Well, folks. If for some odd reason you’ve ever wondered about the educational beliefs that drive me, wonder no more. Here they are...
But before I post, I must say this: I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of weeks hammering out this “Leadership Framework.” I completed the assignment for a graduate school class, but I found myself struggling to focus solely on my work in the schools because church life is so important to me. In fact, Christian Education was my focus during my years in divinity school. And that’s where the tension lies. When I was in divinity school, I struggled to focus solely on my work in church because school life is so important to me. In both graduate degree programs, I have found my heart split...and trying to apply my learning to more than just what the courses are supposed to prepare me for.
Several people have asked me recently what I plan to do when I finish my current graduate degree. I find myself honestly responding, “I have no idea. I know I’m supposed to be doing the program, but I have no idea what I’m going to do with the degree.” And I don’t. But I’m hashing out my passions and beliefs and praying that God will reveal the way. I’m not overly concerned. But I am glad to be finished with this assignment :-).
Philosophy of Education
I believe that education begins when we are born and ends when we die. Whether the learning is ours or the persons’ around us, and whether it is mental, physical, spiritual, or emotional, education is what happens each time we are exposed to something new and forced to do something with or about it. I believe that education is a process. It is continuous. It does not always begin and end with concept introduction, rather it is more often grown with time, intention, and experience. Education is formal in schools and churches. Education is informal in homes and relationships. I believe that education is trying, falling down, getting up, and trying again. Education is learning to walk and then acquiring the stamina to use the skill for good.
Philosophy of Leadership
I believe that leadership is the person or group of persons who lead whatever or whomever is being led. I believe that strong leadership is the person or persons willing to lead by humble, active example. I believe that leaders should lead with purpose and integrity, out of a sense of personal calling, and that leadership’s purpose should not be personal gain but organizational, group, and individual progress. I believe that strong leadership fosters success through relevant feedback, timely encouragement, wise decisions, difficult conversations, and a growth mindset for both itself and those being led. As a result, strong leadership creates thriving, healthy, positive, and growing organizations, groups, or individuals.
Vision for Learners
Learners learn in a variety of ways (musical-rhythmic, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, and existential) and at varying speeds and will be given the time, space, and opportunity to do so. Furthermore, learners will gain relevant, practical skills and knowledge to help them live as healthy individuals who make positive contributions to society.
Vision for Teachers
Teachers are experts in educational and developmental theory, practice, and learning. Life-long learners themselves, teachers will be knowledgeable of their content area and how to relate it to learners’ lives. Teachers will enjoy working with students and peers and be both leaders and team players as needed to foster a positive, safe, and healthy learning environment.
Vision for the Organization
The educational organization makes formal education possible. The educational organization will:
• Provide not only a safe, well-maintained building and recreational space but also a safe, orderly learning environment;
• Seek to be sustainable and environmentally responsible whenever possible;
• Supply both the technological and non-technological tools needed for learning and make those tools available and accessible to students and teachers alike;
• Create a positive organizational culture and climate by planning and investing in ongoing community partnerships and promoting healthy lifestyles by providing physical and emotional support systems for students, parents, and teachers;
• Center all actions and activities on shared goals and values;
• Celebrate accomplishments both big and small.
Vision for the Professional Growth
Professional growth is the cornerstone for professional success. Professional growth will:
• Be ongoing and provide opportunities not only for strengthening content knowledge and work effectiveness but also for strengthening self-awareness and intra- and inter-personal communication and understanding;
• Be relevant and meaningful and lead to proactive change in thought and/or action;
• Be a combination of what all stakeholders need to know to be on the same page and what individual stakeholders desire to know to be stronger and more effective in areas identified as strengths and/or weaknesses;
• Occur in the regular work environment and at special trainings.
Method of Vision Attainment
Attaining any vision or goal takes time, determination, focus, and patience. Vision attainment is a journey filled with ups and downs, successes and failures, bumps and bruises, efficient pathways and unexpected detours, and long hours of listening and allowing others to help navigate and lead. I plan to attain my visions by bunkering down for the journey, enjoying the ride with whomever I meet along the way, and doing everything I can to leave the wake of my path better than it was before I walked it.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Monday, April 17, 2017
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Maps and Puzzles
I first realized that kids were fascinated by maps when I taught at Erwin. I don’t remember what I was trying to teach, but I vividly remember standing in front of the map in my classroom and fielding question after question in rapid fire succession. I kept trying to steer us back to something somewhat musical, but I finally just gave up and answered my students’ questions.
