It's been a while since I did a Teacher Talk Tuesday and you should know that it's not because I don't think about it. I do think about it- alot. In fact, when I can't sleep at night, one of the things I do is lay in bed and design imaginary lesson plans. If that doesn't tell you that a) I have a passion for teaching and b) that I'm a big nerd, then I don't know how else to prove it to you.
Actually, I guess you could peruse the archives of this blog. There's some pretty solid evidence there too.
Anyhoo. There's been a lot of stupid stuff in the media about teachers this year, and I've held my tongue for most of it- surprisingly. You'd think that when things piss me off to a phenomenal level like the whole Wisconsin Teacher Union thing did this past winter, I would have written about it. For whatever reason I didn't- probably because of the funk I was in. It was easier to sit on the couch and complain to Mr. C about the lameness that was on the tube in front of me, instead of getting up to assemble coherent thoughts and then relay them to you guys. Besides, Mr. C held the kettle chips hostage in the living room. I stay with the kettle chips. Always.
However, getting back to my point, (sorry! It's the kettle chips- they always distract) this week happens to be Teacher Appreciation Week. I decided to get on here and shine some positive light on you teachers out there, but mostly on one particular teacher, my favorite one- Mr. C.
Mr. C is a digital photography/imaging/animation teacher at Cathedral City High School here in our desert. His kids are part of the Digital Arts & Technology Academy (or DATA for short, which you should pronounce as I do- with your two front teeth protruded over your bottom lip and your eyes crossed. I love to make fun of the nerdy name). Mr. C though, he LOVES his job. Don't get me wrong, some days the self centered, lazy, all knowing shittiness that is teenagers gets to him and he comes home cranky. But most days, he is fired up to be in his classroom. Here's why: he loves creativity. He loves to point out (and I love this and use it all the time too, because I know it to be true), that there are some kids who would not get up in the morning and go to school if it wasn't for the art classes. Or the music classes. Or the dance classes. Or whatever class you can think of that isn't on the traditional "academic" spectrum.
Luckily, Mr. C has the support of the district (not financial, everything they have comes from a grant that he and the other DATA teachers applied for) and the parents. He's done an amazing job finding opportunities for his students to participate in. This year they've shot runway shows during fashion week, participated in Art Festivals, interned with our area's most popular photographers, shot concerts, and entered multiple contests. This last week, he went to San Diego for a conference with his Skills USA team, and his student won the Gold Medal for photography for the state- which means that next month he'll be flying back east with said student to participate in Nationals.
Here's what I want to point out: all this stuff that he does with his kids is on his own time, unpaid. Besides the amount of time that just basic teaching takes; the meetings, the grading, etc., he's giving up evenings, weekends, vacations, entire weeks to be gone. While he's doing that, I am holding down the fort and slowly loosing my mind while taking care of 4 kids. Um, did I sound bitter there? I'm not, really. (Well, maybe just a little- usually while I'm in the midst of a week without him and so exhausted from being on duty 24/7 and knowing that he's in a nice quiet hotel room somewhere.) But mostly I'm proud of him and I'm proud of the service he's giving to his students. I only sound bitter when I have to listen to certain idiots out there who believe that teaching is a part time job. Gets me hot under the collar.
Anyway, last night we went to the Palm Springs Unified Digicom Awards. Schools across the district submitted various short films and documentaries around the theme of "Making A Difference". Mr. C and some of my old work colleagues were there to receive an award for their project "Pandora's Box." If you want to see the project for yourself, you can follow the links. Click here to see the creation of the project, and click here to view the finished product.
I was just excited to see it because it was a collaboration with 3rd graders from the elementary school that I used to work at. Really, you should look at it. I think a lot of people still think that classrooms should be a place where desks are lined up in rows and teachers pace the aisles with the answers from the teacher's manual in their arms. See for yourself what classrooms look like when dynamic learning is taking place.
Now I'm just rambling. I'll go ahead and leave you with a pic of Mr. C and our crew last night before they went into the awards- before they saw their dad's students go up again and again to the podium to be honored, before they were inspired by the creative interpretations that kids- sometimes their own ages- gave about "Making A Difference, before they saw why their dad does what he does.
That was before they saw it, but now they know. And they couldn't be prouder.
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