Humility

The prompt for this blog was "when was the last time you were wrong"... to be perfectly honest, I am wrong a lot of the time. When you have three brothers, your life work is to, genially, one up each other. At times this means you have a competition of strength or athleticism, which I always lost, and in fact never seriously competed in. More often than not however, my family is engaged in a never ending game of trivial pursuit, an off-the-cuff, stump-the-chump, knowledge bowl. Keep in mind that in my family I would be competing against a PhD, an oncology research nurse, a physics/chemistry teacher who has a talent for numbers, a history/religion/political science major who can remember nearly every date/event he has ever studied, a musical genius who has a large vocabulary and a talent for fixing things. In addition, my friends were nearly all in the top 10% of the our class academically, and many of them participated in varsity sports and the highest caliber music programs our school had to offer. I am not a stranger to being wrong.

For me however, the difficulty is NOT admitting when I am wrong, it is learning to deal with unintentional embarrassment. I do not mind being embarrassed as long as it is on my own terms. I can do ridiculous things, like sing or dance or yawp in pubic, I can wear strange clothing and do stupid things as long as it is on my terms. If I walk into a situation knowing that I will make a fool out of my self I am usually ok with it. However, when I am trying to make a point, or prove that I know what I am talking about, and I make a mistake, then I feel like I am three inches tall. I will need to work on that if I am going to be an effective teacher.

Collaborativeness

I was talking to my Uncle Tony yesterday (no he is not an Italian mobster) about the differences he sees in my generation and he felt the most prominent difference is our level of independence. When I asked what he meant, he explained that my generation is one of the most solitary and independent he has ever seen. With our ipods, laptops, gaming systems and blackberries, we rarely feel the need for face to face interactions. We stay out later, we get jobs younger, we go away from home sooner and stay away longer... It soon became clear that when Uncle Tony used the word "independent" he did not mean it as a compliment. He was not saying that we have become more self-reliant, but that we have become more self-serving. The sentiments are echoed every time that Jim Langholz says that we are the generation of instant gratification. Both men are saying that we do not know how to wait for things, even if they are more than worth the wait. We are constantly thinking about ourselves. It is ME! ME! ME! all the time.

Collaboration and cooperation sometimes feel like dying arts. In school, while cooperation is touted as being one of the building blocks to success, all of our group projects were designed with pairs of poorly matched students. The highly effective students were paired with struggling students which more often than not hurt both students perceptions of healthy collaboration. The effective student will quickly grow frustrated and end up doing the majority of the work themselves and the struggling student, who may not be able to keep up, gets frustrated and ends up contributing next to nothing, either by choice or by default because their partner (and I use that term loosely) did all the work.

As teachers we need to rethink how we work with others and in turn how we teach our students to work together. We need to teach them group problem solving skills and we certainly need to work on our level of patience. We need to show them that it is ok to take there time to find an answer, and when a friend or partner does not get the answer as quickly we DO NOT simply tell the the right answer, we help the find it for themselves. Positive team work is something that is missing in every aspect of our lives as adults. We need it in all of our relationships, for our jobs, and we need it now more than ever in the political arena. If we can successfully work positive cooperation into our classrooms than the relationships of the future will be more successfully founded on peaceful collaboration and compromise than on power dynamics.

Reflectiveness

In Ed 221, every class period we take what Dr. Pillsbury likes to call "Think time". She poses a question to the class and then gives us time to reflect before we respond. Then we share our thoughts with a partner, and use them as a sounding board of sorts to bounce ideas off of in an attempt to deepen/broaden our own understanding. Finally, we come together as a whole class to share what we have discovered. In the first few classes we did not really know what to do during these discussions/reflections and we spent a good portion of the think time just sitting there awkwardly, but by the end of the term it felt like we never had enough think time because there were always other things to think/talk deeper about.

I think that part of the problem is that as students we were never really taught to reflect. We are rarely given time or effective prompts to reflect upon. In junior high we were given EXTENSIVE amounts of time to "reflect" but we were not given interesting prompts that were worthy of our time and consideration nor were we ever lead through the process of reflecting in a meaningful way. We would run out of things to say and think about in the first couple minutes and then we would goof off for the rest of the time. In high school, many of the questions were interesting enough but we were not given enough time to think beyond the sallowest level of understanding.

