scattered reflections before I start my year
also, ... for Caroline... I'm writing!! I'm writing!! :0)
School begins tomorrow. Classes begin at 7:30a.m., to be precise. And I have never been more excited and fearful in my life. The advantage I have is that I have been a freshman in high school before. None of my students have been in high school yet - I can guarantee that they are every bit as nervous as I am. That works in my favor, because I can set a tone that ensures they view me as the authority figure and as someone they can trust. I've sat in their desks before. I can remember what it felt like and how I looked at my teachers. I can remember wanting someone to lift the fog and promise me that I would be okay - that I would be alright walking the halls of a massive building, and seeing fellow students who had beards! Beards! Facial hair!! As a freshman, I wanted my teachers to let me know what I had to do to succeed, to be valued, and to be accepted. I know my students will want the same. Oh, and I wanted to be cool. But I was scared, and didn't want any adult to know it. They probably feel the same.
I just can't show my nerves. My students need to be the nervous ones. Not me. I have to be solid, firm, and calm. I want to be a consistently stable and organized figure in their lives, because, based on the slice of things I have seen already in my school district, chaos and confusion run rampant through this bureaucracy. It is so difficult to get a straight answer or a clean, understandable set of directions. No wonder students are not motivated. It must be exhausting to try to navigate a veritable thicket of standards, Title I regulations, school boundaries, opt-in, opt-out paperwork, coursework requirements, etc. None of it is systematic or predictable. For some reason, computer systems are not in place to make all of this automatic. Students in this system are not able to be advocates for themselves. However, I will structure my classroom so that there are no questions about how to be empowered, in control of one's learning (and grade), and, hence, how to be successful.
Wow. Who the hell am I writing this entry for?? Probably for myself. I'm writing out a pep talk to myself! Wow. Well, hope you enjoyed reading it nonetheless.
Here's a couple more snippets about how things are here:
- I'm the new conditioning coach for girls' basketball! Strength training! Feel the burn! I am amped about this job!! I bought a poster to hang in the girls' weight room that says "Remember to tell them you were beat by a girl."
- I'm teaching three English I classes, the largest of which will be 35 students (the legal maximum). The smallest, for the moment, is 9. That'll change. There's only two of us teaching English I, so I can't see how I'd be able to have a class that small.
- There were some ridiculous amount of fire drills last year, courtesy of pranksters pulling the alarms. So, they've removed all the alarm pulls except for the ones in view of the security cameras. Come to think of it, I don't even know where to lead my kids during the drill. Hmm...
- Tomorrow morning should be interesting - mandatory metal detector checks at the front doors for all students. That will hold things up so much. I'll probably end up with my homeroom kids for a while tomorrow, and the next day. I've heard stories about other TFA teachers spending in excess of 6 hours with their homeroom kids for multiple days during the first week.
- My students will be instructed to embody these 4 characteristics: Professional, Supportive, Confident, and Accurate. Accurate deals with honesty and clear-sightedness about how much work we need to do. I won't be shy about letting my students know what grade level they are reading at and how much work has to be done. Call a spade a spade, yes?
Always more to write, but hard to put it all in context. The big picture is so BIG. So hard to recreate for someone not here to see it and feel it. But I will continue to try...
Here's to the kids. They deserve better.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Fear Will Not Be My Style
dread is so stupid
My brother just graduated from high school, and all the festivities surrounding his graduation reminded me of my own, four years earlier. I remember becoming so fatigued after answering the questions “Where are you going for college?” and “What do you plan to study?” for the ten-thousandth time. I just wanted to put a sign around my neck, reading “CU,
Recently, I’ve been facing a ton of the same kind of questions, although this time, the stakes are visibly higher, and I see the worry in people’s eyes (the kindly concern for a college graduate, with a Communication degree, venturing into an anemic labor market and softening economy). “Congratulations! What are you going to do now?” I’m going to get my teach on. Watch out. And get the hell out of my way.
(oh, and I can’t believe how many people have never even heard of TFA – what a shame! But people sure do know the movie Dangerous Minds.)
