Ben There. Done That.

(And I Lived to Tell About It)

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Thoughts on a New School Year

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I had a good friend share with me today that they told their children last night “I promise your teacher is as nervous or more nervous than you are.”

So much truth.

I’m no longer in the classroom, but the nervousness and anxiety I feel for folks in education — especially the folks I represent here in #BloNo — is palpable.

These days will not be easy. Not many days have been the past several months.

They won’t be easy for students. They won’t be easy for parents & caregivers. They won’t be easy for educators. They won’t be easy for advocates and decision-makers.

While the desire to encourage is admirable, be careful and thoughtful with your encouragement. As much as anyone involved in education right now needs encouragement, they also need empathy, understanding, patience and grace.

“You got this” is easy to say. But sometimes they won’t have it. Things will not always go smoothly. All the planning and preparation in the world won’t prevent every possible mistake or failure.

“I support you, I’m rooting for you, I believe in you and I will be here for you — whether things go perfectly and as planned or not” might be a more suitable sentiment right now.

We should all acknowledge this is not how anyone wanted to start the school year. And we should all acknowledge it will create challenges for everyone involved.

That doesn’t mean we can’t do this. And it doesn’t mean it won’t work.

But it does mean it may be frustrating, disappointing and exhausting at times — for students, parents & caregivers, and educators.

Every educator I know is feeling a mix of emotions. They are excited for another school year, another opportunity to do what they love. They’re disappointed to not be able to do it in the most effective way possible — and to not be able to be with their students, in person, as they support their growth and learning. They’re anxious — about using a new format, about new expectations, about partnering with a new group of parents and using old devices while they wait for new ones to arrive to educate a new group of students. They’re worried their desire to be their best and give their best won’t be evident amidst all the uncertainty and unknowns. And they’re nervous. I promise you, as my friend promised her own children, they are as nervous or more nervous than you are.

It will be easy in these coming days to express frustration, to share disappointment or disdain, and to direct anger where it’s convenient rather than appropriate.

I’d just like to encourage us all to resist the temptation to put too much pressure on ourselves or on others. 

Be patient.
Be flexible.
Be gracious. 
With yourself and with others.

You got this? Maybe.

We’ll get through this? Absolutely.

Together.

I need to learn to love my own smile

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I’m not sure what was being said when this picture was taken. Or who said it. It was taken a couple years ago during an awards luncheon where I was honored to receive an award for managing conflict. We were all asked to share briefly in front of the attendees when we received our awards. I don’t mind public speaking – I actually enjoy it. But I’ve never much enjoyed seeing pictures of myself.

Because I dislike my own smile.

I always have. I’m not exactly sure why.

Perhaps it’s vanity.

I don’t like my teeth … or how “gummy” my smile is. And there are few things I detest more than posing and smiling for a picture – that forced, fake smile. Seeing pictures of myself smiling is only slightly better than hearing recordings of my own voice. Scratch that – I think it’s worse.

Or, perhaps it’s something deeper.

Often I’ve pursued discipline while denying myself pleasure. I think I’ve always been inclined to deny myself pleasure, or to feel guilty when I’ve allowed myself to experience it. I haven’t sorted it all out, but I’m pretty sure it’s tied to my religious upbringing – my roots in Evangelicalism and its remnants of Puritanism. I’m getting better at it, but it’s a process. It’s partly why I refer to myself as a Recovering Evangelical.

So when I first saw this picture, I cringed a little. And while it’s a great picture, I’d refused to share it. Why?

Because I dislike my own smile.

Yet, I love the smiles of others. And I love making others smile and laugh.

That’s what I love about this picture. The pure emotion – nothing forced or fake. Nothing posed. Smiles and laughter.

I’m posting this picture for me.

To remind myself, as we head into this new year, that joy and happiness are important and valuable. That discipline is good, but pleasure is too. That we all need to smile and laugh more, that we need to appreciate the smiles and laughter of others more, that we need to bring out the smiles and laughter in others more. That I need to appreciate each moment and treasure the people who make me smile and laugh.

And, that I need to learn to love my own smile.

Game Six

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I’m still a bit in awe of Game 6 last night. Not sure I have the words yet … but lots of others have written some great stuff and I wanted to put it all in one place. Enjoy:

As I find more, I’ll try to add them here.

