Can Passion Cross The Line?

Today I spent some time talking to a education related company, offering feedback on their various products and their social media presence. First, kudos to them for bringing in teachers and other educational professionals to have open and honest feedback about what they are doing right and a little about how they could be better.

And here is where I am at a crossroads...

Those who know me or read regularly know I love reflection. Taking that time to think each day about what we have done, what to do or just to think is so important to our personal growth and learning. Open reflection is even better. That is what I truly enjoy about this space is that I can openly reflect here and have folks help me stretch my thinking. 

So what we were doing here with this company was the same. We were asked to reflect on products and services and offer ideas to make them better or how they could be changed or what needs to be different. Yet every time we talked about something new the conversation instantly turned to attacking various parts of products or services.

Believe me, I love constructive criticism. I want to be better and I believe this company wants the same. But is there a line that can be crossed when we turn from constructive criticism in to complaining or just flat out whining?

(Maybe I am whining in this post...)

Angela Maiers is one of my most favorite bloggers/tweeters/people. She speaks a lot about passion and why we need to have passion for what we do. There was a lot of passion in the room we were in today but is their a point where passion crosses the line? 

What do you think? Help me work through this one.

Why Can't We All Just Get Along...

So, I just realized this is my 400th post. Neat! Thanks for reading and all your support over the past 2 years!




This is a post that has been brewing for a while now....


But after a conversation I had this weekend I think it's time to get some of my thoughts out there for reflection. 


I totally get passion in education. And really can you be an educator and not have passion for education? Perhaps that is a post for another time. 


But the way I see it, many have moved passed passion and moved to anger. 


Again, I totally get that. I am upset with many things in our current system. Sure, if asked, I would give a lot of the "reformers" a piece of my mind. 


But...


It seems like if  you disagree with one side or the other you are perceived as dumb, stupid, or much, much worse. 


My conversation started out with a Tweet that (to paraphrase) asked if a certain, central figure in the reform debate, that many admire and look up to actually had any ideas or if she just ran around the country telling us what is wrong without actually offering up any ideas. I follow this "reformer" on Twitter and her stream is filled with what comes across in 140 characters as anger. Again, I get that. (Remember, I am angry too.) But my point was that when you had the audience she did last week why not give them something tangible to take back to their districts to try or do? Seems reasonable, right?


Normally I don't tweet things like that. I don't. I like the discussion but there are people out there in ol' Twitter land that use the screen as one of anonymity and they believe because they are behind this screen they can say and do whatever they like. Don't get me wrong. Again, I love the conversations. I totally enjoy for my thinking to be pushed. However I have limits....


So after my tweet, which I figured would draw some comments I got plenty of, "I agrees," and a few people who disagreed, which was great. I had fun engaging and talking to them. Then there was one who, has passion, but that passion has grow to anger. And if you cross them, say anything negative about the reformer  whom I mentioned earlier, well, you might as well pack up and go home. 


This tweeter had solid arguments for certain types of reform and the direction we should be going, many I agreed with. However, it was the personal attacks and just general poor language that really made me loose respect for this tweeter. 


Disagreement is cool. Makes us think differently and see other sides, but to move from disagreement to creative hashtags, none appropriate to even write here, really just make your arguments look weak. 


This isn't the first time I have written about this or even encountered it. In a post from late last year I wrote about Education Nation project from NBC and how it was getting all sorts of negative attention from the Twittevers and blogsphere. Again, there I tried to say we needed to move from talk to action. 


In my most popular post ever on this blog I wrote about why we should all think before we Tweet. 


For me I keep coming back to this idea that I believe people who use social media or tools like it feel some level of anonymity and they can say, really what ever. What if we were having a face-to-face conversation? Would the person who I had my conversation with this past weekend behaved the same and said the same things? I am doubtful. 


I am not the only one to notice this trend. My friend Michelle, just wrote a post today about the exact same issue. In it she says; 

What do we tell kids about comments on blogs, online articles, Facebook status updates?

1. PLAY NICELY.
2. If you disagree, you can do so without attacking another person’s character.
3. If you wouldn’t say it in person, don’t type it online.
4. Remember, there are human beings on the other end.
5. Remember, you are also a human being.
6. Rule #1 is really all you need.

So why so much animosity amongst educators in online spaces lately? I would say that the current turmoil in which we find ourselves (perhaps related to education reform discussions) is part of it. But are we practicing what we preach? I don’t think so.

