Tuesday, June 27, 2017

on slowing down.



Sipping Italian coffee for an hour with a postcard view and birds chirping like they’re straight up from a sleep therapy machine, I wonder what it’s like to be rich.


If I were rich I would travel and have a live-in au-pair and adopt coffee cultures from around the world.  My husband and I would take up sailing and still respect our music and education passions, but only say yes to gigs for the love, not the money.  


Twenty more minutes pass, and my pint-sized daughter is still latched on to a disfigured white peach, gnawing like nobody's watching.  Savoring each bite and clawing her baby finger nails at the fuzzy fruit skin, she’s hoping not to miss the sensation of the varying textures of what appears to be, in her eyes, an edible toy.  


We may not be rich, but we are on vacation.  Well, mostly vacation since my husband’s here on business and we’re toting a toddler, but either way..we are breathing in life and noticing the subtle beauties that might otherwise pass us by.  


Far, far, away from home, the only thing we can do is enjoy ourselves.  Laundry, bills and to-do lists don’t exist.  Pleasure is mandatory.  


Ascona, Switzerland


Yesterday, my family and I literally stopped to smell the roses every few feet for a good fifteen minutes.  Why don’t I take these mindful pauses in my New Orleans life?  It takes less time than eight blind scrolls through Facebook. Definitely less time than a Pinterest search for a quiche recipe I’ll buy ingredients for, but probably never make.  


I began to wonder why I don’t take more mindful pauses in the classroom.  Imagine reading a juicy novel with students, stopping for a five minute tangent when an author punches the reader in the gut with a killer opening line, or asking kids to stare at an art piece for not ten seconds, but sixty!


Encouraging awareness of the five senses beyond kindergarten instruction and making “wait time” more than an observation rubric buzzword...stopping to smell the roses instead of spinning the hamster wheel as we often do...

The shift would mean trading some of the insta-result, pump and dumpness for some long-term, non-measurable learning experiences.


And I’m okay with that.


If I could inspire my students to take the scenic route sometimes, rather than the Google Maps short-cut, who knows where life could take them!  Educationally speaking or otherwise.  


Hey, maybe all of this vacay headspace has me idealizing things, as vacation often does.  I like it though.  The naysayers and hard realities of this teaching life don’t come out to play on summer break and we’re given plenty time to gather our shiny, new ideas to put to the test come fall.  

I hope you’re living la dolce vita teachers!  Power to the teacher.



























Wednesday, June 21, 2017

on vacation mode. part two.

I'm on vacation.  Catch you next Tuesday!
With my loves in Ascona, Switzerland
Rest easy, teachers.  Power to the teacher!

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

on detoxing.


This is not a reflection on a summer juice cleanse.  I did jump on the no-carbs bandwagon once, though. With days approaching college spring break,  the commitment lasted just shy of 48 hours, until Taco Tuesday, of course.

Later, living in Los Angeles tempted me with the juicing phenomenon.  Trendy juice bars on Abbot Kinney and Ventura Blvd indirectly pressured me into buying my own juicer.  These juice pushers did have a point.  They said that being aware of what you eat, ridding harmful toxins and breaking bad dietary habits can actually bring more clarity to your life.  

And to be honest, I still love my juicer.  

Closet cleansing is the new (but not really) rage.  Thanks to a handy Pinterest cheat sheet, I detoxed my wardrobe yesterday.  A fun little flowchart assisted me with questions like, does this item still fit your overall personal style? Or, do you feel good when you wear this?  

I didn’t necessarily purge my entire wardrobe, but I did surprise myself by tossing a few items associated with unpleasant memories.  My go-to dress for my least favorite job?  Gone.  Stark white pants purchased at a less-than stellar period in my life quickly contributed to the growing Goodwill pile blocking my bedroom door.  Going deeper with the detox was nice.  

Feeling liberated, I began to think through different detox approaches.  What about an emotional detox?  Or a philosophical detox?  Could I apply it to teaching? Would it even work?  

I decided to start with Anushka Rees’ Closet Detox Flow Chart.  In this case, wardrobe equals teaching practices.  

