Ellin writes:
I also wanted to comment on the discussion about living an intellectual life
- I have been very intrigued by these posts and was particularly interested
in Jennifer's comments.? I wonder how many teachers essentially hide or "low
key" the intellectual side of themselves.? I am guessing it's a huge number
and I guess I'm not sure why we do so.? There is a weird sort of competitive
angst (I know that's an odd phrase, but it fits what I want to say I think)
among teachers sometimes and it relates to not wanting to be the standout,
the more successful one.? Very successful teachers - I think of my dear
friend Debbie Miller - often take it on the chin from colleagues who feel
competitive when they are highly successful. I'm not sure what's really
behind our burying our intellectual selves, but I know I did it and I
suspect there are many more.?
Jennifer writes:?
This 'competetive angst' is definitely a part of?many school cultures... Debbie
Miller was such a sweet person, too, when I met her two years ago,?I find
it?hard to imagine?that even Debbie faced this?same issue.??I?find it
interesting the number of posts?we have had so far where people are wishing for
"someone like them" to talk to about their teaching.?We are all on this list
because we so desperately feel the need to collaborate, even if we are lucky
enough to have colleagues available.?
When I reflect back on my own recent posts, so many of my views on
teaching/learning that I have been writing about with such passion---lesson
ideas, techniques come from someone else. ALL of the learning I have done over
the past few years regarding comprehension teaching, about literacy?leadership,
working with colleagues, etc have evolved from?discussions with others.
?I?read, I listen, I?ask questions?and try, not always effectively, to apply
what I have learned.?My strategy teaching comes from Ellin, from Debbie Miller,
from Stephanie Harvey and every coteacher that I have?planned and taught
with.?The ideas I shared on literacy leadership come from great discussions
with my instructional facilitator, my principal, fellow reading specialists
in?my district and again, every coteacher I have worked side by side with.
?So... If I achieve?success, I don't really and truly own it. It is OUR
success...but if I am recognized for it, it feels unfair.?
Perhaps there?we feel those?old leftover feelings from high school where?if you
were the smart kid you were the teacher's?pet---a 'brown noser' --?School
cultures?are often set up as a 'class' with a single leader ( a principal) who
has the power to reward or punish just like our teachers in high school. I
wonder if there is a tie in ---that schools with distributed leadership, more
teacher empowerment?are likely to have?fewer problems with that "competetive
angst."?
?Ellin writes
I think there's another subset of teachers who simply don't see themselves
as intellectuals at all.? They see themselves as people who love kids and
love to watch them learn but don't see the relevance of living an
intellectual life or simply don't think about it much.?.... I wanted to use the
fourth section of each of the chapters you're about to read to explore teachers
as intellectuals,
including my own process of identifying myself as an intellectual.? I hope
everyone who reads To Understand will begin to revise their views of
themselves as intellectuals and will begin to share that part of their lives
with their students.? That's really a key issue for me - whether it works in
those 4th sections remains to be seen, but that was my intent.?
Jennifer writes:
It is my great privelege to dialogue electronically with ALL the intellectuals
here on this listserv...whether or not you are lurking or actively
particpating, just the fact that you are here says something about your drive
to learn and your passion for improving the lives of your students. You are an
intellectual.It is time?for me to revise my definition of an intellectual
life...?Ellin is totally right...if?we love what?we do and are passionate about
teaching it is time to share that with our kids.
Jenn
-----Original Message-----
From: Ellin Keene <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Sent: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 10:33 pm
Subject: Re: [Understand] workshop elements and living an intellectual life
It's interesting to me to follow the discussion and I'm loving it, I must
say! Chapter 2 was the trickiest, by far to write because I had to get the
structure laid out for the book and it is very complex - perhaps too
complex. I wanted to rename the workshop components because I was working
in dozens of districts that had very different definitions for what a good
readers'/writers' workshop looked like and I found that many schools
believed they were "doing readers' workshop" or "doing guided reading" and
the practice in reality was far from what we would consider useful or
productive literacy workshop structures. In addition, we were assessing (in
the Cornerstone initiative) a number of districts' growth over time and we
had to be on the same playing field. But honestly, I don't think it's
terribly important what we call the various components as long as we're
setting aside ample time for the most important elements of the workshop.
