Don't forget what we do in school.
We do what we have to do so we can do what we want to do.
For instance, right now, I have reading to do before the African American Slavery class I have tomorrow (It's Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11-11:50am). I can't find it online where the teacher said it should be. So am I going back to bed? No! I need to read this article so that I can discuss it with my classmates tomorrow. I need to read the article so I know why I study the things I study. I need to read the article so that one day, I can teach it to college students in my classroom one day.
So I'm not going back to sleep. I'm calling my professor and asking her if I can borrow her copy. I'm doing what I have to do so I can do what I want to do.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Miracle Workers
By Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com
I have loved this poem since the first time I heard it, and I wanted to share it with you. This is how I feel about teaching.
Sunday nights I lie awake—
as all teachers do—
and wait for sleep to come
like the last student in my class to arrive.
My grading is done, my lesson plans are in order,
and still sleep wanders the hallways like Lower School music.
I’m a teacher. This is what I do.
Like a builder builds, or a sculptor sculpts,
a preacher preaches, and a teacher teaches.
This is what we do.
We are experts in the art of explanation:
I know the difference between questions
to answer and questions to ask.
That's an excellent question.
What do you think?
If two boys are fighting, I break it up.
But if two girls are fighting, I wait until it’s over and then drag what’s left to the nurse’s office.
I’m not your mother, or your father,
or your jailer, or your torturer,
or your biggest fan in the whole wide world
even if sometimes I am all of these things.
I know you can do these things I make you do.
That’s why I make you do them.
I’m a teacher. This is what I do.
Once in a restaurant, when the waiter asked me
if I wanted anything else, and I said,
"No, thank you, just the check, please,"
and he said, "How about a look at the dessert menu?"
I knew I had become a teacher when I said,
"What did I just say?
Please don’t make me repeat myself!"
In the quiet hours of the dawn
I write assignment sheets and print them
without spell checking them. Because I’m a teacher,
and teachers don’t make spelling mistakes.
So yes, as a matter of fact, the new dress cod
will apply to all members of the 5th, 6th, and 78th grades;
and if you need an extension on your 55-paragraph essays
examining The Pubic Wars from an hysterical perspective
you may have only until January 331st.
I trust that won’t be a problem for anyone?
I like to lecture on love and speak on responsibility.
I hold forth on humility, compassion, eloquence, and honesty.
And when my students ask,
“Are we going to be responsible for this?”
I say, If not you, then who?
You think my generation will be responsible?
We’re the ones who got you into this mess,
now you are our only hope.
And when they say, “What we meant
was, ‘Will we be tested on this?’”
I say Every single day of your lives!
Once, I put a pencil on the desk of a student
who was digging in her backpack for a pencil.
But she didn’t see me do it, so when I walked
to the other side of the room and she raised her hand
and asked if she could borrow a pencil,
I intoned, In the name of Socrates and Jesus,
and all the gods of teaching,
I declare you already possess everything you will ever need!
Shazzam!
“You are the weirdest teacher I have ever—”
Then she saw the pencil on her desk and screamed.
“You’re a miracle worker! How did you do that?”
I just gave you what I knew you needed
before you had to ask for it.
Education is the miracle, I’m just the worker.
But I’m a teacher.
And that’s what we do.
www.taylormali.com
I have loved this poem since the first time I heard it, and I wanted to share it with you. This is how I feel about teaching.
Sunday nights I lie awake—
as all teachers do—
and wait for sleep to come
like the last student in my class to arrive.
My grading is done, my lesson plans are in order,
and still sleep wanders the hallways like Lower School music.
I’m a teacher. This is what I do.
Like a builder builds, or a sculptor sculpts,
a preacher preaches, and a teacher teaches.
This is what we do.
We are experts in the art of explanation:
I know the difference between questions
to answer and questions to ask.
That's an excellent question.
What do you think?
If two boys are fighting, I break it up.
But if two girls are fighting, I wait until it’s over and then drag what’s left to the nurse’s office.
I’m not your mother, or your father,
or your jailer, or your torturer,
or your biggest fan in the whole wide world
even if sometimes I am all of these things.
I know you can do these things I make you do.
That’s why I make you do them.
I’m a teacher. This is what I do.
Once in a restaurant, when the waiter asked me
if I wanted anything else, and I said,
"No, thank you, just the check, please,"
and he said, "How about a look at the dessert menu?"
I knew I had become a teacher when I said,
"What did I just say?
Please don’t make me repeat myself!"
In the quiet hours of the dawn
I write assignment sheets and print them
without spell checking them. Because I’m a teacher,
and teachers don’t make spelling mistakes.