  1. Will you be able to wear it this upcoming season?
  2. Does it feel comfortable, could you wear it all day?
  3. Could you get it tailored to improve the fit?

Playing this teaching detox game in my head, I realized that it’s not that simple.  There’s that one question that brings upon a big messy closet of questions, upon questions, and leaving teachers feeling far from liberated.  

Should I teach for the long term or the short term?  

Teachers are here to inspire, empower and provide students with the tools it takes to become happy and successful adults.  Unfortunately, those things aren’t measurable on state tests.  Furthermore, since education has become a money game with scores tied to funding, we often have to water down our philosophies just to keep our jobs.  

I wish I could purge 100% of my teaching practices related to things I don’t believe in.  Or things that don’t make me comfortable when I wear them.  Or are outdated and make no sense.

We gotta do what we gotta do, though.  Ain’t nobody wanna be unemployed.  

Faithfully, I can say that with each year that passes, and each summer that brings a swift cleansing, some clarity and a whole-lotta hope for a new beginning, the school-year realities that crap on our summer dreams are getting easier to work around.  

Can we throw out a teaching method that doesn’t fit us anymore?  Sometimes.  Can we overhaul the whole system?  I’m not sure.  But after months of Hamilton references bestowed upon me by teacher comrade and Lin-Manuel Miranda superfan, I’m proud to say I’m thirteen pages deep into Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton.  

Hamilton definitely has something to teach us.  I’ll be taking notes...

In the meantime, I offer this idea of detox, not as a cure-all to the missteps we’ve made or will make in the upcoming year, but perhaps to bring us one step closer to teaching in our truest forms...as our purest teaching selves.  

Amalfi Coast, 2015


Power to the teacher!



Tuesday, June 6, 2017

on "it must be nice."

No teacher has experienced summers-off bliss without that nagging feeling that we should be more productive. Type-A personality or not, we spend one hundred eighty days maximizing our mind, body and soul with the great responsibility of educating America’s youth.  My little brother often relishes in reminding me of the thirteen weeks paid vacation we teachers enjoy.

Must be nice, Kel.  Yeah, tough life.  

Or…

Yeah, sorry I couldn’t talk.  I was at work.  Some people have to work all year, ya know.  

Thick as thieves, my brother and I banter and rip on each other without repercussions.  Unlike other relationships, I can call him out on this nonsense.  For others though, I wish they just knew.   

Dear non-educators,  

Guess what? Teachers and administrators alike, deserve summers off.  Yes, we knowingly chose this taxing yet rewarding, profession and despite the demands, absolutely love what we do.

Energy, however, is a precious commodity, and, for 80% of our waking hours, for 80% of the year, we transfer 80% of our mental and physical energy to our students.  

If we don’t pour it all into our kids, the consequences are dire.  Like doctors, our daily actions directly impact the lives of human beings.  We may not be talking life or death in the classroom, but, as Nelson Mandela eloquently put,  “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”  

Education is everything.  

Consider our summers off to be a mandatory teacher retreat.  Educators must rejuvenate for an extended period, so that we may be our best selves for the next cycle.  Gaining perspective and pressing the reset button should be required for fields that whole-heartedly and unconditionally serve others.  

You wouldn’t want a burnt out doctor performing your lasik eye surgery, would you?

So non-educators, I kindly request that you stop telling teachers, it must be nice. It kills our summer vibe and our glorious three-hour brunch marathons.  We promise to continue to give it our all, if you just let us chill for a hot minute.     

Sincerely,
Your daughter’s, or nephew’s or (someone you love’s) teacher.  

Teachers, let’s redefine the word productive.  Productive doesn’t have to mean deep scrubbing your oven racks.  Restorative practices such as reading a book, going for a hike, cooking a meal from scratch or cultivating your urban garden is plenty productive.

Taking advantage of feeding the soul this summer could really pay off come fall. For me, just spending more time with my husband and daughter is productive enough.  

The next time someone says..oh, it must be nice... just smile and say, yes it is!  You should try it.  I’ll sign you up as a guest teacher for my students this fall!

Keep on summerin’ teachers! Power to the teacher.