Saying something that needs to be said even if it annoys some people
It just needs to be done sometimes
I’ve got a car. I’ve got a big, black, shiny car. Maybe tonight we can go for a ride.
My car is actually blue
(via Getting Real About Engagement (Guest Post By Adam Fletcher) « Cooperative Catalyst)
So many people are raising the flag around “engagement” now, calling for student engagement and political engagement and social engagement. They aren’t talking about marriage though, and maybe that’s what is missing in the conversation. In the heart of a marriage proposal, or engagement, a seed is planted. It’s the investment of two people into each other’s life, and when it is right, it’s a promise of commitment.
I believe that is how we should always talk about engagement, as the sustained connections a person has within or outside themselves. After more than 20 years working to promote engagement in schools, nonprofits, and throughout communities, I have come to understand that engagement is the highest order in the work of any social worker, educator, counselor, or religious teacher. It is the core stuff of living.
Wrestling through a curriculum full of standards and assessments, it can be easy for a classroom teacher to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of their job. Every school today is expected to provide a gamut of social services, health services, nutritional services, counseling services, leadership development, and physical activity to students. This is, of course, in addition to the education they provide in the classrooms, hallways, and libraries that are strategically located in schools, too.
Becoming a teacher isn’t as simple as going to college and taking the right courses. It isn’t as easy as standing up in front of a group of learners and saying the right things. It isn’t enough to know your subject and be passionate about it.
Becoming a teacher–one who make a difference in children’s lives–is a lifelong endeavor to be the best you can be, to understand yourself, to understand the people you are working with, to think and reflect and wonder and ask questions constantly, and to almost always work harder than any other friend you have in any other profession. Becoming a teacher is a lifelong endeavor to connect… to communicate… to encourage… to support… to challenge set ways of thinking… to scaffold learners to become smarter, more efficient and effective at learning in every way they can–while you, yourself, are doing the same.
“
| — |
Paula White in Voice Matters-Just Ask My Kindergarteners #blog4nwp « Cooperative Catalyst (via cooperativecatalyst) Love seeing this come back across my tumblr log some 2 months later…. Thanks everyone for reblogging it! (via adventuresinlearning) |