My friend, Darren, will also be a Teach For America corps member. He has been assigned physics in
His answer was brilliant. His mindset is precisely what will allow him to succeed despite the shadows. Darren writes:
“People want to know if I’m scared of moving to a new place where I don’t know anyone, scared of living in a dangerous – or black – community, or scared of facing a classroom of kids who don’t care. Sure I’m scared. Do you have any idea how many names I’m going to have to learn!? It’s terrifying. Usually that response temporarily fends off the question with a short laugh, but what people really want to know is if I’m scared for my safety… I’m well aware that I will likely be teaching, and perhaps living, in a dodgy neighborhood. The fact is, how can I allow myself to be scared when I know that my students have grown up there? If a child can grow up in such a hazardous environment, I refuse to be scared as a grown adult.”
Darren obviously has a kindred spirit in President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who said “This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper… The only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” Something is only as scary as you allow it to be. Fear only has as much power over you as you permit. Replace fear with a more productive emotion – like alertness, curiosity, empathy, humility. Those emotions lead you to do something, to take action. Fear only leads you to fear more. And things get scarier and scarier when you don’t take action – it’s like a paralysis.
I don’t want to give the wrong impression here – it is dangerous and senseless to remain naïve, and the situations I will face next year will be anything but rosy. I don’t advocate blind optimism or foolish risk-taking. What I advocate is not being overly-dramatic about the hunger, violence, and desperation I might see. There will be all of those things, to be sure. I can be plain about that. But there will also be celebration, humor, happy coincidence, rebirth, and kindness – if I expect to see it, I will find it. If I find it, I can propagate it.
Human beings are quite resilient, even moreso if we openly acknowledge our resiliency and tap into it consciously. I refuse to be brought down by my circumstances, and I refuse to allow my students to slip away into the excuse of systematic oppression. The system oppresses, absolutely. And there are ways out of it. Sometimes we don’t need fancy analysis of a situation, since that can sound like excuse-making and, more often, can lead to inertness (due to the overwhelming feeling of powerlessness). We just need to see the crappiness, see how bad it sucks, and say, “Well, onward anyway. We’ll get through it. We make the path by walking.”
Don’t dwell and don’t dread. Stay in the moment, because fear cannot exist in the moment.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
I'm Back!!
and I'm armed with some facts & figures
It's been a long, long time since I've blogged anything. I don't know any single reason for my absence, except to say that I've thought a lot about writing some entries, but then I go and talk over my ideas with friends and family instead of write about them. The act of talking seems to satiate my need to express myself, so I never get around to coming back and laying it all out in a blog post for others to read.
Well, now the time is upon me. I will be leaving Colorado in just 15 days. This has made me realize that I need to start updating this blog more regularly. I want this to be a mechanism to stay in touch with everyone back home and around the country... and maybe grow into a screenplay someday. (Just kidding!) Though I'd love to, I can't have regular conversations with everyone. This is my attempt to give everyone a peek into my life in Memphis.
To start, let's go over the basics:
It's been a long, long time since I've blogged anything. I don't know any single reason for my absence, except to say that I've thought a lot about writing some entries, but then I go and talk over my ideas with friends and family instead of write about them. The act of talking seems to satiate my need to express myself, so I never get around to coming back and laying it all out in a blog post for others to read.
Well, now the time is upon me. I will be leaving Colorado in just 15 days. This has made me realize that I need to start updating this blog more regularly. I want this to be a mechanism to stay in touch with everyone back home and around the country... and maybe grow into a screenplay someday. (Just kidding!) Though I'd love to, I can't have regular conversations with everyone. This is my attempt to give everyone a peek into my life in Memphis.
To start, let's go over the basics:
Some demographic and economic facts about
30.5% white (compared to 73.9% nationwide)
63.5% black (compared to 12.4% nationwide)
very small Hispanic/Latino presence (only about 4.7%, as compared to 14.8%
nationwide)
18.8% of families are below the poverty level (compared to 9.8% nationwide)
23.5% of individuals are below the poverty level (compared to 13.3% nationwide)
median family income is $37,676 (compared to $58,526 nationwide)
median value of an owner-occupied home is $90,900 (compared to $185,200 nationwide)
As you might imagine, this is quite a stark contrast to the environment I have lived in for the past four years, in
(taken from factfinder.census.gov)
The numbers above will soon be replaced by stories of my real, flesh-and-blood students, their families, their neighborhoods, their struggles, and their triumphs.
Visit often! (If I know people are reading, that will keep me writing!)
Thursday, March 6, 2008
How About That? 6 Words
Hemingway's laconic inspiration
Friends of Hemingway's once challenged him to write an entire story in 6 words. Not being one to back down from a challenge - and confident in his minimalist, tight prose abilities - Hemingway unleashed this beauty: "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn." He said it was his best work.