Over ten years later—the world more technologically advanced than ever—kids still love maps. Not Google maps. Not Google earth. Not the GPS. But pull down, jump-in-fright-if-the-map-rolls-up-unexpectedly, topographical, political, geographical, continental, country, or state maps. In fact, the kids love maps so much that I have two huge maps permanently hanging in my classroom so that students can look at them whenever they want.
That being said, most kids—and I dare say most adults—are woefully ignorant when it comes to geography. I feel okay saying this because I, myself am woefully ignorant when it comes to geography. But. I’m happy to report that I’m getting better! And here is why:
I’m practicing.
And I’m practicing because I’m teaching.
And I’m teaching because the kids are interested.
The kids are interested in maps and the kids are interested in composers’ deaths and gravesites and the kids are interested in puzzles. Weird. I know.
One of the songs that I use as a springboard for a unit that focuses on basic geographical skills is “Hello To All The Children of the World.” In short, the song introduces the word “hello” in nine different languages from nine different countries: England, France, Spain, Australia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Israel, and Russia. [England’s and Spain’s languages, of course, cover America and Mexico as well]. As I’ve pointed to each of these countries on the map, I’ve learned where they are (not that they are overly difficult to find), and in the process I have paid attention to the countries around them. Not only that, I have watched a Little Big Shots video clip of Nathan-The-Four-Year-Old reciting all of the countries of Africa in under a minute.
So when I saw “The Global Puzzle” at Barnes and Noble last week, and the box challenged me to see if I could put together the puzzle without looking at the picture, I knew that I had to accept the challenge. With my mom. I don’t do puzzles without my mom.
My mom put together the border, North America, and Australia. Together, we sorted what we thought were the countries of Africa, Europe, Asia, and South America. After we sorted, we began putting together the continents. And it was hard—not because we’d sorted wrong but because we didn’t know where exactly the countries went on each continent! At one point, I gave up on country placement and moved to my puzzle forte: puzzle shape placement. Two hours after we started, combining both of our talents, mom and I had the world together. Now we will glue it together and I will take it to school where my students will think it incredibly fascinating.
There, I will add it to my classroom of real maps and globes—did I mention that I have seven globes in my room?—and I will continue in my attempt to teach my students basic geographical skills so that they won’t grow up geographically ignorant.
Now. Go find a map and locate a country about which you’ve always wondered. Then tell me about it. I’d sure like to know.
Over ten years later—the world more technologically advanced than ever—kids still love maps. Not Google maps. Not Google earth. Not the GPS. But pull down, jump-in-fright-if-the-map-rolls-up-unexpectedly, topographical, political, geographical, continental, country, or state maps. In fact, the kids love maps so much that I have two huge maps permanently hanging in my classroom so that students can look at them whenever they want.
That being said, most kids—and I dare say most adults—are woefully ignorant when it comes to geography. I feel okay saying this because I, myself am woefully ignorant when it comes to geography. But. I’m happy to report that I’m getting better! And here is why:
I’m practicing.
And I’m practicing because I’m teaching.
And I’m teaching because the kids are interested.
The kids are interested in maps and the kids are interested in composers’ deaths and gravesites and the kids are interested in puzzles. Weird. I know.
One of the songs that I use as a springboard for a unit that focuses on basic geographical skills is “Hello To All The Children of the World.” In short, the song introduces the word “hello” in nine different languages from nine different countries: England, France, Spain, Australia, Germany, Japan, Italy, Israel, and Russia. [England’s and Spain’s languages, of course, cover America and Mexico as well]. As I’ve pointed to each of these countries on the map, I’ve learned where they are (not that they are overly difficult to find), and in the process I have paid attention to the countries around them. Not only that, I have watched a Little Big Shots video clip of Nathan-The-Four-Year-Old reciting all of the countries of Africa in under a minute.
