All That Matters: a co-authored poem

This summer, I've spent much of my time writing poetry incorporating the educational setting. I've spoken from the view of a retired teacher, a pregnant teacher, a quiet student, and an aggressive student.

I've even spoken as myself.

But, I wanted to work with a collective group of educators. So, I asked all of my Facebook teacher friends and my wonderful Twitter PLN to write with me. I gave the skeleton for a poem (just a couple of the categories) and asked that the co-authors not touch my last stanza. Then, I opened it up as a GoogleDoc for all to edit and the following is the outcome.

Here's the deal. The life of an educator is not easy. There is SO much to consider. The poem below shows all of the pressures, all of the thoughts, and, finally, the one great joy, the one simple truth.

Thank you, fellow educators. Enjoy the poem!

All That Matters

by

David Theune, Eric Kipling, John Golden, Tracy Meinzer, Michelle Rynbrandt, Danna Yeager, Paul Henry, Amy Perry, Erica Beaton, Tammy Hagerz, Chris Norton, and many Anonymous Authors

All these categories:

Curriculum

Pedagogy

Assessment

Commencement

Instruction

Management

Administration

Special Education

At-Risk

Economically Disadvantaged

All these platforms:

Edmodo

Schoology

My Big Campus

Blackboard

Moodle

Kidblogs

All these buzz words:

Blended Learning

1:1 Technology

Virtual Learning Environment

Makerspaces

MOOCs

Flipped Class

Holistic Grading

Project-Based Learning

6+1 Rubrics

Cross Curricular Integration

Differentiation

The Whole Brain

Multiple Intelligences

Differentiation

Flexible Grouping

Formative Assessment

All these tests:

No Child Left Behind

AYP

ACT

SAT

Smarter Balanced

AP

IB

MEAP

MME

Explore

SRI

DRA

District

Formative

Summative

Interim

Benchmark

NJASK

All that’s measured:

Narrow abilities

Narrow knowledge

Socio-economic status

Parental participation

Multiple choice elimination

AYP

Student achievement

Teacher achievement

All that’s not measured:

Student thinking

Student learning

Creativity

Character

Student Motivation

Citizenship

Ownership

Engagement

Desire

Growth

Excitement

All these meetings:

Staff

Department

PLC

Professional Development

Conferences

School Improvement

Parent Teacher

IEPs

Evaluations

All these meetings:

Quietness and Thoughtfulness

Pencil and Clean Paper

Head and Heart

Evening and Morning

Idea and action

Inspiration, time and materials

All these resources:

Community

Technology

Books

Paper

Ink

Desks

Blogs

Pinterest

Twitter

teachers

experiences

heart

Corporate grants

Instructional Leaders/Coaches

parents/guardians

All these missing resources:

Technology

Books

Paper

Ink

Desks

Supplies

Updated spaces

empathy

Quality professional development

Continuous professional development

parents/guardians

time

time

time

administrative assistance

All these technologies:

iPads

Chromebooks

Macbooks

Twitter

Podcasts

Vodcasts

Screencasts

QR codes

Wikis

Social media

Smart Board

All this support:

Colleagues

Administrators

Parents

Community

Government

Literacy Coaches

PLNs

ISDs

All this missing support:

Colleagues

Administrators

Parents

Community

Government

ISDs

Parent involvement

Caring mayor and board of education members

All these teacher types:

Old School

New School

Open Minded

Non-traditional or New Age

My Way or the Highway

Do What You Love

Do What I Say

Sage on the Stage

Entertainer

Inclusive

Inspiring

Blame the Student

Complainers

Coach

All These Learners:

Loud and Boisterous

Quiet and Thoughtful

Reflective

Confused

Apathetic

English Language Learners

Right Brained

Left Brained

Premature at birth

Home Impaired

Advanced

Adult

Students who Learn Differently

Special Needs Students

English as Second Language Learners

All that's missing:

Student Choice

Student Voice

Time for passion

Time for collaboration

Time for lunch

Time for bathroom breaks

Capacity

Creativity

Celebration

Time for failure

TRUST

Passion

student/parent accountability

All These Hashtags:

#NWP

#teched

#MichEd

#edchat

#engchat

#edtechat

#ElevateTheProfession

#mathchat

#nerdybookclub

All that matters:

Human connection

Vulnerability

What is the number which makes something a trend? And what makes a trend a simple truth?

