The Life Expectancy of a Lesson

I have to admit that I used to be a HUGE fan of LOST. It lasted 5 years. On the night of the last episode I was relieved.  Even though I loved it, I was ready to be done.  Seinfeld lasted 8 years.  Friends lasted 8 years. If you remember Moonlighting, you remember that it was over fast.  Number one show one year, three years later, gone.  The Beatles were only together for about 8 years.  Even Jesus only actively taught for three years.

Things have a time and a place.  Sometimes that time passes.  (Think bellbottoms, the mullet, legwarmers, the beehive hairdo and Glam Rock- also feel free to insert others here...)  If you were to dress as you did in high school today it would likely result in jokes, lots of jokes.  When a fad ends, though we make look at it fondly, we need to accept it and let it go.  If we don't we face the risk of becoming a relic.

We all know someone like this, the person stuck in the Grunge era or surfing the the internet on Netscape Navigator.  Well, maybe not that bad.  To sum up: things have an expiration date.  The best shows, good music, technology and even the way that we teach will one day be past its time.

This line of thinking led me to ask myself a hard question.  What lesson I need to retire?  Somewhere in my repertoire is something that was once great, but needs to be put out to pasture.  I weighed a lot of lessons.  I thought about the reasons behind why I do what I do.  When it was finally done I had chosen to retire a lesson that is one of my favorites.  It is my "Why Study History?" lesson.  The first one I teach each year.

Now, I love this lesson.  My kids leave the room talking about this lesson.  It is powerful and passionate but it lacks content. It lacks a historical take away.  It left them with no new skill.  It should be a discussion of history as an interpretive process.  It should discuss the fact that history is hard because they will not leave the room with definite answers like in math, but questions. They will be questions that I can't answer for them, that no one can answer for them.  They will need to answer these questions for themselves.

So that lesson has been retired. Permanently.  I will really, really miss it but I can do better in a way that teaches more and serves my students better.

So what lesson do you need to say goodbye too? Which one is your mullet legwarmer lesson? Which one is there that should not be?  Which one is not timely? Which content may be good but your vehicle of delivery needs rethinking? Can you let it go?

I'd love to here what you come up with.

5 Latin Quotes to Live By

5 Latin Quotes to Live By

by Shawn McCusker

Non omnia morir-

Not all of me will die.

As teachers we have the ability to leave behind lasting legacies of our work.  We give life to ideas and patterns of thinking that have true power.  What will you leave behind? What is it that you will teach that will survive well after you?  The ideas that we teach, the skills that we share, the processes that will demonstrate will survive long after we do.  

Gutta cavat lapidem-

Water hollows put rock

Of all the forces of the Earth, the simple movement of water may not be the most glamorous but is the most powerful in its persistence.  Mountains are laid low by the constant but simple effects of rain drops.  Grand Canyon, enough said. The process of education requires that we be very persistent in much the same way.  Focus on what is important and tenaciously pursue it.  Never quit.  

Ut sementem feceris ita metes-

As you sow so will you reap

In life and in our classes we live in a world that we create for ourselves. We live according to the rules that we create for ourselves.  Especially in the classroom, who we are and the lessons we teach become the patterns that run the class.  Create an environment of respect. Create an environment of cooperation. Create an environment of trust.  You will find that everyone in your class will benefit. In return your reward will be working in a place that embodies all of these characteristics.  

Et lux tenebris lucet-

And a light shineth in the darkness

Everyone has their stresses, worries and obstacles.  Every day we teach a collection of students who are bringing theirs into our class.  In what way does your class move them past this and draw them in to what you have to teach.  Classrooms that are a beacon to students allow them to put aside these obstacles and distractions.  Make your classroom a hopeful inspiring place.  


Vae Victus-
Woe to the vanquished

You are only defeated when you give up.  Year after year students will enter our classrooms and struggle.  Every year we will have to face them, address their needs and help them to overcome their .  Every day is a new challenge.  In between the times that teaching is so rewarding, it can be exhausting. When you get to that point take some time, reflect and find your passion.  Go read the letters of the of the students whose lives you have changed.  Focus on what you set out to do when you became a teacher.  Despite the difficulties that we face, the politics that arise, the time that we spend and all of the other realities of our job, in the end it is very simple.  Teach them well.

A New Direction

It has been a while since I have posted on this blog.  I know this is a common thing for teacher blogs.  Depending on where we are in the year, coaching takes our time, papers need to be graded and things need to get done.  When I last posted I decided that I need to make this blog more than just blurting out about something that I was thinking.  I think a lot.  I needed to cut out some things get a focus.  Just like at school.  There is a lot to do and there are a lot of distractions.  You have to focus on what is important.

So I have been thinking. I have to focus on a goal.  I have to keep it simple.  I have to cut out what is unessential.  Just like in a lesson.

So I decided to change the name of my blog to help me remember that.  From the moment I sat down to write the first entry here my purpose has been to grow as a teacher so that I can help my students to grow.  I want to use the past to make the future make sense.

I need to adapt to the world and the technology that is prevalent.  It is a language that the students can speak that we have to start speaking in as well.  (Would I not learn Chinese if I was teaching is China or French if I were teaching in France?) I need to understand how students view and interact with the world so that I can communicate to their understanding. I need to continue my own learning so that I can explain how the past has brought us to this moment.

There is so much to do to make sure that I achieve this goal. It is not a process that has an end.  I know that I will never be done.  (I used to think that was possible. "One day I will have good lessons and then I can just repeat them endlessly!" Ha! Sooo not the way it is.)

This is what I have decided this blog needs to be.  Where do I want to go and how am I going to get there?

Forward.