One Week Until Thanksgiving and Inspiration

That's right, just one more week. And my goodness, I am looking forward to it. I am grasping at a brief respite from the physical and emotional demands of teaching and living independently. It will be a vacation, a time to relax and be in a place where I am actual comfortable and life is familiar. It will also be a time to regroup my thoughts, though. How can I make my classroom a better place? To that end, I am going to visit some teachers at the elementary school that my little brother and sister went to and try to leech as much wisdom as I can from two more days in classrooms. Interactions with other teachers have been the most helpful thing for me in making improvements, or at least seeing what improvements I could and should be making, even if implementation is a little more difficult.

Yesterday we had a Teach for America professional development day in Helena. It's just across the Mississippi. I have to say that it was a rejuvenating experience. I got to talk to the other first and second year teachers and get some ideas, and I also had a class on vocabulary instruction and a class on math manipulatives that inspired me to teach better.

I am trying to find sources of focus and drive for myself. Last Professional Saturday, one girl recommended the song "The Revolution will Not Be Televised," by Gil Scott-Heron. Although it is an old song, it holds a good message for anyone who wants any sort of revolution (including the fight to end educational inequality): nothing is going to happen until you do it, the point is not your personal glory or self satisfaction, and it's not going to be easy, pretty, or pre-packaged. The song goes in part:

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

I also heard a song by Daft Punk called "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" that reminds me how I am supposed to be working. It reminds me that when it gets easier, that is the time to work at it even harder.

Work it harder, make it better, do it faster, makes us stronger;
More than ever hour after our work is never over.

Finally, I think of the "Mission" that my collaborative had our students read every morning this summer. It was written by Mr. Colin P--, who still teaches in Houston. Perhaps because of the number of times we repeated it (I guess it was only 20 times), it pops into my head in the mornings on the drive to work.

Today is a new day to work towards our mission.
We will stay positive and keep on track.
By working hard and sticking together,
Nothing in this world can hold us back!

Interestingly, Mr. P--'s real class theme is the Olympics, which has the motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (faster, higher, stronger). Another good message.