Saturday, June 23, 2018
Together Everyone Achieves More: Organizing
A colleague and I discussed issues related to teacher voice, choice, and leadership. I noted that I had often advocated for change on my own with little success, and now I was finally learning about the power of organizing. Organizing essentially is the act of working together to make positive change. Organizing is the reason why we have unions--we have unions so that we can work together to make the kinds of change and policies that support the good working conditions we need to effectively do our work in any profession.
When lots of people go it alone to make change the path to good change becomes confusing, scattered, and difficult to follow. Good change gets lost without good organization, and that's why organizing is a powerful means of effecting promising policies and change.
I have a lot to learn about organizing. I wonder why it has taken me so long to get to this point of learning--why didn't I understand this before and why haven't I been fully integrated into organizing efforts in the past. It will take some analysis to figure this out, but in the meantime, I'm ready to learn and I have many colleagues ready to teach and learn with me.
This summer I've signed on to learn more about effective organizing at the MTA Summer Conference. I hope to use what I know to contribute to local and state organizing efforts to make the kinds of change and policies that will elevate supports, services, and opportunities for children and families in our schools and states. I'm not looking back to the lost years in this regard, but instead looking forward to the opportunity this learning holds for better teaching and learning.
When lots of people go it alone to make change the path to good change becomes confusing, scattered, and difficult to follow. Good change gets lost without good organization, and that's why organizing is a powerful means of effecting promising policies and change.
I have a lot to learn about organizing. I wonder why it has taken me so long to get to this point of learning--why didn't I understand this before and why haven't I been fully integrated into organizing efforts in the past. It will take some analysis to figure this out, but in the meantime, I'm ready to learn and I have many colleagues ready to teach and learn with me.
This summer I've signed on to learn more about effective organizing at the MTA Summer Conference. I hope to use what I know to contribute to local and state organizing efforts to make the kinds of change and policies that will elevate supports, services, and opportunities for children and families in our schools and states. I'm not looking back to the lost years in this regard, but instead looking forward to the opportunity this learning holds for better teaching and learning.
Waterfalls of Reflection, Analysis, and Thought
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| libreshot.com |
It is not right or wrong to choose to deeply analyze life's events. For some of us it is a sport, and for others a waste of time. A continuum exists here and we all fall somewhere on that continuum when it comes to reflection and thought, and that's okay.
For me, I enjoy looking at all the pieces of life's events. I like to dissect experiences, emotions, and events to see the pieces and figure out how they fit together. I have always enjoyed this analysis. Yet I know that for many this is a tiresome and heavy proposition, one that weights them down when it comes to life's more physically active, social, and actionable events. They prefer to socialize, make, engage in, or relax. That's okay too.
In my own family we are all so different from one another--what we enjoy and how we spend time differs from person to person. I know who I can reach out to when it comes to planning a social event, talking politics, investigating a problem, or going for a bike ride. No two of us are the same--we all lean in different directions when it comes to life's choices including reflection, analysis, and thought.
I'm pulled in the direction of trying to figure things out--I truly like problem solving, and I enjoy working with others to make better. There's nothing I like more than to collaborate with other educators to improve programs in ways that inspire student learning, self worth, and contribution to good living and the world's people and places. I gained great joy this week watching an environmental activist teach and inspire children to clean up a littered roadway and riverway in the community--that was positive action born out of the collegiality of educators and environmentalists, action that was later supported by students' reflections about the importance of that activity. It's that kind of result that supports my love and passion for reflection, analysis, and thought.
Yet, like nature's waterfalls, a large deluge of reflection, analysis, and thought can topple even the most ardent supporter, and that's probably why these beautiful cascades of ideas are often found in remote places distanced from everyday life and learning. Often it takes a woodsy trail with some height to reach a waterfall's dramatic edge and deep effect. We have to be ready to seek a waterfall. We have to be willing to play in it's resounding splashes and clear pools. We have to want to traverse the trail to hear the rhythm of the water's strength.
Waterfalls of reflection, analysis, and thought like nature's waterfalls have a place in the world, but it's a place distanced from the day-to-day life--a place that one should travel only when ready for such a cool and beautiful awakening.