In six words, Hemingway manages to evoke a full, poignant narrative arc.
WIRED magazine challenged readers to attempt the same feat - the very, very short story. Most read like epitaphs; some read like Hallmark cards for scorned lovers.
I can't wait to try this exercise with my class. I'd love to see what 6-words they can come up with as their compact (but pregnant) memoir or even just as a super-short fictional story.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
We Make Things Too Hard
Simplify, simplify, simplify. - Henry David Thoreau
Paul Polak is a great man. He wrote the book Out of Poverty: What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail. Polak lectured tonight on campus about the ease of lifting people out of poverty through innovative, low-cost tools specifically tailored to meet their needs. The emphasis was on design and plain functionality. He knew their needs (having interviewed several thousand poor farmers around the globe), understood the wide applicability of simple, sized-right solutions (more than 80% of the world's farms are an average of 4 acres or smaller... many are just 1 acre), and wasn't afraid to admit that prosperity is what these farmers need first and foremost.
Paul shared an anecdote with us. He used to ask these poor farmers "Why are you poor?" He said they would look at him like he was some kind of nut. "Because we don't have money!" they would say. "If we had more income, we wouldn't be so poor!" Polak went on to explain that many scholars would scoff at that simplicity. Scholars assume that poverty is a much more complex and knotty problem, and can be remedied only by equally complex solutions. "Powerlessness" is the root of the problem; or "lack of education" is the root of the problem; or "poor health and nutrition" is the problem. All of these things are second to income, according to Polak. Those are the macro-level forces that outsiders can see (and insiders can sense and experience) but they have immediate, daily understanding of income. They have immediate understanding of being able to buy more food versus going hungry again. They have immediate understanding of not being able to provide the necessary dowry for their daughter's marriage. That needs no explanation or contemplation on their part. No money, no food, no dowry. Bigger forces be damned (for the moment). Income is a present, tangible problem - so why not work on solving that?? The problem of income is viscerally felt, and the solution will be equally visceral. People will invest in their own education, once they have the money; people will invest in their own health, once they have the money; people will have greater influence, once they have the money. What they want is money! They want greater incomes first! Take care of that, because that is the human-sized, family-sized solution. The societal changes (e.g., educational access) will follow.
Polak's point resonates with me. I think we often complicate things beyond necessity, and so simultaneously paralyze action in the face of enormity and entanglements that we build. It is as though we are trying to prove our intelligence by considering every possible variable, inside out and backwards. While this might prove our mental muscle, these gymnastics aren't inspiring. We can't get traction with all those factors clamoring for attention. We must parse problems into their principle and leading components. That is where the solutions are - right in front of our noses, waiting to be recognized. That is how we get started. We look dead ahead and call a spade a spade! Then we act. Many things are so plain! Not all variables need equal consideration, and not all variables need early consideration. Let's simplify our approach to problems so they do not get the best of us.
This is good for teaching. Let us teach the most necessary and unadorned concepts before we start to consider all the permutations and combinations. What are the most plain and basic needs of the students I will have next year? What do they need the most, and what is going to be the most valuable to them? I don't want to address step 5 when I haven't covered step 1. That isn't being smart. That is wasting effort and energy. I will need to find out - fast - where the biggest returns are for the smallest, shortest investment. Not everything is a brutal slog through mud or a thick forest. Some solutions are just as simple as walking up and ringing the door bell.
Plus, his presentation skills were second-to-none. He treated us, his audience, as equal participants, with ideas and commentary worth voicing. He repeated people's questions, to make sure he understood them correctly and to make sure everyone on the balcony could hear it. He didn't swat away any questions or let on to any distaste for someone's question by giving a damp response. He was conscious of people's time - asking, "Well, it is twenty past seven. Do you want to continue in this manner of questions-and-answer? Or go into the presentation? Which would be most useful to you?" It was genuinely our choice (we wanted to see his presentation; apparently, we were more enchanted with him than we were with our own inquiries). When he made a commitment to take initial questions for 10 minutes, then speak for about 30, and return to questions for another 30, he held to each of those spans. It was respectful of him, and kept us alert because we knew he wasn't going to ramble forever; best listen intently for a pithy 30 minutes because it was sure that was what he would deliver, and that was all he would deliver.
