The students had been working on and presenting "The Song" project.
You should
have seen them! You should have read their original lyrics!! These are
students who had
surprised themselves because they had accepted, as they moaned and groaned,
that they
couldn't write, that they couldn't stand up in front of others and present,
that they're
not creative, and that "it's not in me." Yet, when I took them out from their
existing
world, fraught with memories about their negative experiences and brought them
into a new
world of writing and presenting opportunities, wow! What imagination, what
creativity,
what talent, what potential, what courage, what risk-taking they displayed. A
young lady,
a first year student, whom I call Naomi, summed it up for a lot of her fellow
students in
a journal entry this week:
I'm learning a lot about myself and really appreciating
everything in my
life at
this point. I owe a great deal of that to you, your class and
your
teaching style.
Being in your class has kicked me out of my box that I had
closed me in,
has helped
me really look at things I used to deem "impossible" as
possible and
realizing
that I' m not held down by anything or anyone. I never thought
I could be
this
way and do so well and overcome a lot of my fears and lack of
self
confidence.
Gosh, I'm learning to love and appreciate and believe in myself
and what I
can do
more and more every day. I see myself more as a pretty
butterfly slowly
coming out
of my cocoon instead of being an ugly worm stuck inside that
cocoon! It's
such an awesome
new feeling!! Bring on the scavenger hunt! I am ready to take
on any new
challenges
and expirences (sic) you throw at me.
Some encouragement to keep on trucking, isn't it. So, living my
Teacher's Oath,
that I've tweaked as the suggestion of my dear friend, Dee Fink, I set Naomi
and each
students in all the class up for such achievement. I just told her and them
that by the
end of the semester, and I don't care what their transcripts say, they will be
honor
students. All they have to do is to put in sweat equity, do what is important
rather than
what is convenient and comfortable, believe, and take the risk to do whatever
has to be
done. Now you might ask why did I tell them that. Well, it's simple. I have
what I call
my circular "'Can do' pride campaign" that Naomi is apparently buying into.
Belief in being capable is a matter of self-identity; from that
particular
identity comes seeing challenge as opportunity; from opportunity comes doing;
from doing
comes confidence; from that confidence comes belief; from that belief comes
more doing;
from.......
Having been reading Naomi's daily journal entries, I know that she had
started out
at the beginning of the semester in a dreadful disbelieving and resisting
cocoon made of
the threads "you got to be kidding" and "I cannot do this" and "I'm thinking of
dropping
this course with this nutcase." She is slowly breaking those thread. She is
evolving
slowly, very slowly, toward a feeling of confident and proud "I can do that."
Like Naomi,
I want each student to have the opportunity to see that she or he can grow.
Small step,
by small step, by small step, project by project, issue paper by issue paper,
journal
entry by journal entry, reply to journal by reply to journal, I am growing
students. I am
engineering faith, belief, hope, belief, and love. I am making success visible
and
immediate. Small, especially eyeball-to-eyeball small talks, is anything but
small. It's
extremely powerful in getting students to see that growth, development,
improvement and
achievement is within each of their grasp and under their control. I am
guiding them away
from a dark "that's the way I am" stagnate view of themselves towards the
sunrise of a
growth "I can do that" way of seeing themselves.
Because of my tactical purpose to achieve my strategic vision, I'm
starting
something new when they return from that silly Spring Break. I will no longer
give an "F"
when they don't do something or give a clinical "R" when they have to redo
something.
Instead, I give them an "I have confidence in you" "NY" (not yet), be it a
project, a
conversation with a photograph, or an issue paper, or anything else. You see,
to be a
grower of people, I have to help them help themselves tear down old habits in
order to
help them help themselves build new habits. After all, learning is largely a
process of
unlearning. So, I am assisting them to feel "big" and to feel more determined.
I am
giving them "seeding" projects, "stretch" projects, "taking root" projects. I
am
cultivating an identity within each of them, a self-image, that triggers a
break with
their resignation or acceptance of mediocrity. When you build each of them up
this way,
they are more likely--no guarantees--to develop the strength to act, the will
to act, to
believe in themselves, to feel more determined, more ready, more
self-motivated. I am
helping them meet challenges as opportunities rather than as barriers, and to
figure out
that they can find ways to go over or get around or to go under or to push
aside any
obstruction. I want them to understand that abilities are like muscles: they
can be
built up with practice, that everything is hard before it's easy, that they
shouldn't
surrender just because they didn't do it the first time, that there will always
be that
proverbial three steps forward and one step backward, that working at something
makes you
stronger, smarter, and more independent, and that it's all under their control.
And, I
make sure they know it and feel it--every day.
For me, it isnt easy; isn't guaranteed; isn't convenient; isn't at
times
comfortable. It takes a lot of my time and effort. It demands a lot of my
determination,
commitment, and perseverance. But, it's not impossible! I can't use the "it's
hard" or
"it's not me" excuse; I've got to stretch; I've got to take risks; I have to
prevent me
from boxing myself into a cocoon of routine; I've got to invest my sweat equity
no less
than I am asking to them do it. Sometimes it takes; sometimes it doesn't.
There are the
Naomis and there aren't. Nevertheless, I just won't have that defeatist,
culling out
attitude that some students can and some cannot. I dont breed a culture of
failure.
Imagine where Naomi would be if I did. No, I cultivate feelings that are
rooted in
self-confidence and self-esteem. But, to do that you have to know from whence
each
student is coming. We cannot see each student unless we look; we cannot look
if we're
focused on ourselves, our own problems, and our own concerns. If we develop a
sense of
service, if we sharpen our sense of otherness, if we exercise our awareness, if
we go
beyond our narrow concerns, if we accept for a moment that it's not all about
us, if we
realize that it's all about them, if we understand that the route to reach our
own unique
potential is when it resonates with the unique potential of each student, we
will have the
potential to see more Naomis than we thought existed; we will see more amazing
possibilities and greater potentials in each student we otherwise could not
have dreamed
of.
Now, they're about to go off on their Scavenger Hunt Project. More
moans and
groans. But, they're not quite as loud as before.
Make it a good day.
--Louis--
Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.com
Department of History
http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org
Valdosta State University
Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\
(229-333-5947) /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__/\ \/\
/ \/ \_ \/ / \/
/\/
\ /\
//\/\/ /\
\__/__/_/\_\ \_/__\
/\"If you want to climb
mountains,\ /\
_ / \ don't practice on mole
hills" -
---
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