Curiosity: It's Not Just for Kids

As I scroll through education related social media feeds, I am amazed at the amount of conferences, workshops and learning opportunities available to teachers throughout the country. On any given day, a variety of experiences are being shared, usually by other educators, to help us hone our curriculum delivery, behavior management, self-care, etc... Lately as I look over the repertoire advertised, I have come to sit in wonder at how we will spend time and money to go listen to other educators when we have educational professionals just down the hall, up a flight of stairs, or in the room next door. Why do we not explore and make good use of this free daily opportunity to be curious, gain knowledge and learn new tricks of the trade from those we know.

As educators we come together in school to share time and talent, and yet we squander the opportunities set before us each day. I am a ridiculous contemplator and as such I often challenge myself by asking, "Do I give each of these amazing people who share this year's journey with me everything I have to offer? Do I lend an ear when needed? Do I give a smile every chance I have? Do I ask for their help, their opinions and their advice? Do I keep myself open to learn from them? Heck, do I even know the names of the over 70 people who are housed in this building with me on a daily basis?"

School is a home that we share with these other adults, 

and yet we know so little about them..

With this in mind, I have made a commitment to myself. I will attempt to make connections and learn from these professionals I see every day. As a self-aware introvert, I have trained myself to make the effort to know every name of those teaching in the building with me. Some days are crazy, and so if someone starts mid-year it may take me a few days to ask for their name, but even if that is the case, I still commit the time to meet them and let them know I am here for them. As for others who have been in the building with me for years, I make it a point to say hello and smile when I see them, and when it's been a while since I've seen them, I say as much to let them know I noticed. 

Here's the thing that bothers me though. While I know everyone's name and expertise, I have not visited most classrooms, and for that I hold out a personal challenge for the rest of this year. So often classrooms are demoted to a level similar to dorm rooms in college. We only visit the ones that house those with whom we work closely, or those from whom we need to borrow something. If we follow the dorm-room example, our supervisors and administrative staff are the Resident Advisors who come in to check things out. They visit each room and get to know the feel of the environment. But why should this advantage and honor be limited to administration? Last week's faculty meeting was held in the classroom of one of my colleagues, and I sat there stealing ideas and taking notes on what I can do differently/better in my own classroom. Afterward I thought to myself how I work in a building where ideas are readily on display, and yet allow year after year to slip by without taking advantage of these amazing resources. How insanely wasteful!

At the end of June last year, a co-worker jokingly told another that the first day of school was only 12 weeks away. Meant to instill horror, for me it was a challenge. I had 12 weeks to figure out what I wanted to work on for the upcoming school year. Teaching is so amazing in that we get this natural pause during which we can reflect, regroup, reset and redirect. I always end up with an extensive list, much of which seems so easy when there is no school in session, and so impossible once the reality of a new year sets in. The main thing I decided I want to do better, and stating it here will hold me accountable, is that I want to consider how I can more deeply connect with my colleagues. 

My children have this odd behavior in which when we are out and about, they will look directly at someone from school without saying "hello" because, "Mom, that would be weird!" I say to them to imagine if they saw that same person while on a trip to a foreign country...no doubt they would be astonished to see that person and be compelled to say hello and share some information about what brought them both to this exact place and time. Why wait for extenuating circumstances to say hello and get to know one another? Exude kindness and familiarity daily with those who share this journey! These people are your family for the next several months of your life! It's an amazing honor to know and work with them in such an incredibly humble profession. Plus, they have so much to teach you, even if just by their example and a quick visit to their classroom.

One last thought because as I was writing this, I couldn't help but think that it's all about curiosity. So often we relinquish the temptation of curiosity, embarrassed that we have it, giving its power only to young children. We see young ones as inherently curious, and when we ourselves allow curiosity to take control, we think we are overstepping boundaries or acting less-than-adultlike. And so, I challenge you. Be curious! Ask about others! Acknowledge your commonalities that will help you to know one another more deeply. These are the little things that will help you to see past those items that tend to make us catty or gossip, which by the way are poison in a school building. Be curious. Be sincere. Be willing to create relationships and learn from your colleagues. Curiosity: It's Not Just for Kids!

Humility as a Cure for Humiliation

A recent conversation regarding a vocabulary word is the impetus for this post. I love words. I enjoy taking the time to choose just the right word. I like to learn new words, but I don't like to use uncommon words when I speak or write. I find doing so interferes with the enjoyable flow of a conversation or written passage. However, I do believe more complicated words have their rightful place as well. A friend of mine once laughed at the fact that I own a hard covered 1980's thesaurus. It's old and well worn. And it beats an internet search for a synonym or antonym any day of the week!  

All that to begin a post about "humility", the vocabulary word in question. When I introduce, and then we continue to practice with new vocabulary words, class discussions are the fuel for our learning fire. Typically after we have spent some time studying a list of words, students are asked to present one of the words to the class. They can use it in a sentence, draw a picture, give an example of a real-life event that illustrates the word, or simply use their own definition to tell the meaning of the word. This past Tuesday when I put humility on the board, it was because a particular student chose it as the word he wanted to present. This student chose "humility" precisely because he struggled to understand it's meaning. That was so awesome and apropos! And so we ran with it. It sat on the board and we talked. At first glance the student felt it had a negative connotation. With a little unearthing, the class determined he was confusing humility with humiliation. This prompted a discussion of humiliation, and students declaring instances of humiliation in their lives:

• being berated for not knowing what to do
• feeling "small" because we forgot our homework or laptop or ID card
• being told by peers we are not welcome at a lunch table that we worked up the courage to approach
• various things our parents do that make us feel like little kids instead of the budding young adults our middle school age indicates

After some serious discussion and some laughs at the many ways we tolerate and survive humiliation, we were back to humility. We talked about humility being the catalyst that can stop humiliation in its tracks. When we need to ask for the directions again and a teacher says, "It's OK, let me explain them to you a different way." or when we forgot our homework or laptop and the teacher says, "I get it, yesterday I forgot my phone at home", or "I forgot my laptop too!" Humility is the sense that I am not better than you, and you are not better than me, but we are both human! We both make mistakes. We both do some pretty amazing things too! Humility says you and I are on the same team regardless of our differences. Humility says, "I will follow the rules right along with you" or "I will sit next to you at the same desk or table, and we will work this out together." Humility says we are equals in terms of being worthy of respect, kindness and gentleness, even in the midst of our mistakes. Humility says you don't need to be afraid to say the wrong answer because you are safe choosing the word that is most difficult, so that together we can understand it better.

I have a feeling this particular group of kids has found a word to drive their intentions for the next few weeks or months. I plan to follow right alongside them. Not ahead, not behind, but arm in arm. I am humbled by their presence, by their bravery in learning and by their honesty in sharing. Together we will use humility to demolish humiliation.