Mindfulness Used Well
As in many schools, our school has adopted a number of mindfulness practices. Each day students start their day with a mindfulness strategy. The repetition of this practice overall has been positive for students. Many educators also employ a number of positive mindfulness strategies in their classroom teaching and efforts, and similarly these efforts have resulted in students' ability to be attuned to their feelings and the world around them.
I have been carefully watching the inclusion of mindfulness and how it is used. I am a big fan of using mindfulness to help clean the mind and make people attuned to the world around them. I believe there is much to learn and gain here with regard to living and loving well. However, I am not a fan of using mindfulness to silence or blame people--being mindful does not mean negating issues of injustice and problems that occur. True mindfulness gives us a way to observe, think about, discuss, and solve problems like these.
As I think about human nature and the signals human nature gives us with regard to serving one another well, I am thinking that mindfulness that helps us to be sensitive to and see the needs of others is essential.
For example when we see people act with struggle, we can question rather than blame, shame, redirect, or right. We can say, I wonder why you would do that or What is the purpose of that action? Questioning is very powerful in this regard--when we question, we give individuals a chance to tell us who they are and what's important to them without our commentary or opinion. Questions is a powerful medium for letting the truth and humanity rise.
Of course as with any revelation, one has to swallow a large dose of humility. Big learning is humbling as it helps us to realize the unknowing we thought was truth before. The best learning makes us vulnerable, yet we have to realize that all who hope to learn are vulnerable too and we are not alone in this journey of living and loving well. Onward.
I have been carefully watching the inclusion of mindfulness and how it is used. I am a big fan of using mindfulness to help clean the mind and make people attuned to the world around them. I believe there is much to learn and gain here with regard to living and loving well. However, I am not a fan of using mindfulness to silence or blame people--being mindful does not mean negating issues of injustice and problems that occur. True mindfulness gives us a way to observe, think about, discuss, and solve problems like these.
As I think about human nature and the signals human nature gives us with regard to serving one another well, I am thinking that mindfulness that helps us to be sensitive to and see the needs of others is essential.
For example when we see people act with struggle, we can question rather than blame, shame, redirect, or right. We can say, I wonder why you would do that or What is the purpose of that action? Questioning is very powerful in this regard--when we question, we give individuals a chance to tell us who they are and what's important to them without our commentary or opinion. Questions is a powerful medium for letting the truth and humanity rise.
Of course as with any revelation, one has to swallow a large dose of humility. Big learning is humbling as it helps us to realize the unknowing we thought was truth before. The best learning makes us vulnerable, yet we have to realize that all who hope to learn are vulnerable too and we are not alone in this journey of living and loving well. Onward.
Nature Signals
Once when I was in sixth grade, a teacher lashed out at me and two friends.
I remember the experience well.
I was creating a bulletin board with two classmates. We were delighted with the process which was to essentially use many, many colors to create a wonderful design. One of the classmates working with us was particularly talented and I was honored to work with her. We worked with lots of laughter and playful banter. I imagine that we were very silly as we worked at the front right corner of the room while all the other students were sitting at their desks finishing up their work.
As we created, the teacher reminded us to settle down and be quiet. We followed his command for a minute or so and then returned to our silliness. He reminded us again and again we stopped for a short while and then resumed what was probably loud laughing and total disregard for his instruction. Finally he simply lost it and lashed out at us which caused us to run out of the room crying.
What was initially a wonderful, extra project turned into a classroom disaster--a disaster created, in part, by the fact that we really loved our teacher and felt awful that we had caused him to lose his temper.
As a teacher now, I often think back to that situation. Never did I think the teacher didn't care for us and never did I think we were not at fault--we were silly and lost in our twelve-year-old world of friendship, creativity, and fun. The rest of the class and the probable efforts the teacher was engaged in at the time was lost on us--we were in our own world when he lashed out.
I bet most people have lashed out from time to time for one reason or another. I know for myself when it's occurred, the impulse has come from pure frustration or guilt. As a young mother, this lashing out typically arose when I felt I wasn't doing enough for my children and I was suddenly reminded of something more I could do, but did not have the energy or ability to fulfill that impulse. This lashing out can occur when you feel that someone doesn't understand your point of view, respect your work, or understand where you are coming from. In school, children tend to lash out when they feel unheard or when they think something is unfair.
