No Shortcus to Being the Best
I shouldn't go too long without blogging because when I finally get back around to it, I'm so cluttered with all the things that I haven't said that my words come out as jumbled as my thoughts.
I appreciate those friends that even though I have not seen them in ages or spoken to them frequently, it's still like we are able to pick up where we left off without the awkwardness of wondering what I should and should not say. I'm going to try that with you all. Some pretty big things happened this summer but it wasn't as fun as I hoped. I made more money than I have before. Got to connect with students in a powerful way. JudahLYFE appeared as a guest on Bobby Jones Gospel, which is a show that is televised nationally. I started my first full-time job with benefits. Sound amazing huh? I say it wasn't the best because I didn't enjoy it like I hoped. Have you ever had some of the best times in your life take place in some of the most rockiest of circumstances? That's what happened on my end, but life goes on.
I know for a fact that society takes educators for granted. The life of an educator is a phenomenon too wonderful for those in the private sector to really understand. Having been a classroom teacher for close to two years and a person that served in the capacity as an educator for over 5, I want to bust a gat in the person that said "Those who can do, those who can't teach."
Speaking for myself, it's not an easy taks to take what would otherwise be complex concepts and make them understandable to an audience in a way that is meaningful for each individual is not something even the most well intentioned person can do. To do this in a one on one setting, ok. But to be responsible of a classroom of 25 different values, beliefs, attention spans, experiences, shifting moods, motivations is no easy task. Multiply that by 5 because that is exactly how many classes on average a teacher is performing for.
I'm three weeks into this whole full-time professor thing. As much as I like the challenge of what I do, it's been a stretch. The performance (teaching in the classroom) and administration of the performance (following protocol, preparing lessons, grading, assessment) have me wondering if I lost my mind. Maybe it's just what happens in the beginning of the semester. So far I have managed not to walk into the wrong class and teach the wrong lesson. I have 150 students and after two classes they all have started to look the same. Every girl looks like a Katie, every guy looks like a Mohammad, or a Chris. I can't tell one day from another but I'll get it together.
I know what I'm complaining about could be considered trivial but honestly I'm feeling the pressure. The pressure of making up for where secondary education has failed. I have so many 20 or 30 somethings that are border line illiterate. Read their papers and you'd agree. The pressure to take a student that could give a damn about what I have to say and make him care for reasons beyond the fact that it will be on a test. To instruct a student that I would have never crossed paths with outside of the fact that God put this student in my class so I could be the first to challenge he or she that certain behavior is not acceptable when you are dealing with me. I'm burdened by the fact that I could very well be the one that saves this kid from dropping out or saves this kid from loosing money all because no one ever told him that this is the way things work. What darn near crushes me is that I work within a system that is not set up to do what it professes to do and in essence works the exact opposite. I'm feeling the pressure but that doesn't exempt me from doing my best. The pull doesn't qualify me or give me a pass to even quit, even for a moment. Lord strengthen my hands so I can bear it. I'm under that weight right now.
Sure I could say eff it, my way or the highway but that wouldn't be reasonable to treat someone that way that does not know that they do not know. That kind of ignorance is deadly. So here's to a year of great challenges but even greater victories that outweigh the trivialness of the challenge. I said my goal this school year is to be the best instructor I can and there are no shortcuts to becoming the best.
I appreciate those friends that even though I have not seen them in ages or spoken to them frequently, it's still like we are able to pick up where we left off without the awkwardness of wondering what I should and should not say. I'm going to try that with you all. Some pretty big things happened this summer but it wasn't as fun as I hoped. I made more money than I have before. Got to connect with students in a powerful way. JudahLYFE appeared as a guest on Bobby Jones Gospel, which is a show that is televised nationally. I started my first full-time job with benefits. Sound amazing huh? I say it wasn't the best because I didn't enjoy it like I hoped. Have you ever had some of the best times in your life take place in some of the most rockiest of circumstances? That's what happened on my end, but life goes on.
I know for a fact that society takes educators for granted. The life of an educator is a phenomenon too wonderful for those in the private sector to really understand. Having been a classroom teacher for close to two years and a person that served in the capacity as an educator for over 5, I want to bust a gat in the person that said "Those who can do, those who can't teach."
Speaking for myself, it's not an easy taks to take what would otherwise be complex concepts and make them understandable to an audience in a way that is meaningful for each individual is not something even the most well intentioned person can do. To do this in a one on one setting, ok. But to be responsible of a classroom of 25 different values, beliefs, attention spans, experiences, shifting moods, motivations is no easy task. Multiply that by 5 because that is exactly how many classes on average a teacher is performing for.
I'm three weeks into this whole full-time professor thing. As much as I like the challenge of what I do, it's been a stretch. The performance (teaching in the classroom) and administration of the performance (following protocol, preparing lessons, grading, assessment) have me wondering if I lost my mind. Maybe it's just what happens in the beginning of the semester. So far I have managed not to walk into the wrong class and teach the wrong lesson. I have 150 students and after two classes they all have started to look the same. Every girl looks like a Katie, every guy looks like a Mohammad, or a Chris. I can't tell one day from another but I'll get it together.
I know what I'm complaining about could be considered trivial but honestly I'm feeling the pressure. The pressure of making up for where secondary education has failed. I have so many 20 or 30 somethings that are border line illiterate. Read their papers and you'd agree. The pressure to take a student that could give a damn about what I have to say and make him care for reasons beyond the fact that it will be on a test. To instruct a student that I would have never crossed paths with outside of the fact that God put this student in my class so I could be the first to challenge he or she that certain behavior is not acceptable when you are dealing with me. I'm burdened by the fact that I could very well be the one that saves this kid from dropping out or saves this kid from loosing money all because no one ever told him that this is the way things work. What darn near crushes me is that I work within a system that is not set up to do what it professes to do and in essence works the exact opposite. I'm feeling the pressure but that doesn't exempt me from doing my best. The pull doesn't qualify me or give me a pass to even quit, even for a moment. Lord strengthen my hands so I can bear it. I'm under that weight right now.
Sure I could say eff it, my way or the highway but that wouldn't be reasonable to treat someone that way that does not know that they do not know. That kind of ignorance is deadly. So here's to a year of great challenges but even greater victories that outweigh the trivialness of the challenge. I said my goal this school year is to be the best instructor I can and there are no shortcuts to becoming the best.
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