Mining For Hidden Gems

Teachers, like gardeners, are in the business of building beauty.  It's a messy job.  You have to get your hands dirty and you never know if or when the seeds you are sowing will sprout.  But we do it for love and we do it to add something positive to this world.  So why is it that we are so stressed out?  Why do we walk around with the weight of the world on our shoulders? We feel under-appreciated and over-worked. And we forget that this is supposed to be the best job in the world!  I know teaching is complex.  But does it have to be so complicated? What does it take to teach effectively and in a way that is fulfilling?  What kind of attitude will get us through the bureaucratic mandates passed down by those who don't really know our kids and the realities of our classrooms?  Is there a critical lens that we can use to evaluate the myriad resources, tips and strategies that are thrown our way? As I was searching for the smallest set of gu...

I always wonder how babies know to instinctively move their bodies to the rhythm of music.   I am also surprised that as soon as a baby starts to dance we don’t immediately start criticizing his footwork.   We do not expect everyone to become accomplished ballerinas or competition ballroom dancers.   We are all expected to get up and respond to the music, have fun and make fools of ourselves.   Dancing is a way to show feelings, express ourselves, however clumsily.   So is writing. If writing is putting our thoughts into words and transcribing them on a permanent surface to preserve, to share and to propagate, then we all have as much right to write as to dance.   We may not all become published authors and go on book tours.   But we all have a right to scribe.   So who gets to be a writer? If you have a thought, you can be a writer.   If you have feelings and opinions you are entitled to your own piece of paper and pencil.   My...

As a child, I suffered from chronic tonsillitis.   I remember getting a penicillin shot almost every other week.   This was back in the early sixties in Iran where disposable needles weren’t available yet.   I remember climbing the stairs to the top floor of the pharmacy where a man in a white coat would take out a giant metal injector and place it in a steel container with boiling water to sterilize it.   He would then approach me, who was being restrained by a mother or a father and probably screaming my head off.   Next thing I remember I am walking up the stairs of my house rubbing my sore behind.   When I think of this memory, I also think of books.   Books were my incentive for enduring these painful experiences.   Every time I had to get a shot, my mother would buy me a book!   By age five when I finally had my tonsils removed, I had amassed quite a library.   In second grade when I came down with a severe case of...

First, prepare the ground. It must have the conditions   for the proper flourishing of a variety of seeds. As a matter of fact, back up. Familiarize yourself with the seeds. Find out as much about each of them as possible. Where are they from? Are they transplants or natives? Do they need lots of warmth, Or do they like to stay out of the light. Do they need space to grow, Or need something to grow on? Do they need constant care or are they resilient by nature, self-starters. You must be willing to get your hands dirty. You must be patient. You may not see results right away. Not all of them will show signs of growth at the same time. But you must never, under any condition, lose hope. Know that you may have ones who are not suited to the environment you have created. At least not right now. They may not respond, yet. Do not blame the seed! Do not be angry at where it came from. There is no return po...

Last August as we sat in our school library and brainstormed procedures and protocols to keep our school a safe and orderly place, I could not define the uneasy feeling that stopped me from fully participating in the conversation.  We talked about what our cafeteria, hallways and parent pick up areas should look like, sound like and feel like.  We made a list of what our expectations of ourselves as teachers were and we all agreed to them.  We agreed on the rules, posted them where we would be reminded of them and committed to enforce them.  The whole time what was going through my head was: Why are we here?  Is our job only to monitor these kids during the eight hours or so that they are with us so they won't hurt each other and/or damage any property?  Or are we here to teach them how to get along and respect themselves and their communities?  Are we merely monitors or should we act more like mentors?  The job of the monitor is to enforce the ru...

I remember the moment exactly.  I was about 8 years old, standing in the kitchen of this rental house we lived in while my father was building a house for us.  My mother is at the sink and for some reason she tells me this story:  One day a man took his son to Prophet Muhammad for advice.  Apparently, the boy had a problem with overeating and could not control his intake of dates, the staple food of the desert people.  He wanted the Prophet to council his son against gluttony.  Muhammad tells the man to go away and come back the next day.  When they return the following day, Muhammad admonishes the boy and teaches him a lesson in moderation.  The grateful father is puzzled as to why this conversation could not have taken place the day before.  When he asks, Muhammad replies:  Yesterday, when you arrived, I had myself eaten a large amount of dates.  I could not, in good conscience, reprimand your son for doing something that I had do...

When my kids were younger and we scoured the shelves of our public library for new and interesting books more often, we came across a series called Magic Eyes.   Each page was a picture that looked like a colorful and abstract tessellation.  But if you trained your eyes to focus just right, a three dimensional image would "magically" pop out.  My mother was the best at it.  She would hold the book in front of her and cry "Wow!"  and "Wooh!", which would drive my daughter crazy because she couldn't see the hidden pictures.  I had to work at it, but when I figured out how to look in order to see the magic, it became easy to spot the hidden picture every time. When I read Katherine Bomer's book Hidden Gems, I realized that seeing the brilliance in student writing also required "magic eyes".  First you have to believe that there is something there worth seeing.  You have to look at every piece of writing believing that there is a gem, a str...