One of the brilliant parts of Dr. Pillsbury's think time is that she started out with very short periods of time so that we would not get off topic or goof off when we felt we were "done" reflecting. She also walked us through some important though provoking questions and let us discuss our thoughts with a partner to help deepen our understanding and provide us with an opinion other than our own. As the term went on, she continued extending our alloted think time, and by the end of the term, even with the extended think time we would usually have to stop our discussion before we were done talking.

I hope to be able to incorporate Dr. Pillsbury's think time techniques into my own classroom. Reflection is a way of growing in your own mind, of knowing yourself and feeling comfortable in your own skin. We should constantly be asking ourselves, and each other, questions that are thought provoking and make us reconsider our preconceived notions and perceptions.

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” -Peter F. Drucker

"Seeing within changes one's outer vision." -Joseph Chilton Pearce

Inventiveness/Creativity

I realize that i should probably be commenting on my ability to incorporate creativity as a future teacher, however, this is one of my weaker dispositions. As I was growing up, I appreciated teachers who incorporated unique and creative ideas/techniques in their lesson plans but they were unnecessary for me to learn; they made class more interesting but I was able to learn just fine in the typical, boring, straight-out-of-the-book way. For this reason, it is sometimes difficult for me to think of new and interesting ways to present information that will be effective. It is one of the areas that I need to work on most in the future, and that I hope increased exposure to classroom settings and lesson plan writing will help correct.

However, what I want to talk about is creativity in students. While creativity is very important as a teacher, it is more important that we encourage it in our students. In the book that I had to read for our final project, To Understand: New Horizons in Reading Comprehension, by Elin Oliver Keene,the author talks extensively about the need for a renaissance of understanding. What she meant is that as adults we praise people who are unique, we value minds that can think outside the box and we applaud individuals who continually forge their own paths. Yet Keene feels that historically, educators have done everything they can to turn their pupils into little robotic copies of themselves. Teachers wanted their students to fit into a neat little mold. Education was more like a production line of sorts where we fill each person with the same information and we try to fix all of their "flaws" so that the end product looks the same, a bunch of perfectly-shaped, beige squares. She contends that we are setting our students up for failure if we kill their creativity when they are young and then punish them for not having it as adults. Keene likens her students to Michelangelo's unfinished "slave awakening" sculptures:

"I think back to the moment when i first saw, in Michelangels's sculpture, the outline of a person straining to break free of the stone, and I can't help but relate that to our lives in teaching. Can we commit to liberating our children from the route and routine, the drill and kill, the mind numbing repetition that characterizes too many classrooms? Can we agree at least in part with the humanists of the Renaissance and proclaim that all of us have nearly unlimited capacity to produce original thought?"

Keene is calling us to help break our students out of the marble confines of modern education, and in so doing free ourselves as wells. She wants us to encourage creativity and curiosity. To ask questions and not be afraid if we do not know the answer. To try new things that seem strange and adventurous. To live fully and to experience everything we can get our hands on. She says that only by living fully can we be free thinking, creative, inspiring individuals.

Passion

We have spent a lot of time recently talking about the best ways to motivate students. We have talked about creative lesson plans, interesting ways to use technology in the classroom, and how to differentiate your lesson plans to maximize each students growth. However, none of these measures, no matter how well planned out, will be effective teaching tools if the teach does not also demonstrate passion. Passion is the ultimate motivational technique. Every person that I talk to, has had at least one terrible classroom experience and every one of those experiences was due, at least in part, to the lack of interest and investment shown by the teacher. The reverse of that is also true; nearly ever one I talk to has had an inspiring classroom experience (or else they wouldn't want to be teachers). Each of the positive experiences, where the class was an unexpected revelation for the student, involved a passionate teacher who was eager to help their students grow, not just as academic entities, but also as unique individuals.

