Slings and Arrows: Virtue of Honesty and Clarity

Merriam Webster attempts to define virtue in a collage of phrases, as I can best assemble as: a capacity to act with strength and courage for what is right.
As far as I can tell, honesty is something you are born with, lose, and can spend an unpredictable amount of time recovering various degrees of!
And clarity is something that is best revealed in hindsight.

I am a teacher. I am also a manager. I am paid to do both, within the formal education system. But long before this, I was employed by companies like Noah’s Bagels, Spinelli Coffee, and Real Food Company. The common thread between these occupations is that to be successful it is essential to have a focused objective. In the ‘for profit’ sector, the objective is to increase one’s profit margin. In the ‘social’ sector of education, the objective is to provide access to information so that people may tap into the greatest resource on Earth: themselves.

Epiphanies can be like an anus: every body has one. And what comes forth from one can appear to be a load of crap- but is undoubtably the product of complete ingestion.
Epiphanies are identifiable as random instances of clarity. And that randomness is unpredictable solely because as sentient beings we walk around with an abundance of experiences. Thus, when something occurs to bring those participations home to a catalyst in conscientiousness we say, “Ah ha!” Or something or another.

In other words, it’s all in you and you never know what you’ll go through to bring forth a huge understanding.

Well I suspect new classroom teachers have epiphanies all the time- if their the curious type. A problem is that there are certain teaching traits that don’t go well together: confidence and humility, happiness and sadness, anger and calm; there are others. And poor managers can misdiagnose a curious seeker, prone to regular epiphanies, as a misdirected fool.

Poor managers don’t take the time to put words and actions together by witnessing them with their own eyes. Poor managers are poor communicators. Poor managers aren’t humble. And poor managers never seem to understand that their constituency is their administration as well as those they are hired to administer. Equally. The skill that elevates the manager to virtuous status is...

communication.

Communication is simply the ability to convey meaning. But done well, it renders the hostility of unknowns that accompany management, tame. To communicate well, the first casualty towards excellence is ego. One must give up the notion that they are the ones who do it best or know it all; inherent to communication is facilitation. One must enable others within the act of engagement.

Trust: the great enabler.
With trust comes a freedom to amass the bounty of many a colloquialism:
happiness, togetherness, lovingness, foreverness
we can move mountains
to know is to love
yes, we can
change

If it is so easy to identify the elements of virtue:
trust
communication
clarity
humility- a clear force-field for self-consciousness
oath to service

then it is essential to reveal what is critical to access virtue fully:
safety.

Buddhism taught me safety in silence and space.
The capacity to accept that learning is a continuum has afforded me an understanding that what will be will be. As I am propelled to succeed, it must be true that my students can come to know success as well.

Now, as someone who never had much, I had to, as they say:
‘circumvent the paradigm.’

If I was poor, then I would be rich in spite of it.
If I was lacking education, I was destined to pursue it.
If I was to be banished, I would prove the naysayers as false prophets
and arrive.

If it was said that I ever taught poorly, I would shame them with student success.

Since I was never one with much and fate kept sparing my existence in the direst of life’s circumstances:
lost parentage,
13 elementary schools,
extreme poverty,
escaping tragedy,
and what have you
(or not)

I figured it must be destiny propelling me forth in a hot pursuit of virtue.
And why would I always wind up before the eyes of children-
these little beings that discover honesty on sight?

Believe me, there is no hiding before children. And contrary to popular belief, they are more discerning that most suspect. Lack of judgement based on inexperience is one thing, but keen sensitivity to honesty is another thing all together.
You can’t teach a child that doesn’t trust you.

Lucky for me I never met one I couldn’t teach.

I don’t have a master plan
(although I'm convinced one exists!) tee, hee...
But I have learned 5 key methods of practice along my path; particularly this year:

1. have a clear lesson objective
2. provide a model
3. supply manipulatives
4. allow for silence, regularly
5. differentiation can be as simple as teaching a child to tell you what they need to meet your objective

When these 5 ideas are used in unison, there is an incredible climate of success unleashed.

Some might think that this comes too little, too late.
But at the end of a challenging school year, I would say:
this is only the beginning
as I breathe into a new day

I am better prepared against what masquerades as slings and arrows by stepping closer to virtue with honesty and clarity

as a teacher.

Thanks to my community for yet another experience of a lifetime.

27 students, 5th grade 2006-07’
20 students, 3rd grade 2007-08’
Writer’s Club, 40+ students, 2nd -5th grade 2006-08’

And if they learned anything from me, it will have been how to shine
despite it all.

Sincerely,


yours.