Remembering Why…

"Capturing the moments, the stars..."

“Practice really listening to your [students]. Make eye contact. Hear between the lines. Do you really know what they are saying?”

from Konos Curriculum

I found this quote during the summer while preparing curriculum and lesson plans for the year.

Isn’t that a bit of a “duh” type of thing? I mused as I delightedly thought I was completely prepared for the year.

Months later, besieged by the amount of work yet to do and working with the limited material circumstances placed before me, I rediscovered the quote.

Am I listening to my students? My brain paused from it perpetual sprinting. Of course I am! Look at what I have to do and what’s not getting done and what I need and what I’m waiting on and how they’re still learning and we’re on schedule…

My focus began to shift back to the never ending to-do list, but the quote had cast a spell on me. A net sparkling with dew drops of what’s really important in life captured my attention.

“...really listening to your [students]…”

Be honest, self. Be cruelly honest. No excuses, self. See things as they really are. No shirking from the truth. You can always do better! Always improve! Now be honest. What about this? What is your consuming focus right now?

If you would happen to look out my window, you would see a wealth of evergreens dotted by a few brave deciduous trees almost complete in the colors of fall. Fallen leaves and pine needles scatter about, grasses are at their last peek of green – their healing from the heat of summer. Today the sky is blue, deeper than a baby blue, only a thin trail of clouds float across…October in Georgia, USA.

But what I see out my window is the quiet. The still.

Where is my focus? What is my focus?

How easy is it to become enveloped by the to-dos and the preparation and the planning. How quickly does my focus shift from being the teacher to being the planner. Am I the secretary of the boatload of students? Simply giving them their own to-do lists, material they need to accomplish those items, and saying, “Great! Now here’s the next thing to learn.”

Am I focused on holistic teaching?  

It covers more than topics and materials. More than lesson plans and curriculum.

Holistic teaching recognizes the individuality of the students sitting before you. It smiles at S’s methodical way of processing information which always includes a fountain of questions. It encourages H while she balances school, life, and illness. It becomes excited as K expresses her own excitement about the subject and the amazing improvement and her coming into her own. It praises J while he begins to learn a language and it attempts to pronounce the Mandarin he shares, “this is how you say…” It patiently listens to G as he shares everything he knows and tells M she can fix those detailed edits. It looks to makes connections with A and C, encouraging their individual writing styles and helping them showcase their humor in a structured format like writing. It patiently listens as each elementary student remembers the same person from their reading assignment, it looks the middle school students in the eyes and say “you can do better than this,” and it encourages those high schoolers struggling to balance their academics, work, and social life.

It looks for the soul of the child.

Where is my focus as a teacher?

I don’t know about you, but this fall I found myself consumed by the to-dos. My focus fastened on the “yet to dones.”

Refocus. Am I listening to my students? Do I see them. Am I seeing the whole student, not just the homework turned in and the “don’t lean back in your chair, please”?

About one month and a half remains in the semester. The year is almost gone. So fast! 

Refocus. The to-dos will be finished at some point. Life-important are the students in front of me. Am I listening to them?

Can I encourage you and, in the process, myself?

No matter what circumstances throw your way, whether you too are working week-by-week on lesson plans, or you are overwhelmed by tasks, or watch the to-do list growing faster than shrinking, or are focusing on one thing – getting to fall break, or are sorting through the responsibilities your employers hand to you, or are so busy you stopped writing everything down in your calendar, or balancing work and social life…no matter what…treasure the moments with your students. Listen to them.

Yes, education is important; it’s mind-growing and eye-opening.

But, oh, so much more so, is the soul of the child sitting before you watching your every move, hearing your every word.

Am I listening to my students?

  

And three years and I am learning why God let me teach.

Thanks for letting me learn along with you…

Ms. Schmidt