VALOR Reflections 2

This may be a bit rushed - my apologies. I was observed on Thursday, met with Phillip on Friday, and I will be observed again on Tuesday. For those counting at home, with the block schedule and the holiday, I'm basically being observed two days in a row, in the same class.

But that's a good thing. From a scientist's perspective, it's best to keep as many variables the same as possible. This will give Pink Cohort an opportunity to see if I can apply what Red Cohort said to me, as I just heard their feedback on Friday. And this will be to the exact same kids as Red Cohort saw.

Recalling my first VALOR observations reflections, one of the big issues I had was descriptive feedback. Well, sorry to say, that has not gotten any better. I have been struggling with ways to do it, given my teaching style, my subject, and the ages of my students. I can easily give trite and shallow feedback that is also descriptive, but high school students are pretty sensitive to things like that, and that's not the point anyway.

Therefore, I'm really excited to have some concrete and actionable suggestions from Red Cohort! Their idea was for me to flip statements or questions from my students to questions from me to them. Hopefully, this will lead the way not just to me being better at feedback, but also to changing the students' into a growth mindset.

I'm looking forward to applying those ideas tomorrow and to moving that dial on the feedback meter in the right direction!

We Should All Be Leslie Knope

Mark: Honestly, Leslie, it's going to be a long uphill battle. You are going to be super-annoyed with all the people who want you to fail. There is a sea of red tape, endless road blocks. So, yeah, I don't know. I don't know.
Leslie: Screw it. I'm gonna try to do it anyway.

-       Parks and Recreation

My son, Travis, is a legal adult and has been for a while, thus he can enter into contracts and pay for subscriptions. He’s twenty-one, so he’s a member of the millennial generation, the digital natives. A few months back, after nagging me about it for weeks, he put me on his Netflix account. I had been resistant to Netflix because I remembered the whole mess with mailing the DVDs and that type of thing.

Anyway, Travis took my iPad and installed Netflix, adding me to his account. (How times have changed, right?) Then, he showed me a few things and recommended some shows he has enjoyed. One of those was Parks and Recreation, which I finally got around to watching over this winter break.

I’m thoroughly enthralled with Leslie Knope. I feel for her struggles as another government employee, but the thing that comes through the most is her refusal to give up or to let the negative outlooks of those around her affect her positive attitude. Her job is frustrating and aggravating, and interferes with her life and her choices. Sounds familiar, right? But Leslie absolutely loves what she does.

And don’t we all love what we do? Otherwise, why would we be doing it?

Teaching is wearisome, maddening, rule-bound, and heartbreaking. Teaching takes up way more than an 8-hour day as we roll our eyes at people who say, “But you have summers off.” Teaching demands all our energy and passion.

That’s the key to me though – the passion. If we are passionate about our jobs, then we refuse to let obstacles stop us from doing the right thing. We find ways to make the impossible possible. We become adept at work-arounds and improvisation.  Because we love what we do.

These people are members of the community that care about where they live. So what I hear when I'm being yelled at is people caring ... loudly at me.

-       Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation

Everyone cares about education, and sometimes they care quite loudly and in our faces. Occasionally, I have a hard time remembering that my students and I aren’t the only ones in my classroom. There’s a whole raft of other people who are there in spirit.

When I have a parent mad at me, or someone posts a horrible article about the state of education, I try channel Leslie Knope and realize that they are acting this way because education is vitally important. How cool is that – to be doing something that matters so much?

Leslie Knope is no blind optimist; she knows the difficulties she faces and she finds a way to succeed anyway. When I’m feeling discouraged or tired, I try to think of Leslie and do what she would do.

Quotes via http://www.tvfanatic.com/quotes/characters/leslie-knope