You Got Something to Say?

I once had a teammate, Christian Cavanaugh. He once said to me in the locker room, "Bruff, you've always have something to say." Most of the time he was right. Sometimes what I had to say was spot on, rude, borderline or just plain ridiculous, but most often it was just something that came off the tip of my tongue from my brain. 

Maybe it was the household I grew up in. You see, if you had something worth saying in my house, you kind of had to make a big deal about it otherwise no one would listen. Or maybe I always had something to say because I was a middle child. Those middle children, including myself, always get the you know what part of the stick. Or better yet, maybe I always had something to say because I thought everyone cared to hear it.

In order to get your message across one needs to 3 things: a soap box, the right delivery, and finally, a receptive audience. Being a teacher, usually I can say that I have 2 out of the 3 (the receptive audience really depends on the previous night's sleep of the students). During the school day I am not up there spewing my thoughts on how to change America or my useless opinion on other things. Instead, I do whatever I can to help my students.

I guess help isn't the right word. I want to say encourage, develop, polish, shine and praise learners. But looking back on what I just said, it appears that what I do is more of a process. It is a process that I did not take full advantage of when I was younger and my wish is that all my students take advantage of now. Man, I sound like my father.

Throughout the day at work I do whatever I can to reach students in different ways. Sometimes I use methods that I worked for me. At other times I use what I learned in school or from other colleagues.  Most importantly I also try to explain to my students the value of what they are learning. Although there has a been a big push in education for teachers to post objectives of every lesson, this has left many students with the ability to recite the objective with no true understanding of it. I do whatever I can to bridge the gap for them.

At times that requires me to tell a story about learning the hard way (something both the students and I enjoy greatly), other times it means I must give a demonstration, and other times I dramatize the situation and make a joke of things. No matter what, I must have the same outcome. The students need to grow as learners.

Now coming full circle on Christian Cavanaugh. I still have something to say. At times that means I push my students to do more, teach them better strategies to show their learning, or share a story to create a better context for their learning.