New Athenian Academy

Every time we review for tests I hear the title phrase.  Sometimes I wonder why I even bother. 

I am sure other teachers have the same problems with reviewing and tests.   My general philosophy about tests is that they should be an assessment of the high/important points from the chapter.  I try to make my tests hard, but not too hard.  Give them a challenge, but not focus on the nit picky details.  During note time, I tend to tell side stories or trivia facts about the topic.  To me those make the class interesting and for those students really interested in the topic learn a bit more than just the basic facts.  But I hardly ever test on those things.  I want to make sure my students focus on the big ideas, the whys, not necessarily focus on the asides. 

Once we get close to test day, I usually pass out a study guide consisting of the big terms, people, events.  It usually only takes up a half sheet of paper with two columns of words.  the idea is for the student to go home and be able to say something important about each word on the study guide.  I don’t require students to turn in a completed study guide or outline notes.  To me that’s just busy work for juniors and seniors.  Does that help anybody?  I see it as more grading work for me with no benefit for the students. 

The day before the test, we play jeopardy review.  Students play individually but for teams with the winning team earning candy.  I find Jeopardy to be a great way to hit many of the high points for the upcoming test and students like the review, but especially the candy part.  Students usually get to use their study guides for Jeopardy and many jot down answers or questions while we play.  I have had many tell me the process works for them to narrow their focus from the chapter.

Unfortunately at least once a Jeopardy session, I ask someone a questions and they respond with “but that’s not on the study guide.”  I never claimed that everything they needed to know appears on the study guide.  It’s meant as a guide, not an answer key.  What makes some of these students think that I am there to give them the answers?  I am here to facilitate their learning; guide them on the path to their own discoveries.  If they just want the answers, they can look in the textbook.  I an not interested in that type of education.

At some point, students need to wake up and understand the purpose of review sessions.  Until then I will continue to use Jeopardy and those students who understand will continue to benefit.  The rest will say “but that’s not on the study guide” and I will just give them a silent look.  They all tell me I’m good at the look, but I guess I will continue to get practice at perfecting the look.

Yesterday the following summarized conversation took place:

“Name three of the most deviant things you can think of.”

Multiple students: “Murder, incest, profanity..”

One particular student “pooping on flowers, cursing at your grandma, and having sex with a teacher.”

To which I stupidly replied: “Now that’s interesting, are we talking about a teacher and current student, a teacher and a teacher, or a teacher and a former student?   And to clarify, what ages are we discussing: high school or college?”

This led to a very weird conversation about sex and sex laws and what society accepts or does not accept. 

Sociology has to be the one class that we discuss the most random topics but they all fit into the chapters or topics I’m teaching about.  I allow many tangents and discussions that I am sure could get me fired.  We are not discussing sex for the cool factor or the “we are breaking the rules” factor, we discussed it in terms of the chapter “Deviance and Social Control.” 

After discussing the legality of sex with minors, we moved on to sex with teachers once the student graduates.  In society’s eyes that’s socially awkward, but not illegal.  Some may consider it to be deviant and others not so much.  I explained that after the age of 18, the illegal nature disappears, to which that particularstudent replied “Great I still have a chance with you.”

Now I know what you are thinking:  What is going on between those two?  But I swear it’s all innocent.  This student and a few others have made it a mission to try to make me uncomfortable and I have to say they have gotten crazier and crazier as the year had progressed and yet I am notuncomfortable.  They went a whole week calling me this particular student’s mom, but then decided that the Mrs. referred to me being his wife.  A few of my male and even some female students routinely tell me that they love me.  Crazy comments and the like.  And I take it as a sign that they do love me (in a big sister, mentor way) and accept the devotion. 

But this leads to an interesting discussion of sex, romantic relationships, teachers and students.  Where do we draw the line?  To be very clear, I would never even think of having sex with a current student (if nothing else it is illegal). What about former students or people who have graduated that you never taught, but were at your school or had your teacher friends in class?  Is that okay?

Another incident this week illustrated the confusion…  At the homecoming game I was sitting with three other female teachers.  A former student who graduated last year walked by and chatted with us for a minute.  Two of the teachers are new this year and after the student left one mentioned that he was cute ot which myself and the other older teacher replied “Eww No!”  To be fair this former studentis very cute, but he was a student.  I tend to view my students as part of my extended group of children.  I am like their mother or at least a big sister.   I had this particular student for two straight years in class and could not even see him as an eligible male. 

