What I Learned Lately (WILL 13/14 #16) by Dr. Josh Garcia
2/26/2014
@Garciaj9Josh
“The Monster under My Bed”
@Garciaj9Josh
“The Monster under My Bed”
At this time of year, I often find myself cold, tired, and a little down. Naturally my mind and body wants to retreat in order to cope. My mind and body work together to do very little. For me, little to no exercise, never enough sleep and always a pull towards a perceived warm fire or hot meal are the desired state. These short term fixes to the day to day challenges never fill my bucket. The more I attempt to sleep, the more “restfulness” eludes me. Over the years, I have come to better understand my restless mind and soul. For me this awareness is similar to the monster under my bed as a little kid. Perceived to always to be there, but never really sure because I was afraid to look.
In the past few weeks, I have relived a few days as a student. My first day I was a 5th grader, the second an 8th grader and the third a 9th grader. Personally, these were difficult grades for me the first time around. I go into trouble, I was disengaged and I felt lost with the unknown. From bell to bell I did my best this second time around. Each of these days I worked to complete every assignment, live the respective schedule, unplug, be a part of the class and tried to fit in. For me entering these days once again reminded me of the monster that lies under the bed, full of perceptions that I had made my reality.
The monster under my bed is my friend. He reminds me of the obvious, my fears are my own and created by my own reality. In most of the classes that I attended, I got what I put into them. However, some of my teachers were going to make sure that I didn’t settle for anything less than my best. They were relentless, they had an organized plan, which they orchestrated with nimbleness and artistry. They were clear on what they expected from me and my fellow students. I was asked to explain, defend and cite my work. I had to take notes and organize my thoughts in a structured manner, which was the same in other classes. It reminded me of the same tempo and structure of my college wrestling and rugby practices. We learned basic routines for stretching, warming up and moving through drills so that we could focus on the content/skill and not lose time. In some classes, I was told I needed to stretch my muscles and mind, that we need to pick it up a notch, which we did. I was never given “the answer” by these teachers aka “mind coaches”, only told to clarify my thinking with my neighbor, and asked where I could find the answer/s and why I thought I might need help. At the end of each lesson, I was tired and I was fresh. I knew I worked, I knew I learned and it felt great. I was not alone in these feelings. My other students were bright eyed and wanted more. It was like we were all addicted to learning. I was amazed that my presence as the new kid didn’t change the flow, we all knew what we were there to do, individuallly and collectively got better. Not some of us, but all of us.
In my other classes, we did very little talking or engaging. The class was stopped if more than one
person talked at a time, it felt like only one person could be fully engaged at once. The lessons were jam packed with the teacher explaining the content and how they wanted us to give the answer, which was often given to us if we waited long enough. The students had rules/norms to make it worse. They would ask low level questions so we didn’t have to do anything, it was a filibuster approach that was masterfully orchestrated and implemented. They knew and even told me, “If we wait long enough, “X” will just tell us the answer”. The same students who were alive earlier or later in the day with energy and curiosity appeared in a comma like state. In these classes there was no note taking, very little writing and a lot of worksheets with a one or two word answers. As a student you could feel it when you walked in the room, cold, tired and a constant state of grey. Fortunately, this environment was the exception and not the norm. As I write this, I am reminded on how cruel the truth can often be, however the living in delusion is not more consoling.
Over these days, I learned that I do better when I am worked. Our students can be challenged and trained for hours on end. That is why they stay after school for practices, performances and extended learning opportunities with great zeal. Our students can work harder than they do in their classes (they told me). We have talent in our classroom seats, we have talent in many of our teachers/“mind coaches”. We need to build better mental work outs for our students in all of our classes. A mental workout with timed intervals, activities that are connected, routines that stretch our muscles need to be relentlessly practiced. Some of us call these high yield or leveraged strategies, done with such fidelity that the students lead them with ease. We need to stop believing that going slower or stopping is going to engage more. This has to be matched with an environment that promotes self-competition on a daily basis. This can create a new phenomenon of group consciousness, which can be responsible for not only individual growth but collective impacts across our system. We have too much competing with another group or class when it comes to learning and not enough clarity on what it means to compete with yourself the “student”. Match this with some the mind coaches/teachers that I had this past few days, the ones who were talking us up, cheering us on, and individual pushing us for more and I know we can create the inspiration that we dream about daily. As school and community leaders, we must foster a belief system in all students, every day and in every class. We must define these principles with clarity and relentlessly uphold them for the sake of unity and good order of our society, even though we may know that others do not believe it to be truth.