Paul Polak is a great man. He wrote the book Out of Poverty: What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail. Polak lectured tonight on campus about the ease of lifting people out of poverty through innovative, low-cost tools specifically tailored to meet their needs. The emphasis was on design and plain functionality. He knew their needs (having interviewed several thousand poor farmers around the globe), understood the wide applicability of simple, sized-right solutions (more than 80% of the world's farms are an average of 4 acres or smaller... many are just 1 acre), and wasn't afraid to admit that prosperity is what these farmers need first and foremost.
Paul shared an anecdote with us. He used to ask these poor farmers "Why are you poor?" He said they would look at him like he was some kind of nut. "Because we don't have money!" they would say. "If we had more income, we wouldn't be so poor!" Polak went on to explain that many scholars would scoff at that simplicity. Scholars assume that poverty is a much more complex and knotty problem, and can be remedied only by equally complex solutions. "Powerlessness" is the root of the problem; or "lack of education" is the root of the problem; or "poor health and nutrition" is the problem. All of these things are second to income, according to Polak. Those are the macro-level forces that outsiders can see (and insiders can sense and experience) but they have immediate, daily understanding of income. They have immediate understanding of being able to buy more food versus going hungry again. They have immediate understanding of not being able to provide the necessary dowry for their daughter's marriage. That needs no explanation or contemplation on their part. No money, no food, no dowry. Bigger forces be damned (for the moment). Income is a present, tangible problem - so why not work on solving that?? The problem of income is viscerally felt, and the solution will be equally visceral. People will invest in their own education, once they have the money; people will invest in their own health, once they have the money; people will have greater influence, once they have the money. What they want is money! They want greater incomes first! Take care of that, because that is the human-sized, family-sized solution. The societal changes (e.g., educational access) will follow.
Polak's point resonates with me. I think we often complicate things beyond necessity, and so simultaneously paralyze action in the face of enormity and entanglements that we build. It is as though we are trying to prove our intelligence by considering every possible variable, inside out and backwards. While this might prove our mental muscle, these gymnastics aren't inspiring. We can't get traction with all those factors clamoring for attention. We must parse problems into their principle and leading components. That is where the solutions are - right in front of our noses, waiting to be recognized. That is how we get started. We look dead ahead and call a spade a spade! Then we act. Many things are so plain! Not all variables need equal consideration, and not all variables need early consideration. Let's simplify our approach to problems so they do not get the best of us.
This is good for teaching. Let us teach the most necessary and unadorned concepts before we start to consider all the permutations and combinations. What are the most plain and basic needs of the students I will have next year? What do they need the most, and what is going to be the most valuable to them? I don't want to address step 5 when I haven't covered step 1. That isn't being smart. That is wasting effort and energy. I will need to find out - fast - where the biggest returns are for the smallest, shortest investment. Not everything is a brutal slog through mud or a thick forest. Some solutions are just as simple as walking up and ringing the door bell.
Plus, his presentation skills were second-to-none. He treated us, his audience, as equal participants, with ideas and commentary worth voicing. He repeated people's questions, to make sure he understood them correctly and to make sure everyone on the balcony could hear it. He didn't swat away any questions or let on to any distaste for someone's question by giving a damp response. He was conscious of people's time - asking, "Well, it is twenty past seven. Do you want to continue in this manner of questions-and-answer? Or go into the presentation? Which would be most useful to you?" It was genuinely our choice (we wanted to see his presentation; apparently, we were more enchanted with him than we were with our own inquiries). When he made a commitment to take initial questions for 10 minutes, then speak for about 30, and return to questions for another 30, he held to each of those spans. It was respectful of him, and kept us alert because we knew he wasn't going to ramble forever; best listen intently for a pithy 30 minutes because it was sure that was what he would deliver, and that was all he would deliver.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Building a Vocabulary
how my dance teacher gets us to groove
I am taking African Dance this semester. This is a whole new experience for me - generally, I am not very "in my body." Usually, I stay in my head, or in my history, or in my future. Being in my body and being "in the present" do not happen automatically for me. However, both are necessary to dance. Both are essential for dance. Needless to say, I struggle in this class. It is safe to say that getting my top-half to shake in a different way than my bottom-half, but still simultaneously move my top and my bottom - well, it is safe to say that is my personal Mt. Everest. Not an easy endeavor for me. I get so exasperated.
