Experimenting

I am playing with the whole blog layout thing. I see all the other pretty blogs and I want one!!!! So bear with me until I can figure it out and get it just the way I like it! :-)

He Got a Job, He Got a Job, He Got a Job!!!

So the newest update on my friend T.A.'s road to teaching greatness is that he had an interview at Thurgood Marshall Elementary in Richardson ISD yesterday and he was offered the P.E. teaching position! Wow!! This is just such a huge blessing right now for numerous reasons. First of all, there are several hundred unemployeed teachers floating around the Metroplex right now because of all the budget cuts of the last year, not only in Dallas, but surrounding districts. Many districts are not hiring at all right now, and the few that are must be inundated with resumes and applicants clamoring for positions. Secondly, T.A. was looking for a P.E. position, and these are rarities in and of themselves. Since most schools only hire one P.E. teacher, this is not a high-demand area. Thirdly, T.A. is an alternative certification candidate and those are pretty low on the totem-pole right now. The fact that he was able to score an interview within two weeks of passing his test and then be offered the job on his first interview is amazing!!

It is really thrilling to see his goals finally coming to pass after so many years of ups and downs and disappointments. I know he is going to be an outstanding teacher and mentor!! Congratulations Mr. Alford!!! :-)

P.S. I would put a picture here of T.M. Elementary's newest staff member, but my camera was STOLEN at school and I am digital-less yet again. WHY is it that the few material possessions I have in life must always be taken from me illegally?? WHY????

What Makes an Effective Teacher?

I recently filled out an application for something (which shall remain undefined at this point in time) and was asked the following question, among others. "What makes an effective teacher?" This was my response...

There is much talk today in education circles about the shortage of teachers and the need for "highly-qualified" educators in our schools. It seems like everywhere you turn there is an advertisement recruiting college-degreed people into the teaching field. Upon closer examination of these programs and definitions of "highly-qualified" one finds a list of requirements that include GPA's, test scores, college credits, and transcript totals. But nowhere in the definition of NCLB's highly-qualified teacher do you find the requirements of being selfless...of possessing passion...of believing in the worth of each and every child...of having the ability to relate to the students in a way that makes learning relevant, exciting, and fun. Although I agree that it is important for teachers to possess the appropriate academic credentials, I believe it is equally important to possess the inner qualities that are going to enable those teachers to actually impact students' lives.

First of all, a teacher must be selfless. The needs of his or her students will always take precedence over the teacher's personal feelings or desires. The teacher must be willing to sacrifice time, resources, and energy in order to truly be effective. Teaching can never be an 8-4 job in which the employee clocks in, clocks out and leaves it all tidily behind at the closing bell...not for the most effective teachers. The demands and needs are simply too great. An effective teacher doesn't see her position as just a job or a paycheck..it is a life's work that doesn't end when the students go home at the end of the day. It isn't limited by a salary or a clock.

Teachers are able to consistently exhibit this kind of self-sacrifice because of a deeply rooted purpose and passion for what they are doing. Teachers must love WHAT they teach and WHO they teach. It can never be just a job they endure for nine months for the sake of summer vacations and a retirement plan. They must operate from a drive deep within that is greater than just having a "job." The most powerful teachers are those that are masters of what they teach...they are mathmeticians, they are scientists, they are historians, they are English language experts who choose to share their love and expertise for math, science, history and English with students. Their knowledge and love for the content they teach is reflected in engaging and exciting lessons. They create an infectious interest in these subjects among their students. Teachers also have to love kids. It is amazing to me how many teachers enter the profession with no real affection for children. It is reflected in their impatience, in their harsh comments, in their lack of empathy and understanding toward students ....the types of attitudes that breed disciplinary issues and a breakdown of students' self-confidence and motivation. The best teachers have a natural connection with kids and love interacting with them on a daily basis.

Finally, effective teachers must have the ability to know how to relate to their students in a way that makes learning come alive. They must be in touch with the culture and generational world views of their students in order to know how to make their instruction relevant and engaging. They are constantly searching for ways to help their students apply content learning to meaningful real-world situations and scenarios. These rare teachers are the ones that can inspire even the most relunctant learners to excel. These teachers understand the fine line of speaking the langugage of kids without being a kid...they know how to relate without blurring the line between teacher and "friend." This means that teachers have to be constant learners themselves. They have to constantly be striving to educate themselves on the things that matter to kids, on emerging technologies, on emerging cultural trends, on emerging educational approaches and philosophies. They're open to growing and evolving as educators. These are NOT the teachers who are still using the same lesson plans from the 1960's when they began their educational careers. Simply put, the very best teachers are voracious learners.

It is unfortunate that so many adults can walk into classrooms across our country with a spotless transcript and the highest academic qualifications on paper, yet be completely ill-equipped to be an effective teacher. In order to truly strengthen our education system for our children, I believe that inner qualities and capabilities must be scrutinized just as closely as academic standards and proficiencies in recruiting effective and powerful teachers.

