Classroom Visits

     So I have been doing education for quite sometime, about 23 years as both a student and educator.  One of the things that I have enjoyed for most of my professional time is a great classroom visit.  As I think about going to visit the The Ron Clark Academy this week, I want to share some other places I have seen and how they have impacted me.

First I love being in a classroom watching students learn.  I discovered this while working at a K-12 school as the music / technology teacher and a third grade teacher allowed me to come watch her work.  I didn't know what to expect but I was blown away because she was amazing not that I had never seen good teaching before, but I had never been on a level where I was so out of my element and seeing students being transformed right in front of my eyes.

I began visiting many other classrooms during my planning time and I embraced the differences in the teachers and applauded the great things they were all doing, but I wanted to see more.

I got my opportunity when I was asked to go with a team to visit some schools in Chicago that were doing projects similar to what we had been discussing.  So 12 of us took at trip to the Windy City to see Evanston Township High School  and New Trier High School.  Both of these schools were amazing by the standards I set for a public school.  Swimming pools, high academic achievement and jazz bands.

It was at these two Chicagoland schools I realized that the influx of private school in my city was not the cause of the limited education received in some of the public school.  Those schools had staff members collaborating at local cafés during school hours, some were off researching to bring the best back to the school for pedagogy or curriculum.  At the time both schools were nationally ranked academically and both happened to be playing one another in post-season basketball.

There was a living breathing culture at both of these schools.  There were goals that were shared by the staff and everyone seems to want their fellow teachers to accomplish these goals they had set for their students, Excellence.

A culture of excellence and a culture of learning was what I would say about both these schools.  There were no signs about GRIT or MINDSET the kids just knew what they were there for, and it is my belief that the teachers pulled it out of them.  Watching one gentleman at work I could see how he could motivate any student to spend hours on a project that may not work but they would keep trying. Striving for excellence seems to be a part of the DNA in both schools, and I like that.

I need to get all of my teachers to this point.  Not to these schools but to a place where they can motivate the students to thrive to want more out of their learning.  To have student internalize the desire for their personal academic growth, I want them to teach that.  From that standpoint I can see students motivated to do their best for themselves because they know they can do it.

Next Stop High Tech High and the Clarksville-Montgomery County schools.

Try this again.

So I am back... I've decided that I will write even if I don't have a massive volume of info to put on here.  My music composition teacher would tell us, the more you write, the more you write.  He also would say you can wait for inspiration, but inspiration doesn't pay the bills.  Thank you Dr. Temko for your words that have such with me.