In all of my reading, writing, and--more importantly--experiences of this summer, I've learned that it is vulnerability which allows for personal growth.

Most recently, I've been reading Stephen King's On Writing. (It's part of my summer goal to read books on writing by writers; I NEED for my students to shift their identity from students to writers.) King writes, on page 127 (Link to Amazon), "I'm convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing." That's a bold, simple statement. The fear of knowing all the rules, the fear to share, the fear to reveal soul. There is just so much to fear when we write, but it appears, from King anyway, that overcoming the fear is the key to success.

King, by himself (no matter how powerful his voice), does NOT make a trend. I've also read Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird (Link to Amazon), though. And she's hitting on the same sentiment. On page 198-199, she writes this in regards to the author's voice:

"You can’t do this without discovering your own true voice, and you can’t find your true voice and peer behind the door and report honestly and clearly to us if your parents are reading over your shoulder. They are probably the ones who told you not to open that door in the first place. You can tell if they’re there because a small voice will say, 'Oh, whoops, don’t say that, that’s a secret,' or 'That’s a bad word,' or 'Don’t tell anyone you jack off. They’ll all start doing it.' So you have to breathe or pray or do therapy to send them away. Write as if your parents are dead.'"

So, there's another important writer suggesting that we must rid of our fear in order to write honestly, to write well. Lamott understands the power of vulnerability and she encourages it in others.

By participating in a month-long writing workshop called the Lake Michigan Writing Project (a branch of the National Writing Project), I was able to put these authors' thoughts to practice. Between blog posts, scribbled notes, and finished pieces, I played with vulnerability. I tried to reveal myself--even in the darkest places. It's there, in the darkness, where I grow. I wrote this poem about that very thing.

For the First Day

I grow in the dark

Unlike perfectly planted flowers.

No, I grow by discovering my cavernous self

By shining a light on monsters that hide within.

In the darkness, there IS truth

And school doesn’t really want you to know this.

We say–

“Here–let me tell you everything I know and you give it back to me.”

“Let’s do some meaningless worksheets.”

“Let’s do some note-taking where you find the definition around the boldface word.”

“Let’s do some work that doesn’t really matter, so you can sit with your friend in the hall and copy from each other.”

“Let me teach you, in EVERY class, about what the ACT expects, so we can keep our standard.”

“Let’s really DO nothing and pretend that it’s something great.”

But, that’s the light.

That’s the surface.

No growth there.

Just recycling,

Reusing.

The growth is in the darkness.

Over time, I’ve looked at my own darkness:

My children’s birth stories:

the ones that I know (three months premature for the twins–on the brink of death and life)

and the one I don’t know (where was Nia born? in a house? on a street? how DID her mother come to the decision of giving her up?)

My marriage disputes:

the ups and downs

the expectations and the falling short

the silent–

pauses–

which hold–

so–

much–

tension.

My weight:

the thing that frustrates me to NO end…

and I can’t see an end to this battle, so

every time I look in the mirror, I lose a little confidence, but I DO gain–

gain the knowledge that my life won’t be as long unless I do something about this.

And it’s in those dark corners

In those shadows

I grow

Because I share things that scare me.

Fear is my fertilizer.

And I need you, students–

To sit by my side

In the darkness

And grow.

Finally, the trend is complete thanks to my tribe of writers developed from the Lake Michigan Writing Project. It's not just King, Lamott, and me who believe in the power of vulnerability. When our group of seventeen decided on a t-shirt slogan to capture our month together, we went right to vulnerability, right to the quote we heard the most throughout the month: "I've never shared this with anyone..." We recognized that it was that fear of sharing things we never had before which allowed us to become so tight after just one month together.

