I Am

I had the privilege of shadowing an extremely talented 7th and 8th grade language arts teacher: Tyler Livingston. The Crosswinds educational philosophy contains the Responsive Classroom management system. This is a management technique I am familiar and comfortable with, I have also seen it work wonders for some, and fail others, both students and teachers. The downfall of systems in general I suppose.

The morning begins with a message and brief task for the students to accomplish to potentially jumpstart the creative thinking process, followed by a morning meeting. I agree with Tyler on his views about morning meetings, they’re great, but only when they’re done well. I have seen morning meetings flop terribly with out of control or disengaged students. Another teacher I observed, Mrs. Peterson, had a great morning meeting philosophy: begin with a handshake as a greeting, as the school day is the start of a business day. Community building activities are essential followings and should not be confused with simply game playing. What’s key here is the teacher introduction and facilitation of the community building. Mrs. Peterson brilliantly brings those whom are off task back to the group by giving them the responsibility of reading the morning meeting message aloud to their peers. Tricky, tricky. I have seen four different teachers here use this technique: directing questions towards, or delegating responsibility to those students whom are having difficulties. I think it helps give them self-agency.

This day they continued to build their homeroom and school community by each completing a piece of “I Am” poetry. This specific activity empowers the students by allowing them to define themselves as they see fit. “I am…I am…I am apart of this community.” The community-building piece can be incorporated in the classroom in so many ways. I watched another teacher, Mrs. Hall; lead a Circle of Power and Respect morning meeting with lessons in diversity and personal habits. These activities were also school wide morning meeting components, and days after the school had used the “I Am” poetry activity and talked about personal habits, Tyler brought them up in his classroom, it’s awesome to see him make these connections. I like that a lot of teachers in this school cover ideas and activities across content.

During these activities Mrs. Hall stressed the importance of eye contact, and calling a person by name when shaking hands. These are necessary social skills that can and have been developed in just twenty minutes a day. This is truly an effective use of time, and these are small lessons that kids may not get elsewhere. It’s about building and providing a safe place, a community, for such things to take place.

I think being a teacher is having the ability to feign the illusion of control. Or perhaps it’s not even about having control. A wise Thomas Szaz says, “A teacher should have maximal authority, and minimal power.” This is more like it. No, we are not the keepers of knowledge. We, in all actuality, should merely leave a trail of breadcrumbs leading to the threshold of one’s own mind. We merely assist. It’s not about what I know; it’s about what I can help my students know.