As I think of the act of lashing out, I'm thinking about why it might happen and what we can do to respond to this action. Long ago a relative lashed out at me during a very trying and difficult time. Clearly he felt that he had nowhere to turn and I was the scapegoat for his feelings of insecurity, isolation, and powerlessness. Much later, he apologized. I understood his struggle--I probably would have lashed out too given the circumstances he faced at the time.
Lashing out is a signal of need--a response that comes from our gut and shows the world that something is not right. We need to heed the call of lashing out with sensitivity and kindness first--we have to hear what the lashing out words and actions are saying to us, the needs they are demonstrating, and potential for needed change, support, comfort, or help.
Life is always sending us signals. A focus on mindfulness demonstrates that to us. I tell students that nature speaks to us if we are attuned. Thunder and dark skies warn us of coming storm, a buzz signals that a mosquito is near, and the smell of smoke tells us there's a fire. Similarly human nature sends us signals too--slumped shoulders tell us that someone is a bit down, a smile shows a happy spirit, tears signal sadness, and lashing out can illustrate frustration and other emotions.
The more sensitive and attuned we are to the people and places around us, the better we are able to navigate the terrain of need and potential. There is great power to be had here--power to serve each other well in ways that matter.
I remember the experience well.
I was creating a bulletin board with two classmates. We were delighted with the process which was to essentially use many, many colors to create a wonderful design. One of the classmates working with us was particularly talented and I was honored to work with her. We worked with lots of laughter and playful banter. I imagine that we were very silly as we worked at the front right corner of the room while all the other students were sitting at their desks finishing up their work.
As we created, the teacher reminded us to settle down and be quiet. We followed his command for a minute or so and then returned to our silliness. He reminded us again and again we stopped for a short while and then resumed what was probably loud laughing and total disregard for his instruction. Finally he simply lost it and lashed out at us which caused us to run out of the room crying.
What was initially a wonderful, extra project turned into a classroom disaster--a disaster created, in part, by the fact that we really loved our teacher and felt awful that we had caused him to lose his temper.
As a teacher now, I often think back to that situation. Never did I think the teacher didn't care for us and never did I think we were not at fault--we were silly and lost in our twelve-year-old world of friendship, creativity, and fun. The rest of the class and the probable efforts the teacher was engaged in at the time was lost on us--we were in our own world when he lashed out.
I bet most people have lashed out from time to time for one reason or another. I know for myself when it's occurred, the impulse has come from pure frustration or guilt. As a young mother, this lashing out typically arose when I felt I wasn't doing enough for my children and I was suddenly reminded of something more I could do, but did not have the energy or ability to fulfill that impulse. This lashing out can occur when you feel that someone doesn't understand your point of view, respect your work, or understand where you are coming from. In school, children tend to lash out when they feel unheard or when they think something is unfair.
As I think of the act of lashing out, I'm thinking about why it might happen and what we can do to respond to this action. Long ago a relative lashed out at me during a very trying and difficult time. Clearly he felt that he had nowhere to turn and I was the scapegoat for his feelings of insecurity, isolation, and powerlessness. Much later, he apologized. I understood his struggle--I probably would have lashed out too given the circumstances he faced at the time.
Lashing out is a signal of need--a response that comes from our gut and shows the world that something is not right. We need to heed the call of lashing out with sensitivity and kindness first--we have to hear what the lashing out words and actions are saying to us, the needs they are demonstrating, and potential for needed change, support, comfort, or help.
Life is always sending us signals. A focus on mindfulness demonstrates that to us. I tell students that nature speaks to us if we are attuned. Thunder and dark skies warn us of coming storm, a buzz signals that a mosquito is near, and the smell of smoke tells us there's a fire. Similarly human nature sends us signals too--slumped shoulders tell us that someone is a bit down, a smile shows a happy spirit, tears signal sadness, and lashing out can illustrate frustration and other emotions.
The more sensitive and attuned we are to the people and places around us, the better we are able to navigate the terrain of need and potential. There is great power to be had here--power to serve each other well in ways that matter.
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