So when I saw “The Global Puzzle” at Barnes and Noble last week, and the box challenged me to see if I could put together the puzzle without looking at the picture, I knew that I had to accept the challenge. With my mom. I don’t do puzzles without my mom.
My mom put together the border, North America, and Australia. Together, we sorted what we thought were the countries of Africa, Europe, Asia, and South America. After we sorted, we began putting together the continents. And it was hard—not because we’d sorted wrong but because we didn’t know where exactly the countries went on each continent! At one point, I gave up on country placement and moved to my puzzle forte: puzzle shape placement. Two hours after we started, combining both of our talents, mom and I had the world together. Now we will glue it together and I will take it to school where my students will think it incredibly fascinating.
There, I will add it to my classroom of real maps and globes—did I mention that I have seven globes in my room?—and I will continue in my attempt to teach my students basic geographical skills so that they won’t grow up geographically ignorant.
Now. Go find a map and locate a country about which you’ve always wondered. Then tell me about it. I’d sure like to know.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Dresses, Continents, and Students--Oh My!
5th grade music today:
I’m trying to explain the concept of culture so that my students understand more of the differences that they will hear and see during the lesson.
I explain what “culture” I know best, setting up the explanation by telling my students that my dad is a preacher and that I have, therefore, been to a lot of different churches in my life.
“There are some churches that I’ve been to where, if I, as a female, would have worn pants, then I would have been out of place. The culture of those churches is one where people are expected to wear their very best and women are expected to wear dresses. There are other churches that I’ve been to, though, where I could wear jeans and it be perfectly acceptable. Neither of those things is wrong. It’s just a different belief system—a different way of doing things—a different culture.”
The kids seemed to understand what I saying, so we moved on.
Then a kid raised his hand.
“Do you remember when you were talking about the church that didn’t want women wearing pants? That’s because it’s in the Bible that women shouldn’t have anything between their legs.”
Umm…I’ve heard a lot of things that the Bible says that the Bible really doesn’t say, but I’ve never heard that one!
Trying to keep a straight face and not show my surprise and possible dismay, I very calmly responded, “That’s actually not in the Bible—at least not the Christian bible—but…” and then I quickly moved the conversation to how clothing has changed over the years and reminded the boys that boys used to wear gowns to bed. We’d learned this fact while learning about Beethoven.
Fast forward to 3rd grade music:
I’ve been trying to help my 3rd graders learn their continents, only they get really confused about the difference between city, state, country, and continent. I’m also trying to help them learn their planets—but we haven’t focused on the latter as much.
We’ve been working with information about the continents for a couple of weeks now, though. We’ve sung and danced and rapped and watched videos and played games.
So toward the end of the lesson today, as I was transitioning to the planets, I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked at what happened next.
I said, “So. We know that there are seven continents on our planet. But remind me what planet we live on?”
In response, I had a whole bunch of students yell, “North America!”
In that moment, I gently hit my forehead and asked again, “What planet do we live on?”
“The United States of America!” “No,” I pitifully shook my head and asked one more time, “ What planet do we live on?”
Then someone said, “Earth! We live on planet earth!”
Thank God!
Friends:
My school is in the city of Cameron in the state of North Carolina in the country of The United States of America on the continent of North America on planet Earth.
And the Bible says nothing about women wearing dresses because women are not supposed to have anything between their legs.
Please pass along this information as you see fit.
Especially to the children in your life!
:-)
I’m trying to explain the concept of culture so that my students understand more of the differences that they will hear and see during the lesson.
I explain what “culture” I know best, setting up the explanation by telling my students that my dad is a preacher and that I have, therefore, been to a lot of different churches in my life.
“There are some churches that I’ve been to where, if I, as a female, would have worn pants, then I would have been out of place. The culture of those churches is one where people are expected to wear their very best and women are expected to wear dresses. There are other churches that I’ve been to, though, where I could wear jeans and it be perfectly acceptable. Neither of those things is wrong. It’s just a different belief system—a different way of doing things—a different culture.”
The kids seemed to understand what I saying, so we moved on.