So yes, as a matter of fact, the new dress cod
will apply to all members of the 5th, 6th, and 78th grades;
and if you need an extension on your 55-paragraph essays
examining The Pubic Wars from an hysterical perspective
you may have only until January 331st.
I trust that won’t be a problem for anyone?
I like to lecture on love and speak on responsibility.
I hold forth on humility, compassion, eloquence, and honesty.
And when my students ask,
“Are we going to be responsible for this?”
I say, If not you, then who?
You think my generation will be responsible?
We’re the ones who got you into this mess,
now you are our only hope.
And when they say, “What we meant
was, ‘Will we be tested on this?’”
I say Every single day of your lives!
Once, I put a pencil on the desk of a student
who was digging in her backpack for a pencil.
But she didn’t see me do it, so when I walked
to the other side of the room and she raised her hand
and asked if she could borrow a pencil,
I intoned, In the name of Socrates and Jesus,
and all the gods of teaching,
I declare you already possess everything you will ever need!
Shazzam!
“You are the weirdest teacher I have ever—”
Then she saw the pencil on her desk and screamed.
“You’re a miracle worker! How did you do that?”
I just gave you what I knew you needed
before you had to ask for it.
Education is the miracle, I’m just the worker.
But I’m a teacher.
And that’s what we do.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
How to Apply for College
Hello!
I hope you've all had an awesome summer, and are starting off the school year on the right foot.
A lot of you are seniors, and have called me with questions about how to get into college. I'd like to encourage you to sign up for an account with Embark.com. This Web site lets you put in your personal information, and creates a college checklist just for you. It's important that you do this now, because your applications have to be in by December, and you have only 2 more shots to take the ACT - October and January.
The site will answer a lot of your questions, but I'd like to make myself available to help you with the college applications process. I'm thinking that Fridays at 3pm at the McDonald's on Bullard might be good. I need to know, though, if any of you are actually interested. Depending on how many people are interested, I can either help you individually with whatever you need, or have a different topic to address every week.
If you're a junior, you should come, too. This whole process should actually begin at the start of your junior year.
Never hesitate to call me for help. And forward this information to any of your friends (especially Linda To!) who are interested. I love you all.
Do what you have to do so you can do what you want to do,
Ms. Jolly
P.S. Yesterday, in my slavery class, the professor had every student in the room say their name and where she was from. When a student proclaimed that he was from New Orleans, the professor asked for the name of his high school. These Tulane students from New Orleans went to De La Salle, Brother Martin, Newman, Edna Karr, and O. Perry Walker. The professor looked just as disappointed as I felt. Why? Because none of those students came from Reed, or Cohen, or Rabouin.
What does that mean? It means those students are doing something that you're not. They're applying to colleges. We have to get the ball rolling on that, because nothing in the world would make me happier than sitting next to one of you in class next year.
"Any time you see someone more successful than you, they're doing something you're not." Malcolm X
I hope you've all had an awesome summer, and are starting off the school year on the right foot.
A lot of you are seniors, and have called me with questions about how to get into college. I'd like to encourage you to sign up for an account with Embark.com. This Web site lets you put in your personal information, and creates a college checklist just for you. It's important that you do this now, because your applications have to be in by December, and you have only 2 more shots to take the ACT - October and January.
The site will answer a lot of your questions, but I'd like to make myself available to help you with the college applications process. I'm thinking that Fridays at 3pm at the McDonald's on Bullard might be good. I need to know, though, if any of you are actually interested. Depending on how many people are interested, I can either help you individually with whatever you need, or have a different topic to address every week.
If you're a junior, you should come, too. This whole process should actually begin at the start of your junior year.
Never hesitate to call me for help. And forward this information to any of your friends (especially Linda To!) who are interested. I love you all.
Do what you have to do so you can do what you want to do,
Ms. Jolly
P.S. Yesterday, in my slavery class, the professor had every student in the room say their name and where she was from. When a student proclaimed that he was from New Orleans, the professor asked for the name of his high school. These Tulane students from New Orleans went to De La Salle, Brother Martin, Newman, Edna Karr, and O. Perry Walker. The professor looked just as disappointed as I felt. Why? Because none of those students came from Reed, or Cohen, or Rabouin.
What does that mean? It means those students are doing something that you're not. They're applying to colleges. We have to get the ball rolling on that, because nothing in the world would make me happier than sitting next to one of you in class next year.
"Any time you see someone more successful than you, they're doing something you're not." Malcolm X
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