Now, we have to get that vulnerability from our students. We have to show them that it is that vulnerability which will create more empathy, allowing all of us to be better writers. Ah, who am I kidding? If we can create more empathy, we won't just be better writers, we'll be better people. 

Birth of an Idea: Inspiration, Reflection, & Creation

I wrote this poem last week:

Recess

by, David Theune

The playground is the coliseum.

The weak are torn to shreds

and the bystanders,

those kids who walk the

“be normal” tightrope,

put their thumbs up or down.

It’s the witnesses, not the lions,

who decide the fate

of the jailed.

The jailed who live in a prison

of their own unique qualities--

in a prison of leaving self-love behind:

at their old school

or at Grandma’s house

or with their real parents

or in the pill bottle.

The jailed

wail and cry.

They plea to the witnesses

but no one can hear it over the

laughs or quick look-aways,

granting permission for the

lion to devour.

So, Jill, with acned face

and dead spirit is

just meat

for vultures

This, along with last week's blog titled "On Bullying, I Look in the Mirror First", has actually turned into something: an idea--A COMMUNITY BOOK CLUB. 

I notice, though, an idea doesn't just happen. For me, it's a three-step process.

First, inspiration. The idea for a community book club started by being inspired by someone else's art and creation. I watched the documentary Bully and read Emily Bazelon's recent non-fiction book titled Sticks and Stones. So, those pieces mixed with two student pieces of writing--one, a journal entry on a personal experience and another, a formal letter to Governor Snyder of Michigan to make legislative changes to bullying in schools--inspired me to act, to move forward.

Second, reflection. I had to look in the mirror first before offering up a discussion with anyone else. As I mentioned last week, I've played all three roles in bullying: the bully, the victim, and the witness. I just had to realize my own positions and places on the spectrum. I had to think on the topic myself before making any presentations to a greater audience.

Third, creation. With the help of my superintendent, Dennis Furton (and I'm sure what will be many others by the time this is all done), Spring Lake Public Schools is going to host a community book club starting mid-September and finishing up by mid-November--a two month book club. I've already had two meetings with Mr. Furton, but there are many more to come in the next month or two. We have a lot of decisions to make: how will we get the information out to our community? how do we connect the community without an abundance of time which could scare people away? how do we communicate the format to all involved? how do we aim for a big audience but make it feel small? how do we celebrate the discussions, but push for open dialogue to difficult thoughts? (By the way, if you have ideas on these questions, I'd be open to hear from you.)

We've already made some decisions about formatting and I'm excited by those: we hope to have a large community discussing the topic of bullying on a website dedicated to the topic and we plan to utilize an original hashtag through Twitter to hold weekly conversations.  That said, we hope to get more intimate than just digital conversations. We are looking to divvy up the big community of readers into "Eat with Eight" teams where each reader will be matched up with seven other folks for dinner after the reading is done. It's in these smaller groups where we hope community can really be built, where ideas for changes can be made.

Finally, we have a launch. (I already have to thank my friend and power teacher, Lindsey Boyle [@lindseycboyle] for the word usage here.) That's right--a LAUNCH--at the END of a book club because this idea cannot be the end of a discussion, but the launch of action.

And that's how an idea is born: inspiration, reflection, and creation.

On Bullying, I Look in the Mirror First

About three weeks ago, I watched the documentary, Bully (2011), and it hasn't left the front of my mind since. It actually moved me to action: my superintendent and I are now considering a community-wide book club to encourage conversation among all people--students, parents, staff, and the greater community.