Then a kid raised his hand.
“Do you remember when you were talking about the church that didn’t want women wearing pants? That’s because it’s in the Bible that women shouldn’t have anything between their legs.”
Umm…I’ve heard a lot of things that the Bible says that the Bible really doesn’t say, but I’ve never heard that one!
Trying to keep a straight face and not show my surprise and possible dismay, I very calmly responded, “That’s actually not in the Bible—at least not the Christian bible—but…” and then I quickly moved the conversation to how clothing has changed over the years and reminded the boys that boys used to wear gowns to bed. We’d learned this fact while learning about Beethoven.
Fast forward to 3rd grade music:
I’ve been trying to help my 3rd graders learn their continents, only they get really confused about the difference between city, state, country, and continent. I’m also trying to help them learn their planets—but we haven’t focused on the latter as much.
We’ve been working with information about the continents for a couple of weeks now, though. We’ve sung and danced and rapped and watched videos and played games.
So toward the end of the lesson today, as I was transitioning to the planets, I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked at what happened next.
I said, “So. We know that there are seven continents on our planet. But remind me what planet we live on?”
In response, I had a whole bunch of students yell, “North America!”
In that moment, I gently hit my forehead and asked again, “What planet do we live on?”
“The United States of America!” “No,” I pitifully shook my head and asked one more time, “ What planet do we live on?”
Then someone said, “Earth! We live on planet earth!”
Thank God!
Friends:
My school is in the city of Cameron in the state of North Carolina in the country of The United States of America on the continent of North America on planet Earth.
And the Bible says nothing about women wearing dresses because women are not supposed to have anything between their legs.
Please pass along this information as you see fit.
Especially to the children in your life!
:-)
Monday, February 9, 2015
Give Me An F
Hi. My name is Ms. Deaton. I work at a failing school.
Officially. My school was given its grade last week.
We were given an F. For failure.
We didn’t meet someone’s expectations for us.
They saw our data.
They analyzed our test scores.
They locked in our before, middle, and after.
They looked at papers and numbers and statistics black and white,
And they definitively decided that we weren’t good enough.
They gave us an F. For failure.
But here’s what they don’t know:
We’re not failing.
We may not be thriving.
But we’re not failing.
We’re figuring it out.
We’re figuring out how to
Feed students who do not eat unless they are at school;
Find shoes for students walking on holes or hanging onto soles with duct tape;
Fit shirts, pants, coats, and underwear to students who are in need;
Finance the treasure box;
Fix discipline issues with limited options for consequences in a society centered around the rights of “me”;
Finagle the daily schedule to include childhood;
Fabricate lessons with no textbooks;
Free generations from bonds of illiteracy;
Fell the fences that separate rich from poor, haves from have-nots;
Fill classrooms of twenty-eight students with positive energy and love when the deficits of some are so great that they fight to get their fill.
Learning doesn’t happen in a bubble.
Intelligence is not all test scores and black and white.
Knowledge is not all facts and figures and strategies and tools and rules and data and samples and bubbles and statistics and interventions and
Students are not robots who objectively regurgitate information during pencil-and-paper-sit-absolutely-still-in-the-absolute-quiet-that-absolutely-never-happens-in-this-absolutely-overstimulated-world tests.
My name is Ms. Deaton. I work at a school that they say is a failure. An F.
Well let them give me their F.
I’ll give them mine.
And I’ll stand with some of the most courageous heroes that I know and boldly proclaim that our school is figuring things out by
Failing to believe that we can be reduced to or diminished by an F.
Officially. My school was given its grade last week.
We were given an F. For failure.
We didn’t meet someone’s expectations for us.
They saw our data.
They analyzed our test scores.
They locked in our before, middle, and after.
They looked at papers and numbers and statistics black and white,
And they definitively decided that we weren’t good enough.
They gave us an F. For failure.
But here’s what they don’t know:
We’re not failing.
We may not be thriving.
But we’re not failing.
We’re figuring it out.
