Teachers make a difference. Good teachers recognize your unique talents and “you-ness” and nurture them.

Matt Damon was a keynote speaker at the Save Our School March in Washington DC on July 30th. He was introduced by his mother, who teaches at Lesley University in Boston. His keynote was both eloquent and emotional and has resonated with many across the country and the world.

Here is a brief excerpt from his remarks.

I had incredible teachers.
My teachers were empowered to teach me. My teachers were free to approach me like an individual puzzle. They were allowed to be teachers. [...]

This has been a horrible decade for teachers, and I can’t imagine how demoralized you guys must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you, and I really hope you can hear it. 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 are feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope – the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself being called overpaid, the next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policies that have been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything, please, please, 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.

I keep thinking about his message that millions of people have teachers to thank, in part, for who they have become and they love them. I remember so many teachers who gave me many, many things – keys to discovering and unlocking my passions, encouragement, even financial assistance. So I will write about a few of those special individuals today, to thank them and to thank all teachers who continue the journey with passion, hard work, and little pay or thanks from the politicians and policy-makers. I suggest to all of you, if you ever had a teacher who made a difference in your life, to write a public thank you – let the corporate-minded reformers know that teaching is more than getting students ready for tests.

My thank you list is long, but here are a few of my teachers who I will always remember and who I thank.

In first grade I dislocated my hip and was on crutches for six months. Miss Baldwin, my first grade teacher, carried me up and down the stairs of the Johnson Elementary School in Natick to my classroom every day for six months. She did not want me to fall hopping up and down, which was my plan for navigating the stairs. Having started first grade already reading and writing, Miss Baldwin let me correct spelling tests, help pick the words for the next week, and challenged me with extra credit work all the time, just what I needed.

In fifth grade, Lois Webster was my teacher and I thought she was the coolest. She played the saxophone and encouraged us all to find our creative outlets. Back when differentiation wasn’t even a word common in teachers’ rooms, she found exciting ways for each of her students to get excited about learning. I remember creating floor plans, figuring out areas, designing buildings, and making scale models – she was awesome.

In sixth grade, Mr. Capone was funny and smart and taught me how to play chess. (I already knew the rules and how pieces moved, but I didn’t really know how to play.)

At Coolidge Junior High School, there were many teachers who inspired, challenged, and taught me well. Those who stand out in my memory are Mr. Levinson (science), Miss Mahaney (English), Mr. Giorgi (math), Miss Boyd (phys ed), Mr. Keaney (latin), Miss Tutuny (social studies) and an English teacher whose name escapes me at the moment but who made me laugh and feel special by saying things like, “move along ladies – you, too Miss Tower.”  Mr. Giorgi would deliver a long explanation of how to solve an algebra problem and then ask me how I solved it, knowing it would be slightly different. I love that he respected and enjoyed the differences!

At Natick High School, Mr. Bransfield (math) was the man. Dr. Johnson and Mr. Overlook (both math) still shine as stars in my memory.  Mr. Murray helped keep my love of science alive, reminding us all to stay curious and investigative. In college and graduate school, both at the University of Massachusetts and at Boston University, I continued to be motivated and encouraged by inspiring teachers. One special professor, Dr. Patricia Davidson, even paid for my classes one semester when I said I had to drop out of the Master’s program because I was broke and had a little baby to take care of. She would not hear of it. She could not imagine me being delayed or maybe permanently detoured, for lack of a couple thousand dollars (I was a teaching assistant and tuition was free – it was fees and books I could not afford). She wrote me a check on the spot and told me to pay back whenever I could.

As I think about all of these teachers who I love and need to thank, I recall that they all connected with me as a person – they revealed something of themselves – their passions, their humor, and their humanity and they brought something out in me. They roused my own passions, helped me to discover what I loved, helped me to think about thinking and learning, and made me want to go into education.

Thank you, teachers.

People trying to quit smoking have been found by researchers to move through certain predictable phases as they change their behavior. The basic change model was developed by the psychologists James Prochaska and Carlo DiClemente (see The Five Stages of Change at http://www.agale.com.au/ FiveStagesOfChange.htm). Others have generalized these phases to other types of behavioral changes. For example, the same phases are applicable when people try to change eating habits, stop procrastinating, or start exercising. The five phases are: awareness or precontemplation, interest or contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance.

I’ve been thinking about the five steps and how these phases might manifest themselves in making professional changes. For example, as we attempt to institute significant changes in our instructional practices, what behaviors or actions would characterize each phase? In my descriptions below, I write about A. Teacher, a teacher starting to use technology in teaching and learning.

