Cool titles are for posers.

Preface

I am beginning to become more vocal about my educational philosophies. Like walking out into the desert sans water, I am opening my reluctant maw. I teach in a "traditional" school. (GASP)

Chapter One: The First and Only

I am beginning to reach a very different level of enlightenment. A new high, maybe. I think that Compass, great as it was for me, really fogged my brain. I lost track of what was real. What, actually, WAS authentic learning.

I have felt honored lately. People ask for my opinion a lot now. And, I realize, we are learning this together.

I guess I thought once that all we had to do was open up shop and slap an alternative model onto it, and we'd be doing everything there is to do. Sadly, that is not a reality. Real teaching is hard work. And, I'm not poking at those of you in alternative schools right now. What I'm getting at is how terribly we were misled back then. Just because someone works in a "conventional" school - they are not necessarily bad teachers, or inauthentic or clueless as perhaps we once thought. They are just overwhelmed with the realities of their job. And frankly, 90% of them rock. Seriously, real teaching is like trench warfare. And again, no offense is meant here, but I don't believe that one can truly understand what is alternative until they try to ply said warfare in a "conventional" setting.

My point is, I guess, that I used to fall back on Compass as this paradigm of how great passion meets great resistance. I thought it to be quite formative. Point blank... it was not. Sure, the megalomaniac at the gates sure could be grumpy, but in general - there was one focus.

You see, I'm the guy at huge district-wide staff meetings that suggests portfolio assessments. I'm the guy screaming for experiential pedagogy to be built in IN LIEU OF state standards. I'm the renegade that pleads with administrators to realize that authentic, meaningful learning CAN'T BE MEASURED. And most of the time, I am awed by the fact that I am received with support. With kindness. With enthusiasm. But putting it out there is hard. Not being sure. Hoping I know what I'm talking about. The truth is simple. Teachers want to teach. As long as my passion is well-aligned and I can support what I do, my administration is fine with it. Truly, it's not as I was told. I am met with no great injustice or blatant ignorance.

We had it all wrong. Sure, there are bad teachers... but overall - there is no wrong way to learn. Such a thing is a logical fallacy.

Like most of my posts, I am dancing around a point here. I think it is this: Reform happens from within. I commend all of you that are working so hard from the outside to change things, I really do. But I think it always has to come down to this question: Am I doing what I am doing because I really believe it to be the most authentic way to teach, or am I doing this because it looks "alternative" to outside eyes? And be honest. We teach kids all the time the power of self-reflection and integrity. But do we always live it?

Perhaps I am disappointing some of you by this revelation. I hope that is not the case. I still believe in my heart that this is my calling. I know it is for many of you reading this, too. But, public education is in jeopardy. Maybe charter schools provide a brief sanctuary from that darkness, but it won't be that way forever. We mighty few have to take it back. That seems to be the legacy time has given us.

Thanks for listening.