I have been lucky enough in my academic career to have had many passionate teachers. Teachers who were passionate not only for their subject, but for job and most importantly for their students. My high school biology teacher is a perfect example. My senior year I was enrolled in Advanced Honors Biology, which was a long and intimidating name for a class that turned out to be wonderfully laid back. It was rather like a playground for grown ups. There were expensive toys and pretty dyes at our disposal. This is not to say that we were not very careful with our equipment or that we did not learn a lot of important, technical information; because we did. We learned advanced staining techniques, statistical analysis, and the basics in current genetic research. But the atmosphere was reminiscent of elementary school, it was filled with unrestrained curiosity and the joy of new discoveries.

It was during the first trimester in Mr. Koepnick's class that I fell in love with science. We had been studying a bunch of new, and difficult, staining techniques. The first time that I finally got a negative stain correct, I jumped and squealed and made my best friend look at it so she would dance around with me. Mr. Koepnick came up behind us and put his arms around our shoulders. He leaned in close and asked us what all the commotion was about. Expecting some sort of reprimand for our excessive out burst, we explained about the successful stain. Mr. Koepnick frowned at us and asked, "Ladies, do you realize that you just squealed over a bacterial stain?..." Then suddenly he got a huge grin on his face, hugged us and said, "Welcome to the Science Nerds Club."

It was days like that, or the one when I got my financial aid package to Luther and he did a little dance with me, or when I was having a stress melt down and he had me go work in the green house and let the dirt cure my hurt, that made Mr. Koepnick such a wonderful teacher, person, and friend. I knew from that first moment with the negative stain that he was who I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be the teacher, who after twenty odd years of teaching still had so much passion for his subject. I wanted to be the teacher that has taught thousands of students and seen millions of negative stains, and yet still congratulates, and celebrates with each of his students when they

first get it right and when they first fall in love with his favorite subject.

Authenticity

Authenticity is one of the ways in which we demonstrate trustworthiness. Authenticity is a way of putting trust into action with integrity, sincerity, reliability and transparent, genuine intentions. We often talk about how trust and stability are key in a successful classroom, but it is often difficult to define how we as teachers bring these things into our classroom. I believe that authenticity is crucial to building a trusting, safe, stable environment to learn in. If a teacher is clear about their expectations and then follows through, they create reliability. Most importantly, if a teacher has a genuine interest in the success of their students then they will automatically display authenticity. If students learn by example, then give them an example worth emulating and learning from.

I have never considered the boundaries and lines that could or should be drawn for authenticity. It had never occurred to me that there could be such a thing as too authentic. Can a person be too genuine? Or have too much integrity? Can sincerity be overwhelming or reliability be detrimental? Personally I do not believe that you can be too authentic. I do not believe that there are boundaries that need to be placed on authenticity in the classroom. Many of the problems that occur in the classroom are based on a lack of trust, and genuine intentions, but those are both key components in being an authentic individual.

"Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.” - Mother Theresa

"No legacy is so rich as honesty.” - Shakespeare

“Authentic values are those by which a life can be lived, which form a people that produces great deeds and thoughts.” -Allan Bloom

Compassion

If respect is the foundation of all successful relationships, then compassion is the demonstration, or manifestation, of that respect. Everyone, student and teacher alike, has their insecurities, whether they are feelings of loneliness, mediocrity, ignorance or inadequacy. Compassion helps fill the void that self-doubt creates. Compassion is the way in which we relate to, and validate each other and it helps us connect in ways that go beyond an everyday, passive acquaintance. It is our ability to consider a perspective other than our own. This is a critical disposition for us to posses because as people, particularly as teachers, we are continually exposed to personalities that clash with our own. However, effective teachers are able to see beyond the clash to the person, the motives, the dynamic individual that each of their students is.