I started looking for literature that was current (what referenced Facebook and other technologies as new frontiers for bullying?) and readable (would the book be too theoretical and lose a big audience?). I've found it in Slate Magazine's well-known author, Emily Bazelon's book titled Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Character and Empathy. (Purchase it here: Emily Bazelon's STICKS AND STONES)

Without getting into too many details, she lays out the book by understanding the history, definition, and theory of bullying. Then, she turns to highlighting important cases in bullying, following the stories of three teenagers who each have differences in their bullying stories: different socioeconomic backgrounds, different details within the case, and different results. Bazelon is quite amazing at pointing out the complexities of the issue. She asks important questions: how has Facebook and anonymous comments changed bullying? how can we decipher a two-sided fight from one-aggressor bullying? how do we change and get better?

All that said, before I can ask "we" questions in regards to a school population and greater community, I have been forced to look in the mirror.

I don't always like what I see.

In her book, Bazelon breaks down the act of bullying into three roles: the bully, the victim, and the witness. 

I've played all three roles. 

The Bully

I remember it vividly. In high school, I joined a group of boys in calling a girl "beautiful" in a mocking, sing-song tone. It makes me sick to admit it. This mockery went on long enough to call it bullying (Bazelon reports that the definition of bullying has to satisfy three criteria: verbal/physical abuse, repeated over time, and an imbalance of power). The group of boys (which included me for a short stint) decided it would be hilarious to make fun of someone's appearance and lack of self-confidence by throwing a seemingly-innocent barb her way every time she passed. 

The people who know me best, I think, would quickly come to my defense. They'd make me feel good about myself by reminding me that this kind of behavior was extremely rare for me, that I bullied much less than the average person, that I shouldn't worry about it. But that's the harm, isn't it--excusing our behavior without really understanding the full effects of it? I don't know how much those words, said so long ago, hurt her then--or hurt her now.

The Victim

I spent a good deal of time in the victim role. Primarily, this happened after my move from Iowa to Michigan in the middle of 3rd grade and it lasted through 8th grade. It happened at varying intervals.  I'd get a reprieve as the main culprits would switch victims based, seemingly, on whimsy. I couldn't identify the feelings then as well as I can now (embarrassment, shame, fear, self-disgust), but I remember many tearful nights. I'm thankful for my mother who sat at my bedside and talked through my days and my feelings and the potential results and the best ways to face the next day. 

I've linked in a "This I Believe" essay I wrote about the importance of self-love, but that self-love didn't just come out of nowhere--it was created from my parents.  

Self Love from the Husky Section

The Witness

The bulk of my time as an adolescent--and even now as an educator--is that of a witness. While reading Bazelon's book, I realize that the power of change belongs in the witnesses as 90% of bullying happens when others are around. Yet, as Bazelon writes, "...students...were allergic to snitching: they could see that when kids did report bullying, the situation often worsened for them."

This must have been how I felt because I saw bullying daily--repeated mocks and jeers--and said nothing. I suppose it was part of the school culture. I'm sure I excused my inaction by simply noticing how much it was happening and how little others talked to authority figures. The classic defense of "no one else was reporting it, why should I?" That is the definition of inaction.  Martin Luther King, Jr. poignantly stated during the battle for Civil Rights, "History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people." The same is true for the bullying problem. So, the questions is this: how do we get adolescents to see this before they turn thirty-six?

But, who am I kidding? Thirty-six-year-old people can't use this same advice? If honesty is to win out, I have to acknowledge witnessing bullying as a teacher. I stand by the fact that I report most of it, but I can think of journal entries I've let slide without investigating or handing over to my assistant principal. I've witnessed a hallway pushing which I assumed was mutual joking. But, what's the story I'm not passing along? Does that journal entry root in serious depression? Is that pushing an actual dominance struggle and I passed it off as a rare occurrence because I've only seen it once? I must pay better attention to my surroundings.

So, how do I deal with this? What do I take away? What do I do about it?

• The more I think and write and read on the topic, I believe the fix begins in the witnesses--by empowering them to stand up for what is right without retribution. 
• Before that, the power is really in keeping bullying in the conversation and in the forefront of our minds. This topic is valuable. It is deserving of a community book club.
• That said, the most important thing I can do (and should do as often as possible), is look in the mirror and see how I can be better to people.