Teaching Thoughts for Week 23

Last week I had two amazing guest speakers talk to my first block College Comp II class. I asked them to come in and share how they arrived at their very successful positions out in “the real world.”

Both shared amazing takeaways for my students, many of whom feel like they have to know exactly what they’re going to be for the rest of their lives right now. 

That is ridiculous because most of us, I’m willing to venture, didn’t intend to be where we are right now when we were 17 years old. Life has a way of just happening. And so does a career (or careers).

How do you go about alleviating the fears of your students? Maybe it’s alleviating their fear about the weeks of high stakes testing that will soon be coming their way at the elementary school level? Or maybe it’s alleviating their fears about leaving middle school and transitioning to high school? Or maybe it’s alleviating their fears about falling behind and not being on track to graduate at the high school level? How do you work to inspire your kids to do what they don’t think they can? I’d love to learn from you. Please share.

One more thing before I delve into what’s inside the teaching thoughts for this week. It’s something I came across in a book I was reading at adoration last night. It’s called “Seeming Rather Than Being.” The author of the book got this in the form of an email that a principal of a high school sent all of his students:

   A Latin phrase that was shared with me once has always stayed in the back of my mind: esse quam videri, which translates into “to be rather than to seem to be.”

   Let’s acknowledge the fact that all of us are tired of people who try to be something they aren’t.

   I hope, in life, each of our children will work to be something they are rather than settle for seeming to be something they, in fact, are not.

   While on the subject of seeming, social media platforms seem like such a waste of time to me. When our youth expose themselves to too great a degree to habits like these social platforms, they risk seeming rather than being. They are trying to present themselves as they wish to be (and wish to be seen) and in doing so are belittling some measure of their own identity and essence, or who in fact they are. The impact on self-esteem that flows from this one sentence is disastrous.

   On social media, our egos tempt us to present ourselves how we would like others to see us, rather than as we really are, and by constantly exposing ourselves to other people’s mundane thoughts, we are unlikely to come up with original thoughts of our own develop a true sense of self.

   One of my greatest hopes is that we will allow (and teach) our children to be comfortable and confident rather than succumbing to seeming as they embark on whatever journey is ahead of them.

   Life is too short to waste time on social platforms. Life is too meaningful to worry about seeming when our children can and should using that time being.

I challenge you to do this: look at a social media feed of your choice: Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, or whatever. You can examine your feed or someone else’s. Just answer this honestly: how authentic are you/they being in what you present to all of your followers?

Inside this week’s Teaching Thoughts, you’ll find . . .

Book review – Teach Like a Champion 2.0 by Doug Lemov. Ever since Mr. Zutz gave me this book several years ago, I’ve read it a few chapters at time as it’s a dense dive into teaching strategies and methods, but they are worth it. It’s a great read and well worth the time.

Podcast of the week – This week I look at Tim Elmore’s podcast Leading the Next Generation and the episode, “Three Facts You Need to Know to Connect with Generation Z.” Here are the three facts to keep in mind when dealing with kids today: First, Gen Z seeks to break with the current generation (Millennials). Second, Gen Z seeks to connect with two generations older (Gen X). Third, Gen Z will replace the generation that is three times older than theme (the Silent Generation).

Thoughts from Twitter – This one comes from one of my favorite people in education: Danny Steele, “I’ll never forget my Uber ride with Shanta. I asked for advice on what to tell teachers. She said, “They have to enter the kids’ world. They have to relate to them.” She said not everyone has had a mother or a father in their life . . . but everyone has had a teacher they remember.” That perfectly illustrates one of our core values: our work matters. 

Where are They Now? I catch up with Dane Kjono whom I used to have before I ever taught College Comp I and II. He is now impacting the lives of his students and players in East Grand Forks. Go Greenwave!

Finally, the free resources for this week – Coach Mumm and I devised ten lesson plans guaranteed to build culture in your classroom. They aren’t specific to phy-ed or English either. Give them a try. Our students love them. I bet yours will too.

Have a great week! Embedded below are the Teaching Thoughts resources for week 23.