“If I were a teacher, there’d be no compromise. There’d be my way or the highway. None of this meet you in the middle crap.”
Of course this is coming from the young man with whom I have compromised for fifty-one days now. Every day a challenge. Every day a compromise. And, of course, he–though he tried to play it off otherwise–was flaunting his adept skill in the art of sarcasm.
He made his sardonic remark upon overhearing my meeting in the middle, my compromising with one of his peers on her writing. She had one idea. I had another. We hashed it out. I met her where I could (not hard since I am really the guard at that gate), and we both went away satisfied with the agreement.
So, I made a compromise. No big deal. Well, maybe yes, maybe no. Not a lot of compromise going on in the world right now. So little, in fact, it seems a lost possibility. And though I am largely referring to the political polarization that has beset our nation, compromise seems a lost possibility in the classroom, too, and if we are not careful, the divide between the poles–teacher and student–widens and stays. But it doesn’t have to. In truth, one wonders how it ever became so in the first place. We need each other. Learning is our mutual goal, which exists between the two poles. And so we have to give and take. We have to meet in the middle. It is where our “together promise,” our compromise comes to be.
No, it’s not easy. And we–teachers–often have to blink first. But won’t kids, then, take advantage? Of course, they are human. But that they’re human also gives rise to the possibility of mutual benefit as they learn about the middle. We can’t meet in the middle if we never meet in the middle. So, then, when I meet kids in the middle, I am trying to show them the promise of together.
And that’s the road. No my way or the highway. Teacher and student–humans–making our way, held together by a promise. Together. What a novel idea.
Today’s Trail
Along today’s trail we will experience…
…reconnecting through Smiles and Frowns.
…growing with grammar.
…moving our writing along.
…reflecting in our Journey Journals.
…hearing a Sappy Sy Rhyme.
Happy Monday, all.
Do. Reflect. Do Better.
Love the idea of “togetherness” in the classroom. It is so important for students to know that you’re willing to meet them in the middle, even if it’s not the easiest thing.
Love reading your blog posts each morning and love hearing stories about “Smiles and Frowns”! Cannot wait to use a version of “Smile and Frowns” in my own classroom in a few years!
Thank you, Britney. Glad you are able to find some value in my posts. Glad, too, that you plan to incorporate Smiles and Frowns into your future classroom.