With 35 days left until the school year starts up, I am starting to slowly, and I mean SLOWLY, mentally transition back into life as an 8th grade math teacher, instead of just life as a single, dog loving, first time home owner who has no idea how to fix anything in her house. But that's a different story...
As I start thinking about my job and the whirlwind that is the month of August, I can't help but get excited. I really love my job. Isn't that insane? Can you imagine having a job where every morning that you wake up, you look forward to going to work? People ask me all the time, "Why did you become a teacher?" Generally, this question is either prefaced or followed by "You could have done anything" or "You would make so much more money if you had became a [insert any job other than teacher here]". I respond in a few ways.
1. Smile and nod. Because sometimes that's all you can do. And after a decade in pageants, I am fairly good at it.
2. Play them this TedTalk because it gives me goose bumps every time.
3. Ask them to read Kahlil Gibran's poem On Teaching in his book The Prophet.
The Prophet is full of all kinds of juicy nuggets of wisdom and inspiring quotes, but his views on teaching perfectly align with the reasons why I became a teacher.
"No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.
The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.
For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.
And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth."
- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Stop. Go back. Read it again. No, seriously. Read it again and let it fill your soul with inspiration. A few things that stand out to me:
"No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of our knowledge.
How brilliant is this? I so wholeheartedly believe that I am not the sole source of knowledge in the classroom. I don't give knowledge to my students. I don't just simply spew facts at them as they mindlessly receive it. I allow them to discover the knowledge and intelligence that is ALREADY inside of them. No set of standards or curriculum can change that.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
The word love stands out to me here. You have to love children to be a teacher. You have to love them in all their forms, including the horrific 45 minute period after lunch as well as every period on a Friday or before a long break. If you give students love, you give them an invitation to learn. You allow them the safety and security to experience the act of learning, which can be an incredibly vulnerable state of being, especially for English Language Learners.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.
Goosebumps.
The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.
Children learn by doing. They learn by EXPERIENCING. This is what I hope this blog can be about. How do we allow children to experience mathematics?
The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.
And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.
I am not a content deliverer. I became a teacher to inspire. To inspire students to WANT to learn more. To want to come thither.
For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.
And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth."
- Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Only 35 days left of summer? How about a mind set shift... Only 35 days until I get the opportunity to go back to one of the most HONORED and IMPORTANT profession in our society. How lucky I am!
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