Less than a couple of months ago, we were in "red carpet season" as pop culture refers to the various events that recognize musicians, actors, writers, and other celebrities. I am intrigued by our country's fascination (and idolization) of celebrities as we watch them dress up to find out if they are recognized as being the best in that category for the year. I am 100% guilty of being caught up in the fascination especially when it comes to sports.
The talk leading up to and surrounding the night of the Oscar's is similar to the Super Bowl. As I was living in the moment of red carpet season, I thought about my own red carpet that never gets rolled out. Educators live for May but it does not always have to do with an approaching vacation. We really are not that different than the people who dress up, borrow jewelry, and make costume changes as they await and hope their name is called to accept a gold statue. Education involves casting (children), screen plays (lesson plans), producers (administration) and director (teacher), and set location (the classroom). Although, our production looks differently we are as proud of it as the people who hope their name is hidden in the envelope awaiting to be opened.
This award season while everyone was awaiting to hear who was the "best", I was amazed at how the media plays to our backwards values. The only publicity that educators are getting in my home state is condescending with a side dish of negativity. Educators are humble. We do things on a daily basis, not for fame or glory, but because it is in the best interest of a child or group of children. While no one is rolling out the red carpet for us, let me tell you about the production I have been working on for the past nine months that is very similar to the ones in classrooms across the state and nation.
Nine months ago...
Casting: I was handed a cast of characters that varied in their background experiences, personal difficulties, and learning needs. Some children knew all the letters in the alphabet while others recognized none. For the past nine months, I have found ways to engage the varying degrees of learners in my room. They all know their letters, both upper and lowercase, know their letter sounds, and most of them recognize quite a few sight words. This has all occurred while they learned to love reading and books. My non-independent beginning of the year children can now maintain independence that varies from 15 - 30 minutes. They absolutely love books! They walk to the book case with their books open despite the number of times I have talked about closing them, because they cannot put books down. They will choose books, both boys and girls, over playing with legos or on the computer.
As I begun my end of the year reading assessments, I have to remind myself of the little things that are not going to appear on any assessment that I give. Those assessments just do not indicate the amount of growth that a teacher gets to celebrate this time of year. Of course, I want them all to be exactly where they need to be. Sometimes, the hardest part of this job has nothing to do with the paperwork or the people but the amount of pressure I (we) put on ourselves. It is so easy to forget the growth that the little minds experience in nine months. It is crazy to think that these varying degree of cast members I was handed in August would suddenly be all in the same place in May.
Movie directors get to choose their cast. Educators are handed theirs. While movie directors get to recast if they encounter difficulties along the way, educators get to figure out how to manage the difficulties. May is bittersweet. You fall in love with your cast and get to know them so well that it is hard to say goodbye and let them move onto their next production. One of the hardest parts of saying goodbye to a cast is knowing that you might not get to see the benefit of your work. Some cast members have their breakout role in someone else's production.
Screen Play: This is my ninth year of teaching. I still write lesson plans religiously. I do not use prior year's plans and rarely refer to them. I honor the children in my classroom each year when I think about the curriculum I have, the standards which I am expected to teach, and the needs of my students. I write my screen play as I am directing. I know very little about Hollywood but I doubt that occurs there. I am really good at adapting my lesson plans for things that happen in the moment. There is not a pause button and we do not get retakes.
Set: My classroom is our set. There's the fact that educators spend too much of their own time setting up and organizing their classrooms but you may not always hear about the amount of set changes that go on during a screen play. In kindergarten, set changes occur with every lesson or content area (possibly every 10 - 20 minutes at the beginning of the year and 15 - 30 at the end of the year). This is one of the areas where kindergarten teachers probably do not get enough credit. I am positive that set changes do not occur while the actors are working and the director is directing or while the actors need direction.
Director: I make an intense amount of decisions in a day. In the moment, you do not have time to second guess yourself or analyze mistakes that you made in a lesson or day. We are critical of ourselves and our practice. I am 100% for new ideas, trying new things, and someone giving me feedback on lessons. I am not a fan of people outside of my profession critiquing this career and making decisions that impact my classroom.
I think sometimes people forget we are human. We make mistakes. I have never proclaimed to be perfect and I do not know an educator that has. We have lives outside the classroom and our own families. We love the children in our classroom. We do not get second, third, fourth takes. We are live all the time. So while the directors who win the Academy Award get to perfect their scene, educators are live.
Producer: I have a boss, my principal, and bigger bosses in my district's administration but the producer who is affecting my production these days is my state's superintendent of education. If you want to read more on my perspective of our state's superintendent of education: read here.
I have never been to Hollywood and have no experience with their professional careers. I am slightly jealous of the amount of attention they receive.. I worry about a society that cares more about people dressing up to walk the red carpet than what is going on in classrooms. This career is hard work. There are a million things that I did not learn in college to prepare me for the reality of teaching and dealing with the immense pressure that educators now face.
I am reminded daily of why this career is better than others. I am not working for an academy award. My perspective is that this job is about relationships. The educators that I remember and that impacted my journey were ones that challenged me. They knew me well enough to know my best and expect it from me.
So while the media and society is not rolling out the red carpet, there are eighteen reasons why I choose this profession. For me, this job is all about relationships. The biggest amount of student growth, academically and emotionally, occurs within these relationships. I will never win an academy award or even be nominated but there are moments that define us in whatever career it is we choose. When a child responds with "my favorite part of the day was spending time with you" when you are sharing your highlights of the day during closing meeting, hugs and hellos in the hallways from children or a child remembering something from our time together four or five years later. A couple of weeks ago, we were going to visit a first grade classroom for a student play. Naturally, the children began to talk about going to first grade next year (which is not so far away). One of my little boys said "well I already know who my first grade teacher is going to be" and when I asked him who, he responded with "you". While directors, producers, and actors might argue that an academy award is the defining moment of your career, I would say otherwise. When a child and family would entrust you for another go around. That's a defining moment of a career.
"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." -Theodore Roosevelt
Educators
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