Awareness or Precontemplation
In the awareness phase, A. Teacher knows a few colleagues using technology, but isn’t sure what technology could do for her or for her students. Therefore, she has no desire to use it. A. Teacher thinks it might be too hard. In this phase many people convince themselves that there really is no reason to change – that the benefits do not offset the risks. Research says there are four major categories for getting stuck in precontemplation: people are reluctant, resigned, rebellious or rationalizing. A. Teacher simply isn’t ready.
How does one move into the next stage? Something or someone helps them get beyond their reluctance. Maybe a close colleague who has already made the changes that A. Teacher is considering convinces them to become more interested.

Interest or Contemplation
The interest phase is marked by a growing interest, but a resistance to commit. A. Teacher is ambivalent. She sees projects that her students have done in other classes using technology and she wishes that the students were creating similar projects in her class, as well. She acknowledges that there may be compelling reasons to get on board using technology but she has not overcome inertia. In this phase A. Teacher is more open to hearing about projects and software and web 2.0 tools.

Preparation
As A. Teacher moves into the preparation phase, she has learned more about using technology. Some fellow teachers have shown her the process of how they managed a unit using technology, and she has talked to the Technology Specialist, who was very helpful and agreed to support her in a technology-infused project with students. This is a research phase – A. Teacher visits the classroom of a colleague to see a similar approach in action. A. Teacher is ready.

Action
A. Teacher is now in the action phase of change. She has begun a major unit using technology and students will present their projects to the class and post them on the web. She appreciates the support from others, but is feeling more independent. She feels it has been worth the effort when her students do really good work, the school Principal congratulates her on an innovative approach to an existing unit, and she receives email from parents praising the projects that are posted on the web.

Maintenance
As A. Teacher moves into the maintenance phase, she strategizes about the next project and about ways to incorporate technology into the classroom on a daily basis. Technology use becomes second nature to her and she finds that her colleagues now come to her and ask for help in creating technology-infused project guidelines and rubrics. In maintenance A. Teacher might feel self-congratulatory about the progress she has made. Eventually, A. Teacher may become one of the risk-takers in the building, willing to try new tools and participate in pilot projects and transforming teaching and learning.

As I think about the various stages, I work to imagine what might help someone have the “click” moment or experience that moves them to the next level. If we can build enough of these experiences and support structures into our schools, perhaps we can have all of our teachers moving briskly along the change continuum. Wouldn’t that be great?

I t’s that time of year. People are talking and writing about New Year’s resolutions. What promises are we making to ourselves for 2009? I decided to forgo a traditional resolution in favor of a commitment to a disposition. Aun aprendo – I am still learning (thank you, Goya) is a maxim that I hold dearly. In 2009 I plan to hew even more tenaciously to that concept. I have a strong belief that constant learning is fundamental to a happy life. But for educators, especially, the adoption of an open learning stance is indispensable.

• We continue to learn in order to renew our passion for our subject, our students, and our love of education.
• We continue to learn to model for our students and colleagues, a learning behavior and an openness to new ideas.
• We continue to learn to satisfy our own curiosity about the universe and our place in it.
• We continue to learn because that is the business we are in – the learning business.
• We continue to learn so as to improve our craft, learn new pedagogies, and master unfamiliar tools, strategies, and techniques.
• We continue to learn in order to renew ourselves.

I’m sure every single person who reads this list could add a number of substantive and important reasons for us to commit to lifelong learning. We all develop our own reasons, and if you are reading this post you are already likely to be one of those educators who has embarked on his/her own learning quest.

I believe that when we commit strongly to learning, the result will naturally infuse our teaching and influence others. It will help us to be thoughtful and reflective practitioners of the art of helping others to learn. Learning and mastering new ideas and being open to listening to others and “trying on” their points of view make us more critical and discriminating thinkers. My last thought I would like to share is that learning is fun. I want to have fun learning and pass on to others that they can take learning risks and have fun doing it.

Aun aprendo.
Happy 2009.

I have gathered some quotes about learning – enjoy the words of others:

“the illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

~ Alvin Toffler

“Learning is not compulsory… neither is survival.”

~ W. Edwards Deming (1900 – 1993)

“Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.”

~ Hebrew Proverb

“Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.”

~ Eugene S. Wilson

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

~ Bill Gates

“Learning makes a man fit company for himself.”

~ Thomas Fuller (1608 – 1661)

“By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.”

~ Latin Proverb

“There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning, and yearning.”

~ Christopher Morley (1890 – 1957)