This is something that I am sure or at least hope am sure that elementary teachers never even think about, but for us young high school teachers it becomes an interesting question?  How young  is too young?  Currently I am about 10 years older than the seniors I teach.  If we go 10 years into the future all of a sudden we are still 10 years apart, but that does not seem to be a big deal.   I know many couples that are separated by 8 or 10 years in age.  So conceivably, I could date or even marry someone graduating this year.  Weird I know! 

The other piece to the confusion is the relationships.  I see all my students as my kids.  I have been at this school for three years and have seen students grow from little confused freshmen to fairly confident, dating, and driving juniors.  Every time I look at them I can see a picture of them as freshmen on the first day I met them.  I don’t think I will ever seen than as true sexual adults.  That’s gross!  They are innocent children needing to be protected.  So even if I ran into a student 10 years down the road, I don’t think I could ever see them as anything other that scared confused little freshmen begging me to help them grow and learn, even if they are really cute!

I guess I cannot blame people for falling for their teachers and/or students, but I could never do it.  Sex and the single teacher will stay sex and the single teacher with a partner of comparable age or at least not one that ever had anything to do with my school.  That’s just too weird!  Unfortunately that means I could never marry my one particular studnet and he’s going to be a bit upset.  But I think my age appropriate boyfriend will appreciate my stance on this topic.

We all remember those the monthly fire drills, lectures from firemen about stopping, dropping, and rolling, and family escape plans.  I teach about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (a tragedy of history) and the importance of building codes and fire regulations.    And then sometimes I want to just throw the regulations out the window because everything gets to be pretty ridiculous. 

Last week was Homecoming Week at my school and like many schools we decorate the hallways with a theme.  This year’s theme was the Olympics to which each high school class covered their hallway with depictions of the sports, pictures of athletes, mountains, and general icons of the event.  My sponsor class had the end hallway; the one hallway with an exit that  no one uses for anything.  Another exit is at farthest 20 feet away.  After decorating most of the hallway with flags and various Olympics paraphernalia, two of my guys decided that wanted to make a mountain with skiers coming out the doors.  I knew I couldn’t stop them, they are way to persistent, so I allowed their construction.

Backing up a bit, all day the seniors had been make disparaging comments about my juniors and generally being rude.  We have a pretty strong rivalry better the senior and junior classes at our school.  It seems a bit funny considering that they are 20 seniors and 16 juniors, but whatever they are teenagers and love competitions like this.  Overall I would say that the seniors are a bit more competitive and have been known to exhibit some unsportsmanlike behaviors on more than one occasion.  Or maybe I am just biased toward the juniors (I love those guys!). 

Anyway, after my guys began to construct the mountain, a few seniors came around the corner and yelled “You can’t do that, it’s a fire hazard.”  To which my guys replied “Duh!  We are going to take it down Monday morning.”  For my guys the joy was building the mountain not necessarily the finished project.  Every senior proceeded to make a comment about it as they walked by.  The juniors took it in stride and began to joke around about it.  Everyone that walked by was urged to tell the guys the mountain was a fire hazard.  This went on for about an hour and then a certain senior decided to take it a new level.  She proceeded to yell at the guys and tell them that it was a fire hazard (“really we didn’t know that”) and she was going to get us disqualified from the decorating contest from that.  At that point, I had to step in and basically tell her to shut up, but in a nice teacherly way.

We know about the regulations and the rules.  The guys wanted to have a little fun and I didn’t see the harm in any of it.  I have to say that the mountain was really cool when finished, complete with slalom flags, moguls, and little skiers.  And to their word, the guys took it down after the start of school Monday. 

