[this was originally written about 2 weeks ago...]
-- On being an educator
Now don't feel excluded because you've never worked in a school/academic setting. This is a #Misfit post. We don't think logically.
This post is for anyone who has ever spent time working in a school (in any capacity), mentoring youth in their community/church, raising offspring of your own...any type of extended periods of time spent with small people.
In light of recent events, the Martin trail, the 6 year old girl being found in a trash can, that grown ass adult killing a kid over a frozen cup.... I find it harder to do my job. I don't like it when real life and my life intertwine.
Brief history on me -- I've spent the last 3 years of my life working with kids from birth to about 18 or maybe even older. I've witnessed the abuse of infants, family issues galoe, kids with kids, kids raising younger siblings, kids working to support their family, ankle bracelets, every learning disability under the sun, kids in the foster system, students who lost their teacher to violent death, and worse of all, students who were shot or killed.
I don't like to teach. At all. But then I have to reexamine the meaning of the word teach. It goes so much further than being responsible for someone's academic gains. I'll be working with kindergarten this year and now I'm responsible for teaching kids things they will use forever: numbers, letters, how to use a pen, how to read....
BUT I'll also be helping to, and being build their character, especially the "challenges" in my class. Again, teaching is not purely academic...But, where I'm really going with this is that I have to teach these kids they are Black and what being Black in America means Black i New Orleans.
I don't feel comfortable teaching someone else's child about race. I think that's something that should be taught at home, but clearly...
[I swear I'm going somewhere with this... or maybe not]
Here are my teaching goals for the year :
- to teach my kids to strive for academic excellence no matter what. Mostly perseverance.
- to teach my students mechanisms to cope with any "learning difficulties" they may experience. What I've experienced is that some "special learners" are treated in different ways that do not enable them to learn but allows the teacher to teach with minimum disruptions.
- to not enable "bad" behaviours in my students despite what other teachers are doing.
- to make my students aware of challenges they may be face with because of their race without necessarily going in to race.
- Ex: "You'll be told this, that, and the third but you are this, that, and the third...." [if that makes any sense...]
I'm a misfit. I am an academic but non academic educator. I may suck at letter sounds but my kids will be beast at self motivation and awareness and will not have any excuse for not being active learners and knowing their learning style.
This definitely not the last thing I have to say on the topic but it's def a good start to my school year....