Wilderness Trek Car Wash Saturday!!!

We had a fun get-together at Janet's house a couple of Saturdays ago to plan for a bi-annual trip to Colorado for Wilderness Trek with some of the teens who have been involved with Central Dallas. I had the opportunity to go with a Central Dallas group in 2004 and it was such a great experience. It was amazing to see kids who have rarely been out of Dallas, much less Texas, travel to such a completely different enviroment and be challenged in so many ways, yet come back inspired and proud of accomplishing something they never even considered doing. At that time, we always took the staff from the University of Values summer program after the camp ended, so the group already knew each other well. This year will be a little different. We will have teens that have been involved at different times and places with CDM and do not necessarily know each other. (We are also going to allow Dezeray, one of my students here at PCA, to join the group. ) We had a fun time at our information gathering getting to know each other, getting a better understanding of what the trip is about, and even having races to see who could put a tent together the fastest. I think we are definitely going to have a great group and I'm already excited about August! (For those of you who don't know what Wilderness Trek is, it is a Christian based organizaiton that guides high school students to backpack up one of the many 14,000ft peaks in the Rockies. Very challenging, but rewarding experience through which one can learn many important life lessons as well as grow spiritually).

Another important difference with this group is that we will be raising our own funds. In the past, donors always provided the trip for Central Dallas groups. However, although some teens really got a lot out of the experience, others didn't always truly value the opportunity because it wasn't something they had to plan for or invest in. Mr. Edd or Janet or others would work hard to get funds donated to cover our trip, and then some teens might decide not to go at the last minute. This year, it was decided that in order to develop more commitment from the participants, they would need to be involved in the fundraising. Therefore, the other purpose of our gathering last week was to plan some events to raise money. Each participant will need to raise $350, more if they want to do extra stuff while we are in Colorado like rafting or swimming in the hot springs in Salida. I think this is a do-able goal, but it's going to take a team effort from all involved.

Our first fundraiser will be this Saturday. We are having a car wash at the Richardson East Church of Christ from 9-12. After all the rain we've been having, Saturday would be a great day to come get your cars spruced up!! If you would like to help us wash cars, that would be awesome, but even just coming by to be serviced is helpful! So...if you can help out by providing old towels, buckets, sponges, paper towels, or tire cleaner, let me know and I will pick it up from you. If you can help with washing skills and techniques, meet us in Richardson on 9 on Saturday. If you can help with contributing funds to have your car cleaned, show up in your dirty ride and we will make it sparkle!!

Thanks for your support!

Trip to Aggieland and Down Memory Lane

When I first came to Dallas back in the summer of 2002 to do a youth internship at Highland Oaks, my host home was with the David and Sandi Campbell family. This random decision on their part to host an intern and my random decision to come to Dallas ended up leading to some of the most special relationships in my life! At the time, Meredith was either 14 or 15 years old, the same age as my little brother Dawson, so I always thought of her as the little sister I never had. :-) At the same time, Meredith only had brothers, so I was her "big sister." After the summer was over, I went to Guyana, South America for a few months and then ended up returning to Dallas to do an internship at Central Dallas Ministries. The Campbells graciously opened their home to me again for about five months and even offered me a part-time job at David's law firm. This family was such a huge blessing to me and instrumental to me getting my feet on the ground here. At the same time, Meredith has continued to be a great friend and "sister" to me. She has always been very mature and focused for her age and we have been through a lot of personal ups and downs together. It has been awesome to watch her through high school and drill team and college applications and then through college and career decisions and boyfriend uncertainties. And now, seven years later, Meredith is getting married! Whoa! I feel so old!! She met a great guy, Brandon, at her church at A&M and their wedding is at the end of May, when they will get married and study happily ever after. (He's going to med school in the fall and she is starting her Ph.D in clinical psychology at A&M).

So this weekend was her birthday and one of her showers in College Station. Now, for four years, I have been saying I was going down there to visit her. Now that she's about to graduate, I figured that it was time for me to stop procrastinating. So Saturday I hopped in Lady Yac (my car) and headed south through our very beautiful state to Aggieland! I ended up really enjoying the weekend. A&M is a really one of a kind place. Everytime I visit a big college campus like that, I'm blown away because it's such a drastic contrast to LCU. At the same time, it's crazy because the whole weekend reminded me of my college days and made me miss college a lot. Because despite the fact that our universities are completely different, the general experience is so much the same. As I hung out with Meredith and her roommates, the conversations and the camaraderie was so familiar. When you're in college, you just don't realize how much you'll miss that time in your life later. It's the only time in your life when you're so much on the same page with so many great friends and people, when you share so many unique bonding experiences with people.

Sometimes I wish I could have went to college twice. I loved LCU and I loved the small college experience. At the same time, I will always be curious what it would have been like to go to a huge university like A&M or UT with all of the traditions and history and school spirit. It would have be awesome if I could have just rewound my life back to age 18 after I graduated LCU and started over as a freshman at some big college just to see what that was like! :-) However, since I'm now knocking on the door of 30, I think I should give up my big college dreams and just live vicariously through people like Meredith!