We’re figuring out how to
Feed students who do not eat unless they are at school;
Find shoes for students walking on holes or hanging onto soles with duct tape;
Fit shirts, pants, coats, and underwear to students who are in need;
Finance the treasure box;
Fix discipline issues with limited options for consequences in a society centered around the rights of “me”;
Finagle the daily schedule to include childhood;
Fabricate lessons with no textbooks;
Free generations from bonds of illiteracy;
Fell the fences that separate rich from poor, haves from have-nots;
Fill classrooms of twenty-eight students with positive energy and love when the deficits of some are so great that they fight to get their fill.
Learning doesn’t happen in a bubble.
Intelligence is not all test scores and black and white.
Knowledge is not all facts and figures and strategies and tools and rules and data and samples and bubbles and statistics and interventions and
Students are not robots who objectively regurgitate information during pencil-and-paper-sit-absolutely-still-in-the-absolute-quiet-that-absolutely-never-happens-in-this-absolutely-overstimulated-world tests.
My name is Ms. Deaton. I work at a school that they say is a failure. An F.
Well let them give me their F.
I’ll give them mine.
And I’ll stand with some of the most courageous heroes that I know and boldly proclaim that our school is figuring things out by
Failing to believe that we can be reduced to or diminished by an F.
Monday, September 2, 2013
In A Year
I’ve been collecting Coke Rewards points for some time now. Friends and family members have helped in the collection and enabled me to enter various sweepstakes, donate points to two schools, purchase a travel bakery set that I was able to give to a friend, and buy a garden set that I used today.
When the garden set arrived, I was living in South Carolina. While working for SC WMU, I tried to develop a green thumb under the tutelage of one of my coworkers and took responsibility for the office plants. I have a vivid memory of taking my garden set to work and repotting and pruning many of our plants. I remember my excitement as one of the dying plants came back to life in the weeks that followed, and as I pruned some flowers in the backyard today, I found myself wondering about that plant. Is it still alive? Or did it finally stop living and wander to plant heaven?
So much can change in a year.
Last year at this time, restless though I was, I was filling my calendar for the 2012/2013 church year. I was planning to drive across the state of SC to speak about missions and to educate about issues of human exploitation. I was finalizing details for a large student event and laying the foundation to mentor three teenage girls. I was editing the statewide newsletter, managing Facebook pages, and envisioning ways to make communication stronger. We had just finished posting the summer camp prayer guide and I was starting to write another prayer guide that would carry us through the year.
Then life pushed me into the unknown and God did God’s own pruning--not with Coke Rewards points garden tools on office plants but with the sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, the gospel of peace, the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation in my life.
One year later, instead of educating about human exploitation, I am working on the front lines of fighting it. Instead of laying foundations to mentor three teenage girls, I am laying foundations to mentor over 700 kindergarten through 5th grade students. And instead of writing a prayer guide for missions, I am living those prayers every day. Yet still, I am being led to write…and I am envisioning ways to make communication stronger.
In coming days, I’d like to write a prayer guide for the public school year. I don’t envision writing a different request for every day of the year but I do hope to write a prayer for each day of the week. If you have a request you would like for me to work into the prayers, please let me know. I will do my best to reflect your heart as well. This guide won’t be sent in newsletter form to 12,000 people across the state of SC, but, somehow, I believe it will make a difference.
After all, a lot can change in a year.
When the garden set arrived, I was living in South Carolina. While working for SC WMU, I tried to develop a green thumb under the tutelage of one of my coworkers and took responsibility for the office plants. I have a vivid memory of taking my garden set to work and repotting and pruning many of our plants. I remember my excitement as one of the dying plants came back to life in the weeks that followed, and as I pruned some flowers in the backyard today, I found myself wondering about that plant. Is it still alive? Or did it finally stop living and wander to plant heaven?
So much can change in a year.
Last year at this time, restless though I was, I was filling my calendar for the 2012/2013 church year. I was planning to drive across the state of SC to speak about missions and to educate about issues of human exploitation. I was finalizing details for a large student event and laying the foundation to mentor three teenage girls. I was editing the statewide newsletter, managing Facebook pages, and envisioning ways to make communication stronger. We had just finished posting the summer camp prayer guide and I was starting to write another prayer guide that would carry us through the year.