Beyond the stupidity and crassness of the seniors, I wonder about the fire regulations.  At some point when my guys were told it was fire hazard they replied “You have to be pretty stupid if you could not break through the paper to get of the building.”  To which I silently replied, ”I totally agree, but I guess some peopleare just stupid.”  Sometimes I wonder if we haven’t gone a bit overboard with the rules and regulations.  I am all for have accessable exits from buildings in case of fire, but is it necessary to have two sets of doors 20 feet apart?  Have we become so complacent to the rules and regulations that in the event of a fire, we could not find an exit without the drills and someone directing us?  I seem to recall that after the initial 9/11 attack, those people in the World Trade Center found exits on their own and tried to make their way out of the buildings.  Of course many were blocked and that was a tragedy, but did they have monthly drills at the buildings?  I think not, I think the people understood the severity of things like fire and could think clearly in that disaster.  The fire department was late on the scene and in the meantime, people found their way out and helped others along the way.

So what if my students blocked an unnecessary exit for one night (a night when no one was at school).  Why don’t we stop worrying about all the rules and regulations and start helping people think for themselves?  This doesn’t just apply to this incident or even just to fires.  Why don’t we wake up and think for ourselves?  We might surprise ourselves with our hidden abilities and intellect.  Or maybe I’m wrong and we all need monthly fire drills to remember to exit the building when it’s on fire.

I love my students dearly, but sometimes I have to ask them Really??? 

Our school, like many I have seen or heard about, has a no tolerance policy about electronic devices, specifically IPODs and cell phones.  I love the rule.  Students are here for school not to text to their friends or listen to music.  Oh sure when I was in school I was known to sneak my Discman (yes I am of that generation) and listen to a single CD throughout the day.  I realize that was not the way to approach the situation, but hey I was a teenager.  Taking my personal experience, I can see the lure of cell phones and music, but some days I want to take those devices and stomp on them.  Last week was one of those weeks.  

I have been known to catch my fair share of electronic devices, usually in the hallway.  Students try to be sneaky, but really it’s pretty obvious.  Staring at the floor off to the side of your desk or your arm in a coat or hoodie pocket just screams “Look at me I am doing something against the rules.”  To me all this just points to disrespect to the teachers, the school, other students, and even to themselves.  Intrinsic motivation for learning is not present when students focus on texting or listening to music. 

Having stated my position on the devices, I found myself in a dilemma the other day.  A student came up to me during study hall (do not even get me started on study halls, it was not my choice to supervise) and asked if he could listen to his IPOD.  Of course I said no, to which he asked the eternal question “Why?”  Much to my surprise, I did not have a good answer and so replied “Because.”  “Because”  is a ridiculous answer to any question and the student knew it.  He continued to ask why and I struggled with a good reason.  I had an answer if this occurred during U.S. history or Economics, but this was study hall.  Personally I know I study better with some light music in the background.  I sympathized with the student, but ultimately decided that I had to uphold the rule even if it was problematic. 

Where do we draw the line on these kinds of issues?  Blanket rules seem to cause problems, but so do degrees and uncertanty of rules.  How do we police the use of electronic devices that we know the students (and most of use teachers have) but still uphold the concepts of personal freedom and educational diversity? 

The art room has a open use of IPODs during class periods.  Every art teacher that I have known has discussed with me the benefits of having music on during class to jump start student creativity.  So if the art classes can listen to them, why can’t my study hall student listen to them?   I still cannot come up with a good answer to this conundrum, so for now I will just answer with “It’s a rule and I enforce the rules.”

I have always thought of myself as a geek, a nerd, a dork, and my students routinely confirm this fact.  So what?   I am proud to identify as a history, psychology, sociology, economic, government, philosophy, and theatre geek! And as a directive to all teachers out there: Let out the inner geek!   Education would be better and the culture and society would improve.  Go on a journey of my self discovery of geekiness and see how it can improve education…

Step 1: recognizing your inner geek.  I grew up as an only child with working parents.  I spent much of my free time reading or watching things like nature documentaries.  I was probably destined to become a geek in some respect.  However, you need not have the same background as me to have an inner geek.  What is the one thing you are passionate about?  What makes you get all excited like a child, jumping up and down, doing a happy dance?   For me it is history and really all of the social sciences.  I love trivia and biographies of famous people and wars and social trends.  I like playing Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy.  (I might add that I beat most people, but think I may have met my match for obscure facts with a rediscovered friend)  I get excited about the prospect of a new series about the inner workings of the brain and am giddy with joy at new social documentaries highlighting recent political events.  I know others who are passionate about art and love nothing more than to talk about different techniques and reminisce about their trip to an art museum or a particular workshop attended.  Others love anything to do with cars and could “talk car” all day everyday.  Find what you love… you are a geek.  I just happen to love the social sciences.  Embrace the interest and then move to the next step.