The funniest thing that I saw at A&M was in front of Kyle Field where they have the 12th man statue and then this little roped off area where all the Revellie dogs are buried. I don't know why it is so humorous to me that these dogs get their own special roped off memorial site with special lights and plaques and everything, but it cracks me up. Only at A&M!!

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find my camera so I don't have any pics of my adventure in Aggieland, but hopefully I will find it before the wedding so I can at least post pictures of that in a few weeks!

He Passed, He Passed, He Passed!!!!!

T.A. got the exciting news that he passed his teacher certification test this week! Now to move onto bigger and better things!

I was just really proud of him for how hard he worked to achieve this goal and can't wait to see him in action as a teacher next year!

Here are a few pictures of T.A. doing what he does best...motivating the thugs (as he says).





Way to go, T.A., for going hard in the paint and refusing to let anything stop you from getting to where you want to be and where you can make an even bigger difference! :-)

The Soloist

A few months ago I saw a preview for the movie called "The Soloist" with Jamie Foxx and thought then that it looked intriguing. As the time grew nearer for its release, I began to hear more and more "hype" about the movie. I began to really look forward to seeing it and even paid the absolutely ridiculous and painful price of $10.00 per ticket on Saturday to check it out.

Ten dollars and two hours later...I was disappointed. Really, you didn't learn anything from watching the movie that you couldn't have gathered from the preview. Basically, a reporter in L.A. who is searching for his next big story meets the character played by Jamie Foxx, who was a former Julliard music student now living homeless on the streets of L.A. Mr. Ayers was a victim of mental illness and schizophrenia which led to his demise. The reporter ends up befriending Mr. Ayers (but still capitalizes off of writing popular feature pieces about him) and connecting him with a new cello that revitalizes Mr. Ayers passion for music. The reporter also attempts to get Mr. Ayers off the streets and into what he perceived as a more suitable situation, but it turned out to not be quite as simple as he rosily envisioned.

At first, I was a little perturbed with the movie because it just wasn't what I expected. It wasn't as powerful as I thought it was going to be. I wasn't really moved. But since I did pay $10 to see the dumb thing, I decided to reflect on it a little more and share what I took away from it.

First of all, I was a little bothered by how the movie portrayed the homeless community. Maybe it's different in L.A., but I have never personally witnessed the chaos, the open drug use, the open prostitution, etc. that defined all the scenes of the homeless in this movie. It portrayed the shelter with a very "frightening" connotation in my opinion. It seemed to amplify the common stereotypes we hold about the homeless. I wondered how many of the homeless would feel about being portrayed in such an overly-negative light. While it is true that many homeless struggle with substance abuse or mental illness, there are also many who do not. The absolute chaos surrounding the shelter in this movie seemed a little extreme and might quite possibly perpetuate the fears that many hold toward the homeless.

Then, in the reporter's character, I recognized something that was uncomfortably familiar. In so many movies or stories about the inner city, or about the homeless, or any other less popular part of American society, there is always some white "hero" to save the day. And the story becomes more about them than the community. Even in my experiences here in South Dallas, I meet many well-intentioned people but they come with a focus that is really more about how this service will make them feel, what stories they'll be able to go back home and tell about their good deed with the poor folks. Steve Lopez, the reporter, was at first drawn to Mr. Ayers because of how he could use his story for his own purposes. Many times well-intentioned people arrive on the scene armed with an agenda and "solutions." They arrive without ever really taking the time to really get to know the people for who they are and not what stereotypes have defined them as. They arrive without asking them for their expertise and input about what the problems really are and inviting them to invest in the solutions. The result is that many times these do-gooders are either disappointed or offended by the response to their "help." They may leave indignant and angry about the lack of gratitude and appreciation by "those people." Or perhaps under better circumstances, they return to their homes in the suburbs, feeling warm and fuzzy about their service, but leaving no real change behind. Real change comes with relationships, with investment, with listening, with partnership, with community.

This movie was really about Lopez's journey of discovery in this regard. It was his realization that it wasn't about helping Mr. Ayers, but about becoming his friend. He realized that the most important thing he could do for Mr. Ayers was just be a part of his life, be a listener, be a supporter...be a friend. Forcing his ideas of solutions on Mr. Ayers only created a divide and mistrust between them. Accepting Mr. Ayers, respecting him, and dignifying him as a friend (not a service project) was where the good was found, not in the deeds he tried to do.

The other thing that I appreciated about the movie was the message that everyone has a story...everyone. No one would have suspected that this disheveled and eccentric looking man playing an old violin with two strings had once been a bright and gifted student at Julliard. What amazing stories we hear and what amazing people we discover when we look past the exterior and extend the hand of friendship.

So although it took two hours of slow moving dialogue and a whole lot of classical music (which was putting me right to sleep at 10:30 on Saturday night), there were a few important messages buried beneath the predictable storyline.