We got some criticism from the research community for the first edition of
Mosaic because we "assumed that the reader knows what a readers' workshop
is" and it was in the subtitle for the first edition. That was a valid
criticism so we had to address it Mosaic 2e. Whether it's useful here is,
of course, up to the reader, but it isn't a big issue in this book. I will
continue to use the terminology through the rest of the book, though.
I also wanted to comment on the discussion about living an intellectual life
- I have been very intrigued by these posts and was particularly interested
in Jennifer's comments. I wonder how many teachers essentially hide or "low
key" the intellectual side of themselves. I am guessing it's a huge number
and I guess I'm not sure why we do so. There is a weird sort of competitive
angst (I know that's an odd phrase, but it fits what I want to say I think)
among teachers sometimes and it relates to not wanting to be the standout,
the more successful one. Very successful teachers - I think of my dear
friend Debbie Miller - often take it on the chin from colleagues who feel
competitive when they are highly successful. I'm not sure what's really
behind our burying our intellectual selves, but I know I did it and I
suspect there are many more. What people choose to do in terms of revealing
themselves to colleagues is, of course, a very personal decision, but I
sincerely hope we don't hide that side from children. We talk a lot about
how we must model what it is to live a literate life; I just wanted to add a
dimension to our thinking here. If we don't live an intellectual life and
model that for kids (irregardless of what we share with colleagues) I
wonder. . . . who will?
I think there's another subset of teachers who simply don't see themselves
as intellectuals at all. They see themselves as people who love kids and
love to watch them learn but don't see the relevance of living an
intellectual life or simply don't think about it much. I would also include
myself in that group, early in my teaching career. I am not a classically
educated scholar at any level and found when I was writing this book that I
had a very narrow definition in my own mind about what it meant to be an
intellectual, to live an intellectual life and to share that with children.
I pictured ivory tower types who translate The Odyssey in ivy-covered halls,
I guess, but now I realize that some of the things I did every day as a
teacher and do in my life outside schools to this day are very
intellectually engaging. I wanted to use the fourth section of each of the
chapters you're about to read to explore teachers as intellectuals,
including my own process of identifying myself as an intellectual. I hope
everyone who reads To Understand will begin to revise their views of
themselves as intellectuals and will begin to share that part of their lives
with their students. That's really a key issue for me - whether it works in
those 4th sections remains to be seen, but that was my intent.
very best,
ellin
_____
I think you are really asking what it takes to be a literacy leader--a
role model for the active intellectual and literate life for your
colleagues. There are two keys to this, I am thinking. I do NOT pretend to
be any kind
of expert here...but this is something I have been doing a LOT of thinking
about over the past couple years and pretty intensely over recent weeks.
The first key is that you need to live the intellectual life
yourself---don't hide it! This has been one of the hardest lessons for me to
learn...I am an
avid, dare I say, a "fervent" learner-- I always have been. I love to learn
for learning's sake. I am the kid who drove adults nuts with all the
questions--and as an adult I can read almost anything and be interested in
it. (My
bedside table right now includes not only "To Understand, but also a Tom
Clancy
novel, a classification guide for butterflies, 2 books on leadership, a
science fiction novel and a Smithsonian magazine!) For a long while on
the job,
though, I really 'low-keyed' that part of my personality from all but a
few
colleagues. I finally got sick of it, and decided to be myself, but I
realized early on that there's a way to do it. Approaching all I do with
the
question "What can I learn from this experience?" became a guiding
principle that
helps me improve as a teacher and as a person. I expect each person I work
with to have strengths, some aspect that I can learn from and when I
started
approaching them with that in mind, I began to have more productive
professional relationships. To me, being an intellectual role model for
colleagues means
to exhibit a curiosity, an openness to ideas others have to offer and to
look for opportunities to validate the ideas of others by incorporating
them
into my own practice. It is not so much about sharing all I know, as it is
being
open to the sharing. That is a lesson I am still learning and it is not an
easy one for me.
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