My teacher, Nii Armah, relies on mimicry to teach us. He will demonstrate the move two or three times (always instructing us to "watch!" - as in "stay still and observe" before trying it out ourselves; like Simon Says for college students, and we aren't very good at it). Once he's done, it is our chance to replicate what we just witnessed - that's always chaotic. With the first attempt, almost nobody gets the move to sync exactly with the beat of the drums. And we don't stand a chance of oozing anywhere as much "juice" as Nii Armah during these moves. "Juice" is his term for the seemingly-effortless, but intentional energy that radiates humanity, invitation, and pure physicality with his every motion. African dance is about two things, he claims: the "juice" and the drums. We get it - eventually. Enough repetition seems to do the trick, but only if I am present and alert (mindful) during each repetition.
Being deliberate helps, yet being playful helps more.
Beyond mimicry though, which sometimes works but can sometimes halt any sense of forward progress, Nii Armah starts with the utmost basics. He gets us to use our limbs in new, but minimal ways - like stepping down, flat, with our right foot, and stepping up on our left toe. The timing that this teaches us - the rhythm of the "bobbing" up and down - becomes a building block for later, more complex moves. These moves are limited to a small range of motion. I didn't know it until recently, but these moves are foundational and generative.
After we went on to faster, more elaborate moves, I thought we had abandoned all the simple stuff (to my dismay - I was finally getting those motions, why something harder?!). But, if I concentrate, I can feel the same rhythms and movement of the basic moves underlying the harder ones. The basics pop up everywhere and breed the grandiose gestures.
Nii Armah said, "What we are doing is building a vocabulary. A vocabulary so you can use it in more patterns and arrangements later on." I think this is what all teaching is: providing the pieces, getting students familiar with the curves and the edges, so that later, when called for, students know how those curves and edges can fit together (or perhaps fit inside one another).
I am taking African Dance this semester. This is a whole new experience for me - generally, I am not very "in my body." Usually, I stay in my head, or in my history, or in my future. Being in my body and being "in the present" do not happen automatically for me. However, both are necessary to dance. Both are essential for dance. Needless to say, I struggle in this class. It is safe to say that getting my top-half to shake in a different way than my bottom-half, but still simultaneously move my top and my bottom - well, it is safe to say that is my personal Mt. Everest. Not an easy endeavor for me. I get so exasperated.
My teacher, Nii Armah, relies on mimicry to teach us. He will demonstrate the move two or three times (always instructing us to "watch!" - as in "stay still and observe" before trying it out ourselves; like Simon Says for college students, and we aren't very good at it). Once he's done, it is our chance to replicate what we just witnessed - that's always chaotic. With the first attempt, almost nobody gets the move to sync exactly with the beat of the drums. And we don't stand a chance of oozing anywhere as much "juice" as Nii Armah during these moves. "Juice" is his term for the seemingly-effortless, but intentional energy that radiates humanity, invitation, and pure physicality with his every motion. African dance is about two things, he claims: the "juice" and the drums. We get it - eventually. Enough repetition seems to do the trick, but only if I am present and alert (mindful) during each repetition.
Being deliberate helps, yet being playful helps more.
Beyond mimicry though, which sometimes works but can sometimes halt any sense of forward progress, Nii Armah starts with the utmost basics. He gets us to use our limbs in new, but minimal ways - like stepping down, flat, with our right foot, and stepping up on our left toe. The timing that this teaches us - the rhythm of the "bobbing" up and down - becomes a building block for later, more complex moves. These moves are limited to a small range of motion. I didn't know it until recently, but these moves are foundational and generative.
After we went on to faster, more elaborate moves, I thought we had abandoned all the simple stuff (to my dismay - I was finally getting those motions, why something harder?!). But, if I concentrate, I can feel the same rhythms and movement of the basic moves underlying the harder ones. The basics pop up everywhere and breed the grandiose gestures.
Nii Armah said, "What we are doing is building a vocabulary. A vocabulary so you can use it in more patterns and arrangements later on." I think this is what all teaching is: providing the pieces, getting students familiar with the curves and the edges, so that later, when called for, students know how those curves and edges can fit together (or perhaps fit inside one another).
Friday, February 22, 2008
A Reason for Everything
You don't always know you wanted something until you get it
I was at dinner with my dear friend Teju last night (we ate at the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House - I will miss that place!). Teju had been part of the small group that Darren and I asked to critique our sample lessons before our big, day-long TFA interview. His feedback was gentle, but insightful and serviceable - with spot-on tips and fair, digestible rationales and personal warmth through it all. He's great at providing feedback (a trait I am seeking to emulate).