Couldn't agree more Michelle. And Seth Godin had a piece this weekend where this last line says simply, "Anger, on the other hand, makes us smaller." 

We are going to disagree. And you know, that makes us smarter, pushes our thinking and helps us see all sides. But is it possible to do it without anger? Passion, sure. But anger?

What do you think? Is this a problem today? Is it a result of the anonymity I say the screen provides or is it something else? Leave some comments below. 

Passion For Real Education Reform

Cross Posted At http://www.angelamaiers.com

Depending on who you listen to, this is a really great time to be an educator or a really bad time to be one. On one side you have those that would have you believe our education system is broken, un-fixable, so far beyond repair that they reach at straws trying to find something that will bring us back from the brink of disaster. On the other, there are those that know there is greatness out there, it just isn’t seen in the mainstream. There are lots of voices, each trying to be louder than the last, proclaiming that they have the right idea.

Me?

I don’t really have any answers. Lately, I have been struggling with my thoughts on reform and education, wondering what is right and who to listen to. But through all my reading, conversations and thoughts, one thing is, and will remain clear for me. No matter what, the key to any type of change or reform is passion.

Through the use of social media I have become connected to thousands of educators from all parts of the world. Each and every day these dedicated people walk into a classroom, office, workshop, where ever and do the same thing day in and day out. They want what is best for kids and will do everything in their power to do so.

I could get real cheesy and give you a Websters Definition of passion, or provide some You Tube video of what I think passion is. But honestly you know what passion is. If you would work with kids or in education in any way you know what passion looks like, or at least you should.

Passion is getting up everyday and walking into a room of students, not knowing who will come in hungry, or who's parent was arrested last night or who hasn’t had a place to sleep for the past week, but through it all providing the best learning experience for each kid.

Passion is arriving in the classroom before the sun rises and leaving after the sun sets to plan a lesson, set up a lab or take part in professional development, to provide the best learning experience for each kid.

Passion is spending thousands of dollars out of pocket each year on the supplies we know kids need but districts have decided to cut in their never ending search to trim budgets all in an effort to provide the best learning experience for each kid.

Passion is knowing inside that you really work 13 months a year, even though some might say you are lucky you have “summers off,” because you know what you learn and do in your free time helps provide the best learning experience for each kid.

Passion is working and learning with kids.

If I have learned one thing over the past few years in education is that change is not something that happens fast. And I believe it shouldn’t. A lot times schools are reactive instead of proactive and that just sets us up for disaster. We shouldn’t jump on bandwagons and change things as often as we change, well, you know the rest of that. Nor should we move at a snails pace, forming committee after committee to make mundane decisions.

Yes, there are things that are wrong. But are they as bleak as some in Washington or at the movies would have us believe? I don’t think so. I see lots of great things in schools each day. And the one thing that is consistent everywhere I go and with everyone I talk to is that they have passion.

Do you?

Enduring Passion...

On Tuesday of this week a little bit of passion in education died with the passing of Jaime Escalante. While the name might be meaningless to you, his story is one I bet you might know. You see Jaime taught math in one of the poorest and toughest schools in Los Angeles. As the subject of the 1988 film "Stand and Deliver" we discovered what we always thought. Inner-City kids, no matter their background or their situation can achieve great things. In the movie we see 14 students who had been cast aside as failures. Jaime takes these kids and beyond all odds helps them pass the Advanced Placement Calculus exam, only later to be accused of cheating. Really the only thing we can accuse Jaime of is having passion. He loved his job, cared for his kids and would stop at nothing to help them succeed. He also helped his kids realize their potential and helped them understand that they meant something to world and they were somebody. 


What Jaime had was passion...


This week for #edchat the format was a little different. Steve Hargadon and Classroom 2.0 sponsored a webinar with Sir Ken Robinson. The world acclaimed education author joined over 500 educators in Elluminate for a disscusion of his latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. For #edchat it was suggested we do a "warm-up" question, discussion passion in education and how could passion initiate change in education. Once again the discussion was fast but engaging. Here is a taste of what was said.

• Does passion = good teaching? Can you be a "good teacher" without it?
• Passion isn't something that is created but rather the results of the conditions under which learning is allowed to occur.
• To awaken "passion," we must broaden our focus to incorporate time to play, tinker, experiment, EXPLORE.
• Sometimes I think that my passion for what I do is what makes my job HARDER! 
• It takes one that is passionate about learning in order to be passionate about teaching.
• Burnout is possible for passionate teachers - especially if they feel unappreciate often - luckily, recharging can happen.