Then life pushed me into the unknown and God did God’s own pruning--not with Coke Rewards points garden tools on office plants but with the sword of the Spirit, the shield of faith, the gospel of peace, the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation in my life.
One year later, instead of educating about human exploitation, I am working on the front lines of fighting it. Instead of laying foundations to mentor three teenage girls, I am laying foundations to mentor over 700 kindergarten through 5th grade students. And instead of writing a prayer guide for missions, I am living those prayers every day. Yet still, I am being led to write…and I am envisioning ways to make communication stronger.
In coming days, I’d like to write a prayer guide for the public school year. I don’t envision writing a different request for every day of the year but I do hope to write a prayer for each day of the week. If you have a request you would like for me to work into the prayers, please let me know. I will do my best to reflect your heart as well. This guide won’t be sent in newsletter form to 12,000 people across the state of SC, but, somehow, I believe it will make a difference.
After all, a lot can change in a year.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
What I've Determined
I got to have lunch with my long-time friend Angela today. She was able to leave school for a few minutes of her teacher workday and eat more chicken with me at Chick-Fil-A.
As we were leaving, I said, “I need to go home and write my note for the day. I guess I’ll write something to honor teachers since it’s Teacher Appreciation Week. I don’t know what I’m going to write, but I’ll figure out something.” Angela said, “I’ll make sure to read.”
Well, Angela, and each of my other friends who teach, this is what I’ve determined:
Your job is extremely important even though policy makers, budget writers, and many people in the general public don’t recognize it as such. Education is the foundation needed for healthy society, and teachers essential to proper education.
Your work is extremely important. How you do your job matters. How you treat your students and the way in which you impart knowledge is both life-forming and purpose-giving. Your work has the power both to build and destroy.
You are extremely important. Independent of your job and work. Independent of your role of teacher, wife/husband, mother/father, daughter/son, friend. Independent of your accomplishments and titles. YOU are important. All of you. Hopes and dreams. Fears and failures. Certainties and uncertainties. Rest and play. You are important. And…
I’m glad you exist.
My guess is that you’ve heard these things before—that you’ve possibly even heard them this week as your schools have sought to appreciate you. But I hope you can hear them now anew and know that they come from a heart full of love and respect for your job, your work, and you.
When you start to doubt your purpose. When the oftentimes ridiculous demands of the job make you want to quit. When you are so tired that you could sleep for days. Remember that student whose life you know you changed for the better. Remember that passion that made you want to teach. Take a day off and rest. Nurture your spirit and soul so that you can be most fully yourself.
And…know that I believe in you and that your job, your work, and your life make a difference.
Thank you.
Always.
As we were leaving, I said, “I need to go home and write my note for the day. I guess I’ll write something to honor teachers since it’s Teacher Appreciation Week. I don’t know what I’m going to write, but I’ll figure out something.” Angela said, “I’ll make sure to read.”
Well, Angela, and each of my other friends who teach, this is what I’ve determined:
Your job is extremely important even though policy makers, budget writers, and many people in the general public don’t recognize it as such. Education is the foundation needed for healthy society, and teachers essential to proper education.
Your work is extremely important. How you do your job matters. How you treat your students and the way in which you impart knowledge is both life-forming and purpose-giving. Your work has the power both to build and destroy.
You are extremely important. Independent of your job and work. Independent of your role of teacher, wife/husband, mother/father, daughter/son, friend. Independent of your accomplishments and titles. YOU are important. All of you. Hopes and dreams. Fears and failures. Certainties and uncertainties. Rest and play. You are important. And…
I’m glad you exist.
My guess is that you’ve heard these things before—that you’ve possibly even heard them this week as your schools have sought to appreciate you. But I hope you can hear them now anew and know that they come from a heart full of love and respect for your job, your work, and you.
When you start to doubt your purpose. When the oftentimes ridiculous demands of the job make you want to quit. When you are so tired that you could sleep for days. Remember that student whose life you know you changed for the better. Remember that passion that made you want to teach. Take a day off and rest. Nurture your spirit and soul so that you can be most fully yourself.
And…know that I believe in you and that your job, your work, and your life make a difference.
Thank you.
Always.
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