Putting Teju's greatness aside (momentarily), I should explain that my sample lesson was about the Grameen Bank - a microlending institute in Bangladesh, started by a man named Muhammad Yunus, to provide tiny loans to poor women. I simplify here, but these loans are intended to provide women with the small seed capital needed to buy a goat or a weaving loom. From that purchase, these women can sustain income-generating projects without the need for continual help or charity. For instance, some women have chosen to purchase cell phones, whose call-time they then "rent out" to their fellow villagers. The point is not to create greedy consumers, but to restore dignity and feelings of self-efficacy to those who have been repeatedly marginalized. The Grameen Bank's success (a 98% repayment rate!) is proof that the poor are "credit-worthy" by virtue of "being alive" (amen!).
My lesson summarized this bank structure, and then focused more intently on the 16 Decisions. These are commitments that every Grameen loan recipient must promise to adhere to in order to qualify for money. I chose to focus on 4 of them (I tried to choose a good sampling of the pragmatic-behavioral commitments and the moral-conduct commitments):
It was also a social studies lesson. I have been assigned to "secondary English." So much for my sample lesson, eh?
But at dinner, Teju and I talked about how much English fits me - much more so than social studies. I got assigned to English for a reason (even perhaps just a computer-generated reason), and I could not be more thrilled. Teaching English really affords me the chance to explore all kinds of ideas and postulates through the mechanisms of writing, oratory, language structure (e.g., vocabulary, syntax), poetry, and literature. There is so much ground I can cover as an English teacher that would be "out-of-bounds" as a social studies teacher. I see social studies as a more fact-based field that requires different methods of examination and instruction - hence resulting in different growth.
The ways I seek to shape student minds and hearts is much more aligned with being at the head of an English classroom. Sometimes, you don't know what it is you really want until you get blessed with it. Thank you, Teju, for reminding me of this.
See the Grameen Bank site.
I was at dinner with my dear friend Teju last night (we ate at the Boulder Dushanbe Tea House - I will miss that place!). Teju had been part of the small group that Darren and I asked to critique our sample lessons before our big, day-long TFA interview. His feedback was gentle, but insightful and serviceable - with spot-on tips and fair, digestible rationales and personal warmth through it all. He's great at providing feedback (a trait I am seeking to emulate).
Putting Teju's greatness aside (momentarily), I should explain that my sample lesson was about the Grameen Bank - a microlending institute in Bangladesh, started by a man named Muhammad Yunus, to provide tiny loans to poor women. I simplify here, but these loans are intended to provide women with the small seed capital needed to buy a goat or a weaving loom. From that purchase, these women can sustain income-generating projects without the need for continual help or charity. For instance, some women have chosen to purchase cell phones, whose call-time they then "rent out" to their fellow villagers. The point is not to create greedy consumers, but to restore dignity and feelings of self-efficacy to those who have been repeatedly marginalized. The Grameen Bank's success (a 98% repayment rate!) is proof that the poor are "credit-worthy" by virtue of "being alive" (amen!).
My lesson summarized this bank structure, and then focused more intently on the 16 Decisions. These are commitments that every Grameen loan recipient must promise to adhere to in order to qualify for money. I chose to focus on 4 of them (I tried to choose a good sampling of the pragmatic-behavioral commitments and the moral-conduct commitments):
- We shall grow vegetables all the year round. We shall eat plenty of them and sell the surplus.
- We shall plan to keep our families small. We shall minimize our expenditures. We shall look after our health.
- We shall collectively undertake bigger investments for higher incomes.
- We shall always be ready to help each other. If anyone is in difficulty, we shall all help him or her.
It was also a social studies lesson. I have been assigned to "secondary English." So much for my sample lesson, eh?
But at dinner, Teju and I talked about how much English fits me - much more so than social studies. I got assigned to English for a reason (even perhaps just a computer-generated reason), and I could not be more thrilled. Teaching English really affords me the chance to explore all kinds of ideas and postulates through the mechanisms of writing, oratory, language structure (e.g., vocabulary, syntax), poetry, and literature. There is so much ground I can cover as an English teacher that would be "out-of-bounds" as a social studies teacher. I see social studies as a more fact-based field that requires different methods of examination and instruction - hence resulting in different growth.
The ways I seek to shape student minds and hearts is much more aligned with being at the head of an English classroom. Sometimes, you don't know what it is you really want until you get blessed with it. Thank you, Teju, for reminding me of this.
See the Grameen Bank site.
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