Step 2: showing off your inner geek  Being a teacher, I can easily show off my inner geek everyday.  I do it so much my students know to expect the unusual in my class.  Don’t be afraid to act silly around others.  Acting silly just shows others what you are passionate about.  It gives them an idea of who you are and what you care about.  I have been known to go to the extremes in my geekiness.  I have become a French and Indian War reenactor.  As a friend explains, we camp in funny clothes.  I also have a flapper costume that I wear when I teach about he 1920s.  My students have come to expect and love my crazy geeky ways.  It’s all about showing off what’s in my heart. 

Step 3: getting others to accept your inner geek If you approach your own geekiness without trepidation, people notice.  I could talk about history all day, but if I did it in a monotone voice dressed conservative, no one would be able to see my geeky self.  I choose to be over the top with it.  Others will gradual;ly come to accept that inner geek and eventually even praise it.  I have gotten many compliments about my enthusiasm for the subjects I teach.  It definitely makes a parent feel more secure when the their student’s teacher shows excitement at their subject.  I have even won over some of the staff that doesn’t share my enthusiasm.  They smile when I do something crazy and secretly I think they would love to also be that geeky.

Step 4: encouraging others to let out their inner geek  How to do this?  Fortunately for me, I have a captive audience.  Students have to deal with my inner geek.  Even those students that enter my classroom hearing crazy stories and not knowing if they will like my class, go away at least not bored to death at my class.  I try to keep it fine.  Once you let yours out, it makes other people feel more secure in letting theirs out.  I tell my students all the time, “I stand up in front of people and make a fool of myself all the time.  It’s okay.  If you don’t want to stand up, I will for you.”  But you know what happens, I get kids standing up on their own.  Many of my students have professed their love for geeky things, and it’s not turned into a school jjoke.  Others laugh, but in a laughing with you not at you sense.  We swim in the ocean of geeky things and enjoy ourselves.  Ask questions, find out what others are interested in and then discuss it with them.  Nothing makes a person feel more comfortable than showing interest.  They are bound to open up sometime and maybe they will turn out to be a bigger geek than you are. 

Step 5: hold hands, dance and sing because everyone is letting their inner geek out!

Self disclaimer and cautionary tales:  Just because you love yourself and have gotten others to accept your inner geek, not everyone will join.  I have many people that still give me weird looks or make disparaging comments to myself or my students about my behavior.  Don’t let those get to you.  Be strong and stay the course.    For example, when I first wore my flapper costume, I had at least one parent tell me it was inappropriate for me to dress in costume like that.  I guess they felt that I was disrespecting history or something.  Phooey!! I was celebrating it.  Thankfully my boss disagreed with the parent and loved my idea.  I even made it into the yearbook that year!  Immortalized on the page in all my geekiness.

The world would be a better place if everyone could find their inner geek.  Make it your mission to find yours and spread the joy to others.  I guarantee it will make your life much more interesting.  Have fun and go with boldness!

I find myself dodging the question of political affiliation many times in class and today was no exception.  Students ask me either straight out or by beating around the bush “Are you a Democrat or Republican?”   How do I answer?  or do I?

I think all teachers (at least teachers of high school social studies) run into the question of political openness.   How open should we be as teachers?  I have been in many classes and met many teachers who have no problem discussing their personal politics with students.  I have even been in classes where teachers openly try to sway students to the teacher’s political thinking.  On the other hand, I have also been in classes where teachers avoid discussing politics at all costs.  Where should we stand on the spectrum of openness??

I take a stand in my classes closer to silence than complete transparency.  In teaching government, I often discuss controversial topics in politics, but try to walk a fine line.  Many students ask, but I never openly tell them of my personal politics.  In the same vein, I try to not let my personal politics color the teaching of political issues.  Being human, that is not completely possible, but I try.  My feeling is that even telling them my politics is either seen as a way to sway students to my politics, or a point of contention and division amongst the class.

