A Gathering

I woke this morning thinking naught but a confirming text message stood between me and a snow day -- or an ice day, to be more specific. Instead, I scraped thick ice off my borrowed 18 passenger van (usually used to transport seasonal farm hands) before motoring the 4.9 miles between the Adams homestead and my school.

This iciness is a recent change, as last week's warmth and sun followed by wind and torrential rain hinted at April. Between the downpours lay Saturday afternoon and early evening, and my industrious wife took to the yard as I prepared Sunday's sermon. 

After our landlady sent a group of men in late autumn to take out several of trees in the front yard -- trees which served as a sort of privacy fence at the house end of our half-mile gravel drive --  many of their branches still littered the front yard. 

Taking a half broken metal rake, she combed the yard clean of more than one season's debris into several heaps. By the time I finished my studying and outlining, she ready to begin hauling her work about 75 yards away to the edge of the field where a gaping sinkhole frustrates the yield of row-croppers.

She gathered. I carried. 

Soon, work complete, we retired to the house. 

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A Gravestone Made of Wheat

A couple years ago I met a girl. Or shall I say re-met a girl. The kind of girl who makes you want to figure out what life is about.

One night at her parents house we watched one called Sweet Land, a little known film from a few years ago. Set in the rural Minnesota shortly after WWI, the film follows the difficulties surrounding the marriage plans of a new German immigrant to a "Keillorian" Norwegian Bachelor Farmer.

Stunned by the film's visual and narrative beauty, I scoured the Web for "A Gravestone Made of Wheat," from which the film was adapted. After reading the story, I came to a startling conclusion. For the first time, I think, in my life I thought a film told a better story than a book. Several plot changes, such as the historically compelling additon of a banker who preys upon "Bigger Better Faster" believing farmers creates a conflict between Man and Biblical Beast that the original narrative lacks.

The young couple evokes Wendell Berry's understanding of ecomony in their relationship and work. In the films penultimate scene, the couple brings in the wheat harvest by hand after being ostracized by the rest of the community.

As Khalil Gibran wrote in The Prophet, "Work is love made visible."

To Jelal ad-din Rumi

Having been an English Literature major in college, I am often guilty of ignoring the rest of the world's stories, essays, drama, and poetry. My sin is not one of prejudice so much as ignorance. Occasionally, someone crosses my path and shares a writer who wasn't born one of the British Isles sometime in the last thousand years.

One of those someones is Aaron Weiss, a humble, spindly man from Philadelphia. Meeting him, one could believe in his city's name. Although he is a poet and a singer (or more accurately, poem-shouter) of the band mewithoutYou, he is a listener. Most nights, still covered in the sweat of frenetic concert dervishes, Weiss listens one by one to the line that has gathered at his feet. With poetic lines such as Why not let's forgive everyone/ everywhere, everything, and If your old man did you wrong/ then maybe his old man did him wrong, the gathering is not surprising.

After my first time seeing his band, I waited to see him too. Other lines of his poetry seemed to fit his stance towards others - No clever talk nor gift to bring/ requires our lowly lovely king./ Come, you empty-handed/ you don't need anything. 

Seeing first hand the care he offered hurting folks, and the way they fed on such attention, I wanted to know who fed him -- what writers have helped him see more clearly God and creation within God and man within creation and God.

When I arrived at my turn, he stuttered through a few familiar names, as well as Scripture, and then he mentioned Rumi, an early Persian Sufi poet.

Since I'd heard of neither Rumi nor Sufis, I made that my next mini-research project. As it turns out, he lived in 13th century Persia (modern day Iran) and inherited a leadership position at a religious school at just 25, and was very much within the religious "in-crowd."

Around a dozen or so years later, he met an ascetic named Shams. As a result of their friendship, Rumi transformed to embraced asceticism. Rumi's change prompted such controversy that (allegedly) Shams was kidnapped and killed, probably at the hands of Rumi's son.

Despite (and possibly due to) the pain of that loss, Rumi continued in ascetic Sufism, typically expressed through poetry. As a Sufi, his basic goal was to experience/ sense/ feel/ know the fullness of God every moment.

And, interestingly, Rumi made some jaw-dropping statements regarding Jesus. Here's one:

In the fire of the Divine love,
behold I saw a whole universe
Each particle there possessed Jesus’ Breath.