And, I’ll admit (and my twitter posts from last night will validate it), I had all but given up hope last night. It just started looking more and more like it wouldn’t be possible and more and more like the implosion I remembered as a child from the ’85 series that left me in tears as a 9-year old boy. And I’ll go ahead and say this now: I want like hell to see the Cardinals win Game Seven tonight. I’ll celebrate like a little boy. My friends who are Cubs fans will be mad at me and call me annoying and arrogant and I won’t care.  But, even if I’m not celebrating tonight, even if we “only” made it to Game Seven, I will always have, and will always remember, Game Six. You can’t take that away from me.

Matt Damon to Teachers: “We love you, we thank you and we will always have your back.”

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Matt Damon recently spoke at the “Save Our Schools” march.  You can find the speech, included below, here, and you can also see video of Damon at the rally below the text of the speech.

I flew overnight from Vancouver to be with you today. I landed in New York a few hours ago and caught a flight down here because I needed to tell you all in person that I think you’re awesome.I was raised by a teacher. My mother is a professor of early childhood education. And from the time I went to kindergarten through my senior year in high school, I went to public schools. I wouldn’t trade that education and experience for anything.I had incredible teachers. As I look at my life today, the things I value most about myself — my imagination, my love of acting, my passion for writing, my love of learning, my curiosity — all come from how I was parented and taught.

And none of these qualities that I’ve just mentioned — none of these qualities that I prize so deeply, that have brought me so much joy, that have brought me so much professional success — none of these qualities that make me who I am … can be tested.

I said before that I had incredible teachers. And that’s true. But it’s more than that. My teachers were EMPOWERED to teach me. Their time wasn’t taken up with a bunch of test prep — this silly drill and kill nonsense that any serious person knows doesn’t promote real learning. No, my teachers were free to approach me and every other kid in that classroom like an individual puzzle. They took so much care in figuring out who we were and how to best make the lessons resonate with each of us. They were empowered to unlock our potential. They were allowed to be teachers.

Now don’t get me wrong. I did have a brush with standardized tests at one point. I remember because my mom went to the principal’s office and said, ‘My kid ain’t taking that. It’s stupid, it won’t tell you anything and it’ll just make him nervous.’ That was in the ’70s when you could talk like that.

I shudder to think that these tests are being used today to control where funding goes.

I don’t know where I would be today if my teachers’ job security was based on how I performed on some standardized test. If their very survival as teachers was based on whether I actually fell in love with the process of learning but rather if I could fill in the right bubble on a test. If they had to spend most of their time desperately drilling us and less time encouraging creativity and original ideas; less time knowing who we were, seeing our strengths and helping us realize our talents.

I honestly don’t know where I’d be today if that was the type of education I had. I sure as hell wouldn’t be here. I do know that.

This has been a horrible decade for teachers. I can’t imagine how demoralized you must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you: As I get older, I appreciate more and more the teachers that I had growing up. And I’m not alone. There are millions of people just like me.

So the next time you’re feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope; the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself called “overpaid;” the next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policy that’s been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything. … Please know that there are millions of us behind you. You have an army of regular people standing right behind you, and our appreciation for what you do is so deeply felt. We love you, we thank you and we will always have your back.

Michael Vick Deserves to Die.

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Michael Vick Deserves to Die.

In his blog-post at the Church & Culture Blog: http://www.churchandculture.org/blog.asp?id=611, James Emery White writes:

Not on the Vick bandwagon is commentator Tucker Carlson who, commenting on Obama’s praise of an act of grace, said that Vick did not deserve a second chance.
Carlson said he should be killed.

“I’m a Christian. I’ve made mistakes myself, I believe fervently in second chances,” Carlson said as guest host for Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News Channel. “But Michael Vick killed dogs, and he did [it] in a heartless and cruel way. And I think, personally, he should’ve been executed for that. He wasn’t, but the idea that the president of the United States would be getting behind someone who murdered dogs… [is] kind of beyond the pale.”

… I do not know Michael Vick. I do not know Tucker Carlson. But Carlson is right – Vick deserves to die.

So does Carlson.

So do I.

Read the whole thing. It’s worth it.

Ben There. Done That.