If the media accurately reflects American society, then we are all divided between red and blue states.  Going further, the two sides are in constant conflict and competition.  But is this really the case?  I recently showed a documentary about the issue in government class.  Titled Split: A Divided America, the documnetarian went on a quest throughout America searching for this supposed divide.  And what did he find?  Lots of contradictions, less anger than the media would lead you to believe, and many reds and blues working together to better the country.  After showing the video, I asked my students for general responses.  The students really seemed to like it and it opened their eyes to many issues in American politics and society.  Many of them came to the conclusion that the red/blue divide was overblown in the media and not at wide of a divide as many people often think. 

Even after an interesting discussion over an interesting documentary, I still do not feel comfortable discussing my personal politics with my students.  Where should I stand on the issue?  

Let me give you another example that complicates the matter.  Last year to celebrate the upcoming Presidential election, students made campaign signs, studied the candidates, and then participated in a mock all school election.  As predicted by me, McCain overwhelmingly won in the mock election, but Obama had a strong showing.  The results did not surprise me, but did notbother me either.  That is how the students voted.  However, I was concerned by issues and events surrounding the election.  My kindergartners came home one day to tell me “Obama is a baby killer.”  “WHAT?!?!?  Who did you hear this from”  I learned that a student on the playground was spreading this around to others.  First of all, I don’t care about the specific political issue, my children should not be learning anything about abortion or any other inappropriate topic for their age.  Second, the statement is flat out wrong.  I don’t ever recall Obama promising to kill babies and the like if elected President. (Regardless of your political affiliation, being pro-choice is not “baby killing.”  That is simplistic and ignorant of the issues involved.)  Third, according to my children and others that I asked, a few teachers overheard this conversation and did nothing to stop it.  This incident made me wonder more about the place of politics in schools.  I don’t care what the personal politics of the teachers are, my children should not be subject to lies and inappropriate speech at school.   Although I have nothing to back up this conclusion, I believe that the teachers who overheard truly believed the statement and therefore did nothing to stop the conversation, even though I would think that most would agree that the topic of conversation was inappropriate for 6 yearolds. 

After being in a school for three years, I think I have come to the conclusion that a teacher’s personal politics have no place in the classroom.  I try to encourage students to think about controversial topics  and make a decision for themselves, but never pressure them one way or another or make them tell me their position.  That is their right as a free American citizen.  As much as I would love my students to think like me politically, that should not be a goal in my teaching.  I need to lead them to their own path, even if it diverges from mine.  That is the key to teaching: leading them not pulling them.  Students, especially seniors, need to start to flush out their own beliefs and values.  I only encourage my students to think and then to get involved in the community.  Whether that is working for a political party or volunteering in the soup kitchen, I think the message helps bring everyone together working for a better society. 

So maybe there is a place for personal politics in the classroom, but for now, I will try to remain as neutral as a can be and encourage participation and thinking in my students.

Does anyone remember the days when we drank milk from paper cartons and on the back there were pictures of missing children?   I do and I want to add another category to the milk carton: missing teachers.

During this school year, two teachers have been “let go” without so much as a word of warning or explanation.   Now being at a private school, maybe we deal with things differently than tax payer funded, teacher union connected public schools.  But I ask, does this process serve anyone, or just shove the issues under the rug?

Let’s start with the first techer:

I have no knowledge of the official reasons for the person not being a teacher at my school anymore, however I have pieced together the following information.  One day after school, there was an altercation with this teacher’s child (who is also a student at the school) and the teacher in front of other parents, students, and teachers.  Supposedly the teacher was asked not to return.  The next day not a word was spoken to the students or teachers about what happened or the plan to cope and move forward.  Wild rumors about drug use and pornography circled through the student body.  At some point in the day, teachers received an email telling us to not comment about the situation or let students discuss the situation in class.  Pretty hard standards when a) we know nothing and b) teens love to gossip.  This incident occurred over three months ago and we still do not have any answers. 

On the second incident (today):

The teacher in question was here yesterday and not here today.  End of story so far.  Now we have been having some financial struggles and many are upset about the handling.  However, I have not heard of any teacher talking of quitting.  What makes this difficult is that the teacher in question was my co-sponsor.  Students have been bringing up the situation all day and I cannot question, speculate, discuss, or tell them anything as again we have been told not to.  Besides none of the teachers know anything at this point. A few students have alluded that they know the reason, but have not shared anything with me. 

