As the father of two teenage daughters, I've learned that the fear of embarrassment is very real. They are at the age where you want to attract the right kind of attention to yourself, but not too much attention. There is a very fine line and I don't always know where it is. I laugh because I know it's a normal part of adolescence. Hopefully, they grow up and become more comfortable in who they are and less concerned about what others think of them. But if they happen to grow up to be very comfortable, then they might just have the ability to be a great teacher. Here's why...
I love to pop my head into a class when I hear good noise. So when I walked past Mrs. Galue's ESL classroom this week and heard noise from what is a very small group of students, I had to figure out what was going on. The group was learning English through music, specifically a Bruno Mars music video. I quickly saw that my presence changed the atmosphere, so I ducked out. But I listened from the hallway for the next 30 minutes. I got to hear a great concert from Mrs. G. She was singing her heart out with the video and the kids were eating it up. Now while I don't want to cast stones at anyone that is making a joyful noise, I can reassure you that I won't be asking Mrs. G to fill in as a chorus teacher anytime soon. But that's the point. She didn't pause at all to consider it to be uncool or even unflattering. Her singing created a teachable moment and her kids fed right in.
The School Improvement Team has tasked me to acknowledge teachers that are doing a great job with instruction this semester and so I thought this was a fitting first step. Thanks to Mrs. G and all of the other teachers that are willing to be uncool or do whatever else it takes to get through to students. They might be laughing, but they are also learning.
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