When the news and reality just don't match up

I had a great day on Friday. There are a lot of integers I use to judge whether or not my day was great, not the least of which is the weather, what time my kids wake up, what I eat for lunch, etc. But there is one factor that almost always results in a great day: going to visit a school.

Now that I'm away from a school for the first time in my career, I cannot describe how much I miss the energy and intensity of a school setting. I realize it is this very same energy drain that led to some serious exhaustion and tension at times, but the "buzz" from a day of teaching is hard to replace in any other job. Do I sound sad and lonely?

So on Friday I went to have lunch with the teachers at Patrick Henry High School here in north Minneapolis. If you read the local papers, and I do, it is hard to pass a single day without reading some disparaging, depressing story about the state of our schools, especially on the north side. Wide achievement gaps, closing schools, tumbling enrollment, and a host of other very real problems are splashed across the headlines all the time. I had never been to Henry myself, so I had no idea what to expect. "North Minneapolis" has become so deeply encoded for our educational, racial, and socio-economical issues, that walking into the school as a visitor I could have expected anything from Alcatraz to complete chaos.

In fact, I found nothing of the sort. In fact, I found just the opposite.

I was invited to come to Henry to talk about my project during the staff's professional development lunches in their professional development room full of professional development resources. It was fantastic. Between lunches I went on a tour of the school where I saw students who drop everything for 20 minutes a day, as a whole school, and read self-selected literature. Students said hello to teachers. Teachers said hello to students. There was no graffiti, no yelling. No chaos. This was a school that was vibrant and alive and working.

I left the school not depressed about the "State of Education" or the "Achievement Gap." Instead, I left reminded of the critical truth that media stories about teachers, administrators, and students aren't words about some theoretical body of people. Rather, these are professionals and students working hard to combat the very ills that we read about. I didn't leave feeling all that sorry for anyone but myself. I didn't rush out to my car, but instead walked slowly away, the wonderful din of public education ringing in my ears.

Letting go of a pronoun

I'd like to officially request a Reasonable Suspension of Pronoun Ownership. Since I'm not in the classroom teaching right now, I struggle to let go of "we" and transition to "you." In other words, when referring to teaching, students, and schools, I still feel utterly compelled to use "we," which includes me in the mix. When I say "you" to a group of teachers I feel horribly removed and detached from the realities of teaching. Since I still scan the high school sports scores first, salivate at my old lunch bell (11:23), respond seasonally to the weather shifts, and feel awkward in a tie, I'm going to hang onto the "we" as long as possible.

So from here forward, "we" is code for "teachers," unless otherwise noted.

I'd like to also add a new feature to this blog, which I'll call UGH! This stands for Unsolicited Grammar Help. I've taken my writing soap box global and virtual baby!

So here's UGH! #1:

Commas and periods always go inside quotation marks. Always. Forever.

Example:
I like the word "tacos". That's bad. That's wrong. Really wrong. Always.

I like the word "tacos." That's right. Really right. Always.

When I watch "LOST", my heart races. That's wrong. Always. Wrong.

When I watch "LOST," my heart races. That's right. Always.



Okay, I'm out. Have a great weekend. Sleep, eat, be merry. See you Monday.

Nate

What do I mean by "healthy"?

I'm going to reserve the first few posts for providing a general sense of where my thinking is about teaching and teachers. My brain is like a caffeinated bee in a jar, so I hope I can get my thoughts out in a "few posts." At the very least, I want to establish a general premise of what leads my thinking and efforts toward improving the lives of educators (and adults in general I might add).

While I certainly do want to encourage all of us to be healthy - I've heard that eating well and exercising are good for you - I also want to cast a wider net over what healthy might look like for people involved with youth and schools.

Ultimately, I think we need to re-think our sense of mission and responsibility. If we're dedicated to successful youth and we let that be the singular controlling factor in all that we do, we leave ourselves highly vulnerable to some serious burnout. Anyone ever stayed at school until 10:30, grabbed a few hours of sleep, got up at 6:00 to grade, and then show up at school exhausted, grumpy, and bitter? And that leads to successful youth how?

So a lot of my work revolves around a fuller sense of the responsibilities that we really have. We are responsible to ourselves, our colleagues, our students, our friends, our family, and our mission. In much more equal measure than we might lend credence.

So that's the "Healthy Teacher" towards which I strive. Chiseled abs would be nice, but it's not exactly what I'm talking about.

Welcome to the Healthy Teacher

So here we are.

I've created this blog for two primary reasons (and with two different personal perspectives). One element of this blog is personal. After teaching and coaching for 12 years (high school English), I still identify myself as a teacher in my thinking and my life in general.

Professionally, I'm on a leave of absence from teaching and now working at Search Institute, a Minneapolis based non-profit that does youth development work. My official title is "Education Liaison," which means that if we're doing work with, for, or around schools I try to involve myself.

Specifically, I'm developing a new branch of thinking for Search. Since almost all efforts being made in the name of supporting youth usually use schools as conduits, I came to Search asking what they were doing specifically for teachers. One of our best selling books is titled Great Places to Learn. I asked the question: What are we doing to make sure that we create great places to TEACH?

Search agreed that seeking an answer to this question was worthy of our time and efforts. And thus my project was born. I now spend my days researching teaching and teachers, talking with educators, reading, following stories about education in the media, and generally getting my head around the issues and policies that affect teachers and their job/life satisfaction.

On this blog I'll share stories from my work, current research, glimpses of what I'm developing, links to stories about education, and general musings. I hope you find this site informative, perhaps humorous, maybe inspiring, and at the very least - current. Selfishly, I look forward to gathering stories and input from you. Whether you're a teacher or someone involved with schools, the more I know, the better.

With that in mind, I encourage you to read this story about this year's Teacher of the Year winner. Those are some lucky students!