All of the secrecy is detrimental and that’s bad enough, but what about the former teachers’ classes.  In the first instance, the school rehired a teacher who taught accounting and business last year and was furloughed during an economic crisis.  The new teacher has reinstituted a computer curriculum and improved on the output of those students.  Congratulations for the making the situation better.  In the new incidence, a substitute will be covering classes for the rest of the week and then….  no one knows.  The school certainly does not have money to hire a full time teacher, but the former teacher had a full load of classes each day.  What will become of the students?   I have a special place in my heart for these students (many are my sponsor kids) and cannot forsee how they will catch up with the curriculum.  What makes this even sadder is those students probably won’t realize how far behind they are in the subject until they get to college in two years. 

So how do we proceed?

Let me offer a few suggestions. 

1. Hire better teachers in the first place.  Both former teachers were well documented among colleagues and students that they did not teach or even challenge students.  I am not the best teacher in the world, but I try to make the most of the time in class and try to challenge my students to reach the next level on every project, test, assignment, etc.

2. If problems arise, take care of them quickly before they become wide reaching problems.  If there is an issue, unless it is something against the law (drug use, sex with students, etc.), try to deal with it through intervention, suspension even.  In both cases, I think there was a final straw and then firing, when the issues could have been handled in a civil manner earlier in time.

3. If a teacher must be let go, have a story prepared.  I don’t mean to say air all the dirty laundry and share every bit of information.  Do have a statement for the students, parents, and especially teachers.  We all came to school today expecting a normal day, and then the email came through with no explanation, but a gag order.

4. Have back up plans for classes.  This one applies to the administration but also to teachers.  Administration should have a contingency plan in the event of an absence, quitting, or firing of a teacher.  Do we have readily available substitutes, or resumes from teachers would have previously applied for jobs?  The staff vacancy should be filled as soon as possible to salvage the classes.  For teachers, a note on advance planning.  I have a lesson plan book in which I write the basic schedule for upcoming chapters and any large projects.  Now I do not write out detailed plans, but could tell anyone who asks where I want to be chapter and project wise for any given week.  In case I become ill or must leave school for any reason, the lesson plan book stays on my desk for easy reach.  I also have all my resources for various subjects organized by class and chapter.  Anyone could walk into my class, pick up the Ch. 10 folder, pull out a copy of my lecture notes, grab an assignment master, and create a lesson play for the day.  I highly doubt either of the teachers in question had any type of organization method such as mine, but if they did, it could help.

Of course these suggestions are from a lowly teacher with no formal training in organization or administration, but don’t they sound nice?   I hope this situation can be resolved soon, but fear that it will get even more confusing in the next few days.  Rumors will swirl, emotions will run high, and no learning will be done in the former teacher’s classes.  During this time, I will keep the teacher on the back of the milk carton and hope someone has information to help lead to him and the truth of the disappearance.

I want to run you through my day today:

•   8-9am — gave a final to one student that took 20 minutes, then watched Shrek
• 9:05-10:10 – supervised study hall, then watched Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• 10:15-11:45 — watched Elf (one of 4 movies the middle and high schoolers could choose to watch)
• 11:50-12:20 – ate lunch
• 12:25-12:55 — made gingerbread houses
• 1-2:30 — watched The Santa Clause III (one of 4 movies they could choose)
• 2:35-3:00 — Christmas Chapel in the gym

Looking over this schedule, can anyone tell me what’s missing?   Wait, say it all together — EDUCATION !!!!!!!

The state of Indiana mandates 180 days for school to be in session.  It does not necessarily mandate what we do during those days.  So we get days like today, lots of fluff and no real education.  I find myself wondering why I am actually at school on days like this.  I am a glorified babysitter.  That is not why I got into teaching. 

Overall I think the problem is our mindset.  Many (students, teachers, administrators, parents) feel like the days before breaks (Spring, Christmas, Easter) are days for parties, movies, silly games.  Why??? In my mind, these are still school days where we can learn, teach, explore.   I have many students who are not even at school today.  Their parents decided to call them in as absent so the students could go on vacation early or something of the like.  Why?  I am a parent and would never let my kids get off a day of school to go to their grandma’s or Florida.  School and their education should be the #1 priority.  Unfortunately, not many people feel that way. 

