A message was sent out on one discussion list asking for help to
start the new school year right. It was from a high school teacher, but
it is a subject that each of us in the classroom should reflect upon.
What can we do to start the new school year right? I thought I would
share with you my response.
I told him that to start this new school year right, I am going to
stick with thebasics. No, I emphasized, not my ABC's. No, I wanted to
talk about the real basics of what I firmly believe it is we educators do.
In variably when someone finds out that I am at the University, a
conversation follows:
"What do you do at the University?"
"I prepare for the future."
"Yes, but what do you do?"
"I teach a student?"
"Okay. What do you teach that student?"
"I teach that student that he or she has his or her own unique
potential, and can be his or her own discoverer and learner."
"What is the title of the course that you do all this?"
"History."
"Why didn't you say so in the first place that you teach history."
"Because I don't. It's only my tool!"
I remember the story of how Vince Lombardi always started out the
season's first practice. Talking to veteran pros and rookies alike, he
held up a football and said, "Let's start with basics. This is a
football."
I thought of that story all this past week as I read 170 weekly
journals written by students in four classes. And, then, came that
request. I slowly realized that as I read each journal I got to know each
student for the individual person he or she is a bit more. I also
discovered that the more I got to know about each student, the less I can
pretend. You know something about "knowing?" It is not a pal and partner
with "pretending." The two just do not go together like ham 'n eggs. The
problem is knowing. As I told another virtual colleague, Billy Strean,
knowing takes away all legitimate possibilities of ignoring, stereotyping,
now knowing, putting aside, rationalizing, explaining away, burying, and
pretending.
So, to start off the school year right, I'll be a Vince Lombardi.
I'll start with the basic of education: "This is a person!" Each
student, like me, is a person, not a faceless "system," not a
depersonalized "people," not a submerged "class," not a nameless "student
body," not a stereotyped generalization "students." Each student is a
sacred individual human being, and it is our task to help each person to
believe in his and her own unique potential, to have faith and hope in
him/herself, to believe in his or own strength and courage, to see the
beautiful spirit in his or her container that he or she can liberate, to
think for him/herself, to ask questions rather than mouth answers, to
stand on his or her own feet, to make decisions no one else can make, to
understand that neither of us can get annoyed at that moment because he or
she isn't singing the song on key or dancing the step in rhythm, and that
we all must have hope knowing that that moment is not the end.
I'll do that not just at the start of the school year, but every
day of the year.
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of History http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA 31698 /~\ /\ /\
912-333-5947 /^\ / \ / /~\ \ /~\__/\
/ \__/ \/ / /\ /~\/ \
/\/\-/ /^\_____\____________/__/_______/^\
-_~ / "If you want to climb mountains, \ /^\
_ _ / don't practice on mole hills" - \____
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Department of History http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/louis.html
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, GA 31698 /~\ /\ /\
912-333-5947 /^\ / \ / /~\ \ /~\__/\
/ \__/ \/ / /\ /~\/ \
/\/\-/ /^\_____\____________/__/_______/^\
-_~ / "If you want to climb mountains, \ /^\
_ _ / don't practice on mole hills" - \____