The monster under my bed is there to remind me of who I am and when I am at my best or not... The monster is not here to provide fear, unless we should fear ourselves. The monster is just a mirror and when I look down, I see the “me” that needs to be worked. Over the years, the Monster has become my friend. Have you talked to your monster?
Finally from Shana Abe, The Smoke Thief
“All that effort,” he mused, “merely to avoid me. How gratifying.”
Cross-Posted: http://edge.ascd.org/_What-I-Learned-Lately-WILL-1314-16/blog/6563012/127586.html
In the past few weeks, I have relived a few days as a student. My first day I was a 5th grader, the second an 8th grader and the third a 9th grader. Personally, these were difficult grades for me the first time around. I go into trouble, I was disengaged and I felt lost with the unknown. From bell to bell I did my best this second time around. Each of these days I worked to complete every assignment, live the respective schedule, unplug, be a part of the class and tried to fit in. For me entering these days once again reminded me of the monster that lies under the bed, full of perceptions that I had made my reality.
The monster under my bed is my friend. He reminds me of the obvious, my fears are my own and created by my own reality. In most of the classes that I attended, I got what I put into them. However, some of my teachers were going to make sure that I didn’t settle for anything less than my best. They were relentless, they had an organized plan, which they orchestrated with nimbleness and artistry. They were clear on what they expected from me and my fellow students. I was asked to explain, defend and cite my work. I had to take notes and organize my thoughts in a structured manner, which was the same in other classes. It reminded me of the same tempo and structure of my college wrestling and rugby practices. We learned basic routines for stretching, warming up and moving through drills so that we could focus on the content/skill and not lose time. In some classes, I was told I needed to stretch my muscles and mind, that we need to pick it up a notch, which we did. I was never given “the answer” by these teachers aka “mind coaches”, only told to clarify my thinking with my neighbor, and asked where I could find the answer/s and why I thought I might need help. At the end of each lesson, I was tired and I was fresh. I knew I worked, I knew I learned and it felt great. I was not alone in these feelings. My other students were bright eyed and wanted more. It was like we were all addicted to learning. I was amazed that my presence as the new kid didn’t change the flow, we all knew what we were there to do, individuallly and collectively got better. Not some of us, but all of us.
In my other classes, we did very little talking or engaging. The class was stopped if more than one
Over these days, I learned that I do better when I am worked. Our students can be challenged and trained for hours on end. That is why they stay after school for practices, performances and extended learning opportunities with great zeal. Our students can work harder than they do in their classes (they told me). We have talent in our classroom seats, we have talent in many of our teachers/“mind coaches”. We need to build better mental work outs for our students in all of our classes. A mental workout with timed intervals, activities that are connected, routines that stretch our muscles need to be relentlessly practiced. Some of us call these high yield or leveraged strategies, done with such fidelity that the students lead them with ease. We need to stop believing that going slower or stopping is going to engage more. This has to be matched with an environment that promotes self-competition on a daily basis. This can create a new phenomenon of group consciousness, which can be responsible for not only individual growth but collective impacts across our system. We have too much competing with another group or class when it comes to learning and not enough clarity on what it means to compete with yourself the “student”. Match this with some the mind coaches/teachers that I had this past few days, the ones who were talking us up, cheering us on, and individual pushing us for more and I know we can create the inspiration that we dream about daily. As school and community leaders, we must foster a belief system in all students, every day and in every class. We must define these principles with clarity and relentlessly uphold them for the sake of unity and good order of our society, even though we may know that others do not believe it to be truth.
The monster under my bed is there to remind me of who I am and when I am at my best or not... The monster is not here to provide fear, unless we should fear ourselves. The monster is just a mirror and when I look down, I see the “me” that needs to be worked. Over the years, the Monster has become my friend. Have you talked to your monster?
Finally from Shana Abe, The Smoke Thief
“All that effort,” he mused, “merely to avoid me. How gratifying.”
Cross-Posted: http://edge.ascd.org/_What-I-Learned-Lately-WILL-1314-16/blog/6563012/127586.html
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