If it was up to me, students would be assessed on their attendance to school, but also what they did during the day.  Now I know this might ruffle a few feathers, especially those teachers who don’t really teach.  Teachers should be held accountable for the hours they spend with students.  Are they actually doing something worthwhile or frittering away the time?  I would hope that parents would want their children to be spending their time at school in pursuit of a good education.  Maybe I am sadly mistaken.  

For now, I guess I have to put up with the 6 hours of movies (at least I get to watch Elf, one of my favorite Christmas movies) and hope that when I have my own school (right after I become a multi-millionaire) we can address these issues.

The other day my high schoolers started to jokingly refer to me as their mom… which brought up an interesting dilemma.  What is my role as the teacher?  Am I part mom, part educator?  Or, do I just focus on the academic education of my students?

In a way, this dilemma is less of a problem at the elementary level.  I expect the 1st grade teacher to act in some ways like a mom or dad: give students a hug when they are having a bad day, taking care of their knee scrapes on the playground, making sure they have on their gloves, hats, and coats before recess.

But what about for those of us who teach the higher grades?  Am I their MOM? Do I want to be?  Do I have to be?  If I think about the ages of my students and my age, it actually makes more sense for them to be my friends and/or boyfriends than my children. (A thought brought to my attention multiple times by the other writer of this blog.  Thanks Josh for the creepy dreams!)

Everyday I find myself attempting to redefine my role.  I want to be the strict teacher, looking out for their academic well-being, leading them on the path to knowledge.  Then I do something like let them borrow a dollar for lunch… or remind them that they have a meeting with so and so at lunch.  It gets even more complicated when I think about the juniors.  I am their class sponsor and every time they do something good, I want to give them a hug and a gold sticker, and every time they do something bad I catch myself saying “I am so disappointed in them, we will have a talk today.”  Those are the kinds of things I do for my real children. So why do I do them for these 17 and 18 year old students.  It’s almost like I have 40 children: 38 from 8am-3pm Monday through Friday and 2 that I have 3pm-8am Monday through Friday and weekends.

So what’s the solution:  I don’t know.  That’s right a teacher doesn’t know the answer.  I want to be a mentor, someone that my students can gain knowledge from, but also be there when they fall down and scrape their knee.  It’s a constant redefinition game.  Maybe this will get easier once I start to age out of their generation.  Or maybe that’s when I will want to be more like their mom, yet fight against the idea.

All I know is that there must be a combination of both roles for this whole process to work.  Teachers cannot be completely disconnected from their students, but at the same time, cannot be too much of a parent.  They have to take responsibility for their own lives at some point.

So for now, I will let my students borrow a dollar for lunch, praise them when I hear they did something good, give them candy on their birthdays, and scold them when they do bad (even if it’s not in my class).  I will be their second mom, their mentor, and their friend.  I will try to be everything they need.  And I will try not to have any creepy dreams about students being the only guests at my wedding (true story, had a dream like that a couple of weeks ago, talk about creepy, not even my mom was there).

Remember, remember the fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

- Commemorating Guy Fawkes

I have two simple questions to pose today. How many students in high school know who Guy Fawkes was? How many only know because of a graphic novel turned movie, V for Vendetta?

Now, I love the graphic novel and movie. I wasn’t taught about Guy Fawkes in school either. In fact, I believe I was introduced to the gunpowder treason of 1605 through the graphic novel; however, I wonder why?

This strikes me as a rather important moment in history for both Great Britain and the United States. It’s one of the first violent reactions of oppressed religion in Britain. Certainly events and sentiment such as this led Jean Jacques Rousseau and, therefore, John Locke to many of their conclusions about social contracts. This, in turn, led to much of the philosophy that founded the United States. It might have taken a few generations to reach critical mass, but Guy Fawkes and others like him arguably started the revolutions of the 18th century. Doesn’t that seem pretty important for our children to understand?

Of course, 90% of the students graduating from high school today can’t explain the basic tenants of social contract theory. Ultimately, this is a problem with the way we segregate academia from the pragmatism of real-world operations. More on that tomorrow. For now, let’s all just remember, remember…