Rainy. Sipping coffee on the porch. Thinking of something David Brooks wrote a few days ago that lives are structured by sacred oaths. That column took me back to Lilly-North a couple of weeks ago. The theme of the conference was "Brain Based Learning and Teaching." My presentation took it one step further from brain-based to heart-felt learning and teaching. The formal title of my presentation was "You Attitude Towards Students Really Counts." It centered around my "Teacher's Oath." Afterwards, I had a lengthy discussion with an attendee about the Oath. Since that conversation, I've been reflecting some more on what the Oath means to me. This is what I've come up with so far.
I have already shared the Oath, admittedly with some hope it would be adopted by others. It is a personal vision of the meaning and purpose of an education as well as of classroom methods that I have painstakingly developed through nearly two decades of scholarly study and exploration in life. The Oath, however, isn't just a bunch of statements; it isn't just a set of attitudes; it isn't just a set of feelings towards others; it isn’t just a guiding set of rules of behavior; it isn't just a visionary roadmap; it isn't merely a set of life's goals. The Oath is all of this--and more. It really is how education should work. It's a way to see the potential in each and every student. It's a way to question why we do things the same old way. It's a way for me to design my own life and teaching. You see, I don't just live by the Oath; I live in the Oath. It's my identity as a teacher. My experience and personality are ingrained in that Oath; my visions, dreams, ventures, hopes, failings, faiths, daring, stumblings, beliefs, commitments, passions, demons, journeys, loves, dedications are intimately connected to my life's vision, view of education, and approach in the classroom. I make no bones about that. But, it's not an anomaly. When anyone of us walks into a classroom we are making a statement about who we are and what or who we value. After all, we are all we can imagine, all we hope, all we love, all we can serve, all you we create, all we can dare, and all we can become. So, sure, the Teacher's Oath is a personal vision. But, there's nothing wrong with that. To embrace the Oath is challenging call to action. First, it's a habit breaker and maker. Our habits are our habits only because we keep choosing to accept, support, and defend them. The way we are is the way we believe we are. Change what we believe about ourselves, and we are forced to change habits. Second, the Oath puts people with all of their individual complexity at the educational center. It says students are people before they're students. Third, it says that in the age of educational blah technology should be in an excited age of humanity. It demands we be defiantly and inspirationally humanistic, that we teach by meaning, recognizing that we and students are human, that we and they have personal, rational, cultural, and emotional dimensions. Fourth, the Oath asserts that the educator is not at the core of the academic thing; the transmitted information is not the critical academic thing; the tinkering with technology is not the magical academic thing; all this brain research is not the panacean educational thing. While they are all critical, it is the person you value, the person you serve with all this knowledge and ability and insight that is the buzz of the academic thing: the individual--INDIVIDUAL--student. Fifth, it asks that our expertise be in people as much as, if not more than, in scholarly research, knowledge, and technology. Sixth, it asks for a push back of "herdish," impersonal, faddish, "junk pedagogy" that is obsessed with technology and assessment, that touts instant achievement over the more arduous gradual process of learning, that allows the untrained and uninformed--those who have little if any learning in the ways of teaching and learning--to train and inform the untrained and uninformed, that allows efficiency to trump effectiveness, that promotes earning a living to blot out living the good life, and that misses the bigger educational story. Seventh, it addresses a disease in academia that is rampant in epidemic proportions: anyone with a higher degree, a lengthy scholarly resume, a professional renown, or some outside expertise is convinced she or he can be an effective teacher. Eighth, it asks you to have a grasp of the "big picture" and a mastery of the classroom details. Ninth, in a world that prides itself on being inhumanly cold, unemotional, distant, detached, disengaged, weeding-out, objective, and at times feared, the Oath blocks the signals those attitudes send by requiring an engagement, friendliness, nurturing, emotionalism, and subjective humanity. Tenth, it asks you to get yourself out of your own way on the way from impossible through improbable, to difficult, to possible, to inevitable, and then to actual--for both you and them. It demands we open windows to breakthroughs within each student rather than merely holding up mirrors to our professional self-regard, for nothing distracts and restricts academics more than the quest for tenure, promotion, length of resume, and assessment. And, finally, it doesn't take me to the place where I or students are; it and it's deep challenge is for us take ourselves to the places where we can be. One last word on the Oath for now. The Oath doesn't ask me or anyone to invent or reinvent; it just asks us to reimagine, to thrive at the junction of the individual human being, knowledge, and technology. There's more, but enough for now. Later. Make it a good day -Louis- Louis Schmier http://www.therandomthoughts.edublogs.org Department of History http://www.therandomthoughts.com Valdosta State University Valdosta, Georgia 31698 /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ (O) 229-333-5947 /^\\/ \/ \ /\/\__ / \ / \ (C) 229-630-0821 / \/ \_ \/ / \/ /\/ / \ /\ \ //\/\/ /\ \__/__/_/\_\/ \_/__\ \ /\"If you want to climb mountains,\ /\ _ / \ don't practice on mole hills" - / \_ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=13292 or send a blank email to leave-13292-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