When I was in junior high, a trying time for any young person, I had the good fortune of having Mrs. Kay Yanecek for my homeroom teacher. She was a truly remarkable woman, with a liberal approach to education and an old world class. I do not know what it was, if she always went to such great lengths to help her students, or if something about me in particular seemed to call out to her for understanding, but she reached out to me and offered me friendship when I had never felt more alone. Some people are naturally charismatic, and they make friends easily, but I was not one of those people, so the transition from elementary school to junior high was a difficult one for me to make. I felt like the only one who had liked things the way they were, and who didn’t feel ready to “move on and meet new people”. Mrs. Yanecek was a blessing, both in the nerve-wracking first weeks and then throughout the entirety of my time there. In the mornings, she would meet me at my locker to talk to me about simple things like my family, or my homework, or to compliment me on something I was wearing. She kept up with my class work, often telling me that she had heard from so-and-so that I had done particularly well on a test and passing on her congratulations. She kept a collection of newspaper articles that featured me pinned up around her room as well as little mementos that I had given her. When I was feeling particularly self-conscious about my body shape, with out my telling her anything, she pointed to one of the articles hanging on her wall (with a picture of me on it) and casually began talking about how pleasing she found the shape of me face, and the warmth of my eyes and smile. With out fail, she kept me feeling buoyed and loved on the days that I was closest to feeling lost and alone. Her compassion was invaluable to me and has continued to shape me through the intervening years.

"The value of compassion cannot be over-emphasized. Anyone can criticize. It takes a true believer to be compassionate. No greater burden can be borne by an individual than to know no one cares or understands."-Arthur H. Stainback

"The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another.” -Thomas Merton"

"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." -The Dalai Lama

Respect

It makes sense to me that our first disposition is Respect. It is one of the most, if not the most, important dispositions that a teacher can bring to their classroom. While the other dispositions, like compassion and open-mindedness, are important, they do not mean much if there is no mutual respect. It is the foundation that a successful relationship is built upon, whether that relationship is personal, professional or academic. Respect is not necessarily about liking a person, or about warm fuzzies and best buddies. Respect is the fundamental belief that everyone deserves equal dignity, that no matter who they are, where they come from or what they are capable of, they are all equally important and equally worthy or our time, consideration and attention. If a teacher does not respect his/her students, he will never earn their respect in return. Without a respectful environment students cannot progress and can in fact regress in their mental and emotional development.

I would bet, that every student, no matter how old they are or where they are from has been disrespected by a teacher. For me there have been many teachers that I had a hard time respecting and valuing their input because of the way that they have treated me, both publicly and privately. In fifth grade I had a teacher who wanted me announce a very personal feminine problem to my class before I was allowed to use the restroom. This same teacher used the success of my intelligent, athletic older brothers and a shame tactic in the hopes of getting me to preform better, saying things like "your brothers never would have made that mistake," and "I expected more from a Zehr." In high school I had a teacher insult and degrade the intelligence of my father (a man who has been teaching for over 30 years and has his PhD) in front of the class because I had the temerity to question the wording of a test question. These are just two of the more memorable times that I was treated with censure and disrespect by my teachers.

On the other hand there have been so many more teachers that have more than earned my respect. My senior year of high school I was in an Advanced Placement English class. My teacher, Mr. Hartwig, had a youthful exuberance that was infectious. Students were always trying to worm their way into his classes, and once there they got there they never wanted to leave. Mr. Hartwig's class was a "safe space" where you could say anything with out the fear of being judged. He would answer any question, and would listen to any story. He also managed to impart a love of literature in his students, and because he respected us so completely, both as students and as people, we respected him and wanted to preform well in his class. Near the middle of the second trimester, we read Othello as a class, and had to write a persuasive essay over the play. We were given plenty of time to brainstorm ideas but i kept circling around the idea that Iago was romantically obsessed with Othello. When it came time for me to present my thesis with Mr. Hartwig he patiently listened to my idea and considered the writability or such a topic. He told me that while he completely disagreed with my analysis, he thought that my outline seemed well thought out and that if I was sure that this was the topic I wanted, then he would be interested to see the final project. In the end I ended up receiving a perfect paper, this was both the first and last time i received such high marks from him. When I asked him why he told me that it was because he admired my gumption. He had read my thesis and completely written off my idea impossible and yet by the end even he had to admit that it was a possibility. He had given me a chance to explain myself, even though he completely disagreed with my point of view. and then praised me for being unique.

"The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil" -Ralph Waldo Emmerson

“A youth is to be regarded with respect. How do you know that his future will not be equal to our present?” -Confucius

“Only those who respect the personality of others can be of real use to them" -Albert Schweitzer