apropos of nothing important:
When I gave my students the opportunity to take greater ownership of their own learning, with my role becoming more of a guide and advisor, they all were excited about the possibility. They don't want to be left totally to their own devices, but they do want to have a greater say in how they learn the material before them. Believe it or not, this actually creates more work for me: I have four Advanced Placement classes, which will now in all likelihood be doing four very different things on any given day. And yet, if I believe in empowering people - and I do, which is one reason I choose to teach Government - it is perhaps the only way I can honestly approach teaching.
I approach what may be the end of my time in the secondary classroom. That is empowering for me. I am far more willing to trust my own instincts, to provide space for my students to express themselves, to push back against mandates and strictures, because I can walk out with my pension any time I want.
I have no idea what will happen when any class shows up. That is far from being within my control. And that makes teaching that much more exciting.
Should not our politics and our governance be similarly empowering our citizenry? Or have we abandoned what it means to be a small d democracy, and in the process lost sight of the ideal of res publica? I wonder.
Mitchell 20: an important film on teachers and teaching
As I write this, iot is a bit after 10 PM Eastern time. I arrived home about 30 minutes ago after spending about 3.5 hours at the headquarters of the National Education Association for the DC area premiere of Mitchell 20, an important and powerful film on teachers and teaching.
The NEA is a partner to the film, but only after the fact - helping to distribute and promote it, having had no influence on its filming.
Let me provide the basic outline. In an elementary school in a poor part of Phoenix, one teacher who had herself earned her National Board Certification, decided to try to transform her school by persuading other teachers to also undergo the process. She got 20 teachers to sign up, either for the full process or for the abbreviated Take One! program, which allows a teacher to explore the process of applying for National Board Certification without having to make the full commitment. The principal decided to devote some of her federal funds to helping the teachers apply, and aditionl funding was received through Arizona K12, which provides professional development for teachers. The Executive Director of Arizona K12, Kathy Wiebke, herself a former teacher and principal and official in the Arizona state department of education, decided to see if a film could be made of what these teachers were doing, and Randy Murray and his production company produced what I saw.
This is NOT a story of wonderful triumph and success. It is a story of some of the realities of teaching, especially in a school or district of high poverty, full of minority children. It is a brutally honest film. It is a film with a point of view, one that I largely share.
Let me tell you why I think you should see this film.