I'd encourage anyone interested in Christianity, faith, life, art, and/ or poetry to read up on his life, not because he was perfect or always spoke the whole truth, but because his work reveals beauty and compelling affection for Jesus.

What I have learned this semester that might not necessarily be overtly graded

Here is a top ten list of a few of the lessons I have learned over the past semester at Whitley County High School.

1. A teacher’s effectiveness is proportional to the planning that goes into each lesson.

2.Planning itself isn’t enough. The planning must be intelligent, reflective, and undertaken in light of what is known about the individuals within a class and the class as a whole.

3. Time management is essential. Teaching is a commitment that requires saying no to other potential commitments.

4. Growing as a teacher requires constant learning.

5. Growth in terms of methodology must be accompanied by growth in terms of content knowledge and understanding; otherwise, methods are hollow.

6. Student A may not learn at the same pace or in the same way as Student B. A student is an individual and must be treated as one.

7. The best students have learned to teach themselves.

8. The way a student performs and behaves in class needs to be understood within the context of the rest of student’s life.

9. Sleep deficits haunt.

10. Peanut butter and jelly isn’t as appetizing in December as it is in August.

Blogs for the week of November 9.

Clearly, it’s very nearly a month past November 9th. I am hoping, however, that late is better than never. Here is what Dr. G asked us to blog about this week:
This week in your blog I would like for you to find out what community resources exist in your school/community that are available to help you teach. Report in your journal (one day) what you did to find out this information, who you asked, what you learned. A second day (yep, only two days this week!) post a list of the resources that you found.

In preparation for my unit, I talked with my ST, Mrs. Manning, about community resources, and specifically about people who might be able to come in as guest speakers. She encouraged me to set up a meeting with WCHS’ assistant principal, Mrs. Rice, the former chair of the English Department at the school.
A few days later I was able to sit down with Mrs. Rice. After discussing resources and my unit, she agreed to speak on the first day of my unit on the importance of language. Other resources include libraries in the area – the high school library, community library, and University of the Cumberlands library. In addition, I have a tight-knit relationship with the English Dept. at UC and have used them at different points throughout the semester as a resource for deepening my understanding of writing, literature, and grammar. Several of the professors would be willing to be guest speakers and have offered to assist when possible.

It's been upwards of forever.....

since I have written in my blog.

The last few weeks have felt like a single day punctuated by occasional naps. The combination of teaching all of my supervising teacher's classes, planning my unit (and navigating the murky waters of Kentucky Teacher Internship Program forms and documents), being actively involved in a handful of ministries at my church, planning for my leadership project, tutoring a student for my collaboration project, and holding down a part time job (so I can eat) have proved to be the perfect storm that has doomed my blog these last few weeks.

My approach to this blog from the beginning was for it to be primarily for sifting through my experiences and sorting out my thoughts on life and education (which are largely the same thing). In the thickest part of the semester, I have reverted to survival -- a crisis to crisis mode of living that typically excludes critical reflection.

Over the next few days I hope to highlight some of my classroom experiences that stick out from the otherwise muted landscape that has been my recent life.

In the meantime, here is my reflection on the results of my collaboration project.

Using the assessment data collected, describe the impact of the collaboration plan on this student’s learning and describe possible next steps.

The collaboration plan outlined above is actually the second I attempted this semester. My initial collaboration plan involved a student in one of my supervising teacher’s classes. My ST and I had been working on that particular collaboration for about two weeks when the student was removed from our classroom and placed in a full collaboration classroom. Because of that unforeseen turn of events so early in the plan, I felt it necessary to develop another; however, the time that I have had to implement it has also been short.

I spoke with staff members from Cumberland Valley Comprehensive Care (henceforth, CC) on October 26th, and set an appointment with Jerry for the following Thursday, the 29th. In my conversations with CC staff members, they gave me further information about Jerry, his struggles, and some ways they thought I would be able to help him.

In my and Jerry’s first meeting on the 26th, my initial goal was to get a feel for his attitudes and feelings about language and reading, and see what his interest in reading might be. Once I met him and sat down with him, I could tell that he has many struggles. Although not at all unpleasant, his disposition seemed nervous and unsure of himself and his surroundings. His speech was slow, and his vocabulary was closer to that of an early elementary student than a 14 year-old.

