Passion, Literacy, Genius.

Well, I’m back. After a wonderful month-long break I am back at school and feeling good. It’s day two of classes and I feel that this will be the only moment this week where I have a spare moment to sit down and write for my blog. Of course I make time for my novel (I’m on chapter 7 now, oh so exciting, I know). There’s always time to write for that! I feel like I’m unstoppable when I get to a really good part and my heart races. YES MY HEART BEAT GOES UP! I felt like I was about to have a dang heart attack the other evening when I was writing an amazingly awesome scene. I almost cried when it was over because I had wound myself up so tight! You know your passion when you have those symptoms.

Hmm, what else is new? Breaking Bad is over (and for those of you that didn’t know, Breaking Bad is probably tied for my number one television broadcast, that and Once Upon A Time. I LOVE EMMA SWAN!) Now that I’ve gone a little quirky on you, I’m going to chicka-chicka-chicka break it down.

I’ve only had one day in my new TCE course but I love my teacher so much that she has inspired me to write a new post. We meet once a week, which is a little depressing I think, but she’s an amazing woman with a great attitude and positive vibe to her class. Her name is Felicia and I’ve had her previous to this class as a short four-week session two summers ago. I’m very happy to have the opportunity to be spending more time with her.

In class yesterday we were talking about literacy. Now let me ask you, what does it mean to be literate? Of course you think right away the ability to read, write, and communicate with others. You might also have thought it’s also the ability to identify and compute as well as solve problems. But have you ever thought that there are different types of literacy or that maybe there are individual stages of literacy? Until this class I hadn’t really thought about it. I mean this could tie into the seven intelligences (audial, intrapersonal, interpersonal, etc.) meaning that your student could be really literate when it comes to science. You could have a student that it really good at math equations and the language of math but might have issues reading a novel in their English class. They might be competent and confident when it comes to augmenting the scientific process verbally but maybe they aren’t confident writing out each of the stages down on paper because they aren’t solid in their abilities. This goes back to a TED talk that a friend sent me the link to the other day. We each have our own genius and we as teachers need to learn, understand, and respect that before we go into the classroom.

 

I’m going to be honest with you, because I can be. It’s been two days of class and I have five in total. Three out of the five classes I am bored in. Do you want to know why? Because these teachers (THAT I PAY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO EVERY YEAR) are bad at their profession. They are awful teachers (all besides the TCE professors).  They don’t cater to the different approaches that these students have at learning. Plus I mean, my genius or my literacy does NOT coincide with the demands of the Biology classroom. To some it does, and I respect that. You are the lucky individuals that have found what they are good at. Some people spend their entire lives doing that. Me? I like writing. Writing intensive course are a wet-dream to an English major with a writing minor. I adore them. They make me happy. But see, that’s because that’s my niche. That is my genius. That is my area of literacy.

This is really important to remember (going back to the point I left hanging) when in the classroom and working with students because the troublemaker might be a rotten child not because he or she likes to torture you, but maybe the student just doesn’t get it. Maybe the individual needs it from a different angle; an angle that he or she understands. WE HAVE THE LIGHTBULB!

Keep that in mind every day. Maybe the way you’re trying to explain a concept to another just isn’t clicking. Maybe you’re upset with your dad because you’re trying to tell him a story of some approach that you had to a problem and he responds angrily with the way that he would have done it. (This hasn’t happened lately….) It’s not worth the waste of energy on frustration. Keep a level head and remember that not everyone is good at what you do and others might be better at things that you might not fancy. Everyone is different.

And that’s why they teach me these things. SO I remember that my student body is NOT just one entity.

Have a good evening ya’ll.

Until we next chat!

P.S Here's a giraffe.