do-your-worksheet days at some point; that I would lose my patience, passion, and even hope on the worst ones. So maybe he gave me this card as a physical reminder, a talisman of sorts, to bring forth the initial passion I had for education.

But more powerful than this card in solidifying my faith in education is reading about how education is at its best is enlightening, empowering, or to put it simply-useful. Whether teaching in rural Cambodia or in an urban American school, ALL children can use a critical mind and a strong voice. The power of education is far reaching and universal.

Temptation

I know I'm not perfect. I will never look like Gisele, I will never sing like Celine, and I don't own the most charming restaurant in Berkeley like Alice Waters.

But, this undeniably empirical fact goes flying out the window when it comes to teaching. Oh how I want to be perfect! How I dream of my classroom looking perfect, my lesson being perfect, and my students being perfectly happy to learn as opposed to sitting in my classroom due to a mandated federal law.

What a perfectly tantalizing fruit and a noble pedestal to stand upon, this desire for perfection...or is it? What if it is Eve's forbidden apple, waiting for that first bite to unleash pandora's box of monstrosities? Having chomped a big bite, I found the most controlling behavior unleashed within me, all in the crusade for perfection.

I have to be wary against this pitfall next year because schools aren't perfect, students aren't perfect, and to my own sadness, I am not perfect.