As always there is an archive of the entire discussion and I encourage you to read it. Also you can catch the archive of the Sir Ken Robinson webinar. Worth the hour to watch. 


Here are some of my thoughts...


I wrote about passion not to long ago. In that post I talked about educators who stifle passion in their students. And I can not emphisize that we have to avoid this. Seems like a no-brainer but seriously, whether they know it or not, there are educators out there who are killing the passion for learning in our kids. 


Tonight at dinner I had the honor of sitting with @johnccarver, the Superintendent of the Van Meter school district in Iowa. They are doing great things with their 1:1 program and if you are not following him on Twitter you are missing out. 


But I digress....


During dinner he told me of another district in Iowa that has incoming high school freshman write business plans or career skill papers. As part of the process the students can ask for a $2000 loan to carry out their plan. The district has store front space that the students can use to market and sell their wares. The students learn valuable skills and they just might make some money. John told me about several students who's ideas were being picked up by big business or bought out because they are so good. (There is so much more to this story. Once I can get John to give me more I will pass it along.)


The point of all this is that this district is fostering passion in kids. This district is allowing students to create and find out what they care about and are supporting them every step of the way. Why are there not more schools and districts out there like this!?! 


Instead we have too many schools that invite kids in only to spit them out like factory cogs all the long killing any ideas of independence of learning or passion they might have. And on top of that we have educators who are pleased to follow right along. 


What we need are teachers who care about kids. What we need are educators who have passion for learning themselves and want to foster that love in their students. What we need is teachers who have a fire in their belly for teaching, for discovery and teachers who want their kids to to experience the same. 


I will admit. There are days when I was teaching I didn't have the passion to do it. There was even a time that I thought about leaving the classroom and education altogether. But when I laid in bed at night thinking about my future I knew what I was doing was the right thing. I cared too much and had too much passion to leave. 


So do you have passion? When you go into your classroom or your school or your district do your colleagues know you have passion? More importantly,  do your students know it?

Where Is The Passion...

I am concerned.

I am concerned for our profession.

I am concerned for our parents.

Most of all, I am concerned for our kids...

I had a long talk the other day with a very good friend of mine. She is a teacher. A very good teacher. She told me that this might be her last year of teaching. Keep in mind she has only been in the classroom for 6 years but more and more she is feeling the burnout. There is too much "extra" stuff to do that is taking the place of authentic teaching, and, more importantly, taking away from authentic learning. Mandated curriculums, pacing guides, testing, it was just becoming too much.

We chatted for a long time after that. And she kept saying over and over that the reason she became a teacher was to make a difference. Now, if you ask most teachers I would be willing to bet most would say the same thing. They liked kids and wanted to make a difference. But think about your schools. Think about your staff. Who do you know who has real passion anymore? Passion for what they do, what they teach, and, passion for kids?

My friend certainly has passion. She loves kids. She is usually the first to arrive at school and always has to get kicked out the building at night. She spends hours crafting lessons and experiences for her kids, some of which are just amazing. She analyzes where her kids are and where they need to be and what she needs to do to get them there.

She mentioned to me about some other teachers in her grade level. They, she says, are not in it because they have passion. Yes, at one time they might have liked kids and liked teaching but now it is just routine. These teachers don't work as hard as her. They come in right before the day begins and are usually gone before the buses leave the lot at the end of the day. And yet their kids seem to be the most proficient (according to the only thing that matters 'round these parts, state testing).

It frustrates her greatly. Because using the same measures, hers are not seen as proficient. (Yes, I know that is not the only measure, but we are talking real world here.) While she is providing a much more rich and authentic learning environment for her kids, it is not translating where it matters and she is beginning to question her ability and her passion.

Whoa...wait just a second...

If there is anyone who has passion it is her. But the problem is, our system keeps trying to push teachers like this out of the profession. National Standards, testing, accountability, all play a part in forcing more and more teachers like my friend out.

And why?

Because, these teachers are not likely to just nod their head and agree with everything. These are not the kinds of teachers to just stand idly by while some suit decides education policy. No, what the suits want are the teachers like the ones on my friend's grade level. The ones who teach to tests. The ones who don't see anything wrong with the system and will just do what they are told without question.

So I am worried. I am worried that all the teachers out there who have the passion, who have the drive and desire to do great things for kids, who are doing great things for kids. What are we doing, as administrators, superintendents, elected officials, parents, students, community members to make sure we have teachers with passion teaching our kids and not just teachers who have nothing better to do?