As I began asking the questions I had prepared for our first meeting, I realized that I was treating Jerry like a case study or an information source rather than as a person. I was sitting in front of this child, taking notes on his life and struggles. Right in front of him. Once I realized the insensitivity of my business-like approach, I put my notebook and pen away. And then I asked him, “Jerry, what do you like to do when you get home from school?” At this, he began to open up – he told me about his and his family’s horses and about how he recently broke a two year-old. So, for the rest of our meeting I asked him about horses.

Through our first meeting, I came to understand that before it is possible to “help” someone with any difficulty, struggle, or deficiency, one must treat that person like a person. An essential aspect of treating one as a person is understanding that beliefs, misconceptions, and subsequent behaviors are the natural overflow of one’s experiences, pains, joys, disappointments, and desires. Jerry’s struggles with language and reading have not developed in separation from any other aspect of his life; there are ways he has not been nourished and nurtured throughout his life that have led to, among other things, not being able to read. Thus, illiteracy is a symptom of a deeper problem. Addressing the symptom without first treating the root is narrow-sighted, ineffective, and inhumane.

When I came to the realization that Jerry needed more than another specialist offering a given service in his life, it changed my attitude about the collaboration project as well as my approach to it and also to Jerry as an individual. First, I began trying to treat Jerry as my brother (I do, in fact, have a brother his exact age); I ask him about his life, what has been good, and what has been not so good about his week. Beyond that initial dialogue, I do help him review class work (which at this point is working on basic phonics) and read with him. But it is my desire and effort to care about and nurture him as a person first and foremost; without that deeper context, he would be “my project,” a resource I exploit for the purpose of attaining a degree.

In addition to my meetings with Jerry, I have had the opportunity to meet with both of his language teachers, Mr. Struck and Ms. Perkins, at Whitley County Middle School. They have given insight into Jerry’s progress thus far as well as class format, curriculum, and goals. Both of Jerry’s language classes are designed to help with severe literacy deficiencies. Ms. Perkins also informed me that the format of the class is focused on mastery; thus, all students receive the same grade. In light of that information, it has not been possible to chart his progress through his grades in his language classes.

Although I will not be able to measure his application of internal progress being made nor numerically represent how much he has learned, I believe that this collaboration is in the process of being a success. I say in the process for two reasons. First, literacy is a process that varies from individual to individual due to a variety of factors; thus, one should not assume that steps A, B, and C necessarily lead to result D within a desirably short period of time, even if certain statistics indicate that it is likely to happen. Jerry may not learn to read better; he might not ever be “successful” in terms of academic achievement, which is not to say that it is not possible. On the other hand, I believe that by treating him with patience, care, and respect, his literacy will grow at its own unique pace; at the same time, I believe he (and I as well) will grow as an individual because more of his basic needs are being met. Furthermore, this collaboration in is in the process of success because I am not going to stop meeting with Jerry when I no longer need him to help me make a grade (which is not to say there is anything wrong or shallow about having such a project in a class; rather, a project is only as substantial as a student handles it, and it is my desire to continue the connection that has begun developing between myself and Jerry). Growth may not happen as quickly as I would desire, but with time and patience, it will.

Just another Wednesday

For both of my loyal readers, here is an example of what I've been working on lately. It's a little section from part of the unit I am planning.

3. Key Concepts/Big Issues/Essential Question Focus:

For this unit, I want students to understand the difference between independent and dependent clauses and then be able to identify them in the context of sentences and paragraphs. Students will then apply their antecedent understanding of clauses to correct punctuation. To extend application into “real world” uses, students will prepare for and complete a pre-ACT grammar test; using correct punctuation is a central understanding assessed by the test, and although the class has been able to cover some grammar issues such as parts of speech, we have not yet been able to given punctuation sufficient consideration.

Although students will, in the end, apply their study of fundamental elements of English grammar to “real world” assessment, the unit will begin by addressing the question of language and test-preparation. Contrary to popular belief, doing exercises in a test-prep book will only teach one how to take the test; it will not teach one all that he or she needs to know whether being assessed or not. Prep books may be necessary (or at least helpful) tools, but they are not sufficient; language would be just as essential if it were never formally assessed.

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Fun, fun.