I just tried to answer the questions that were posed by John Spencer in his PowerPoint about burnout. Give it a try.
PROTAGONIST
Philosophical: What do you believe about humanity and how is it reflected in your teaching experience? I believe that each person has great value, can learn, and can teach us something. I try to listen, encourage, push, motivate, and lead students to learning.
Personal: Who are you and how does your job fit your identity? I am a reader and writer who loves history and is not as keen on science and math. I wish I could focus on the literacy and social studies side of things. I love to plan units!
Practical: Create a job description for yourself and give yourself permission to avoid things outside of it.
- Encourage a classroom of readers, writers, and thinkers.
- Plan lessons that teach what’s important and encourage students to think deeply and apply lessons to their lives.
- Don’t be afraid to deviate from lessons!
- Assess only what is necessary to understand student learning.
- Laugh often.
MAJOR CHARACTERS
Philosophical: What makes a community valuable? What is destroying it? A community is valuable when it is encouraging, positive, and wanting to grow. It is destroyed by gossip, back-biting, and a sense of having “arrived.”
Personal: Are you finding a place to connect with others? There are a number of teachers who share my philosophy. We work hard to move forward together and stay positive.
Practical: Begin developing a personal learning network. Twitter has been a great addition to my PLN. I want to follow it and contribute more to it this year. Also, I need to get back to Friday breakfast book studies with willing teachers.
ANTAGONISTS / CONFLICT
Philosophical: Who are the enemies? Are they people or are they ideas, beliefs or attitudes? (i.e. humility vs. pride) My pride is always an enemy, and, unfortunately it’s linked to my insecurity. I get frustrated by teachers/admin who would rather do textbook driven teaching when we have the chance to do so much more!
Personal: How do you handle conflict? Are you passive-agressive, conflict-avoiding, etc.? I tend to be conflict-avoiding which means that I would like someone else get everyone on board.
Practical: A gratitude journal (cheesy, I know, but it worked for me). I was just talking about this the other day with a fellow-teacher. I’ll start off with: I’m thankful that our new director is upfront and not manipulating things behind the scenes.
SETTING
Philosophical: How does the concept of place and time shape how you teach? I’m not sure I understand this question. Any help out there??
Personal: Does your context fit your identity? Are you in the right environment? Are you day-dreaming of another place? I do prefer an environment where professional development is prized by the teachers and is high quality. It seems that is not always the case where I am. In other words, I want to be part of a community where we are teacher-learners. I do love the fact that we have much freedom to teach as suits our class and our style. I loved my last school in Quito, Ecuador. It prized collaboration and growth.
Practical: If it’s a toxic place, find an alternative space or leave. I will be leaving after another year, but not because this place is toxic, simply because it’s time for Mike and I to make a change. I would like to teach in a school where teachers prize learning and growing together, where reading and writing workshop are the norm, and where discovery and inquiry are important in deed and not just in word.
THEME
Philosophical: What is the point in being a teacher? Although progress often seems at a snail’s pace, I’d like to be a part of positive life changes in my student’s lives. Non reader to reader. Non-thinker to thinker. Disorganized writer to organized writer. Etc. I think true change in a culture happens person by person. Teaching students to care about others and carefully choose their heroes is important work. However, most of all I’d like to do no harm. I don’t EVER want to be the example that students trot out of the teacher who humiliated them out of wanting to read/write/etc.
Personal: How does your own belief system help you make sense out of your teaching journey? As a Christian, grace is the foundation of my belief system. The grace I receive enables me to give grace to the students and to myself.
Practical: Create a philosophy of education in an alternative format (not a bulleted list), begin reflecting (blogging, for example) I’m working on an updated philosophy of teaching. The last time I wrote it down was about 6 years ago and I know it’s evolved since then.
PLOT
Philosophical: What actions make for a good story? What lies can you avoid that often spur actions? (shame, perfectionism) I need to remember to play to my strengths: storytelling, big ideas, reading, and writing. I’m also passionate. I do tend to be shamed by those teacher books and teacher movies that have the teacher totally changing lives. Teach Like Your Hair’s On Fire is the last book that hit me on the chin.
Personal: Are your actions a reflection of what you believe or are they meant to please others? There are moments when I think about teaching to the test, but those are mere moments. Other than that my actions reflect what I believe.
Practical: Make a time assessment and ask whether it fits the story you want to live. I spend too much time grading (those infernal math journals) and too little time planning big idea units. I do have to remember to take time for myself (although I DO make sure I get plenty of time to read).