My Hope at Work

Sitting in the sunlight at my desk in the afternoon a few minutes after the bell:

I’ve been twenty years in the classroom now, and I love it here as much as ever.  People ask if the kids are harder to teach these days.  Sure, there’s more technology and competition for their attention in a busy, interesting and often tough world, but I have always held out the hope that—overwhelmingly--young people still want to learn about the world and to matter in it. The world isn't necessarily as much the source of the struggle in the classroom as it can be a source of its curriculum. I hope that the love I have for exploring the world of ideas through talking and reading and writing still comes through during class time.

I hope that my classroom is a vibrant place—a place where people live.  I hope kids take some useful idea or skill out of the room with them—that they feel that their time hasn’t been wasted. "The secret of education” after all, as Emerson noted, “is respecting the student.”  I hope my students leave my classroom affected by something we’ve read or someone has said. I hope they have a sense of humor and that they even have fun here sometimes.

Ideally, I hope my classroom isn’t just mine, that, in fact, students sooner than later come to see it as a shared space where we collaborate and deliberate.  I hope students leave thinking that they were heard when we talked and respected—even celebrated--when they read what they wrote.  I hope that this is a fair place where people feel valued equally for their unique contributions in the class.  I hope what discipline there is facilitates learning and mutual respect.

I hope that I always remember to make occupying my classroom worthwhile. If the teacher--of all people--forgets how the unique space of the classroom (whatever dimensions it takes) promises connection-community and fosters critical thinking-creativity, then what is he doing here? (After all, people can get information anywhere.) My class must not be just another room, not when its space provides the place and the power to empower people.   Sometimes, though, I do forget and I get in the way.

Day to day I know that my classroom doesn’t always live up to my hopes—that I don’t; but I keep working at it--and hoping. That's just life.

Yet, more than hope, I know: There are many teachers who work with this hope too.