If at First You Don't Succeed

Thomas Edison, in my opinion, is the greatest inventor of all time.  He had 1093 patents. 1093. 1093. He invented the quadruplex telegraph, the carbon microphone, the movie camera, the mimeograph machine (had one in my classroom), and the phonograph to name just a few. He also was the inventor of the incandescent light bulb (now outlawed for purchase by the government). Edison experimented with over 1000 filament samples for his light bulb before he found that tungsten provided just the right amount of resistance necessary to keep  the wire glowing. He was asked this question by a reporter – “How did it feel to fail 1000 times?” Edison replied, “I didn’t fail 1000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps.” Edison was a “glass half full” guy without fail. He believed in what he could do and imagined the things that others may have thought were out of reach.  A quote of Edison that is appropriate for all is this – “If we did all of the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.” 

Thomas Edison provided a shining example of “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.”  Your students will be taking the second round of ISTEP next week. Perhaps the first round of the test back in March did not go exactly the way a student or their teacher had planned.  So, would it be best just to chuck the second round out the window because all is lost?  Weak-minded people would do so.  We can provide that spark that says to our kids that here is yet another opportunity to show what you have learned.  A chance to demonstrate how you can apply your learning to set of problems.  A chance to show everyone what your teacher taught them. As I have previously written, traditional luck is just an Irish theme. Real luck is when preparation meets opportunity.  Here is yet another opportunity that you should make the most of.  I challenge you to challenge your students now by inspiring them to put forth their best effort on this second round; no matter how the first round went.  Tell them that if they did all of the things they were capable of doing, they would literally astound themselves.  Prepare to be astounded.

Past a 30x30 Mentality

The typical classroom in the United States is 900 square feet. A 30’ x 30’ space. Your classroom may be larger than this, such as in the case of a Physical Education teacher. Your room may be smaller such as the case of a special education teacher working in small groups in a side room. I spent my teaching career in the area of special education. At my last school, where I spent 15 years, I never had a classroom of my own. I traversed the hallways among a student body of over 3000 students with my little supply of paper, pens, pencils. protractors, aides, books, and data in tow. I recall teaching several self-contained classes for students identified as having learning disabilities, mild mental handicaps, autism, and emotional handicaps (yes, all in the same class) in the back room of the school wood shop. Some rooms are carpeted, some are tile. Some are well-ventilated, some have stagnant air where the rafts of perfume overdosed adolescents hang. You take ownership of your classroom. It is your space to provide guidance and direction to those under your tutelage for 180 days a year. 

That 30 x 30 space is not where your success will be measured. Sure, that is where you worked hard to meet levels of student achievement and student growth. This is the place where you have taught the curriculum. This is where you have life lessons that are not in the curriculum.  You receive a teacher effectiveness rating where student achievement and student growth must significantly inform that evaluation. That’s the temporary part.  Your true effectiveness will not come as a formal measurement. It will come years down the road. You see, education is really what you have left when you have lost all of your notes.  That kid that you read about in the newspaper that has done something positive had something to do with you. That kid who gained admission into the college of their choice had something to do with you. That young man or young woman who did outstanding things for their community had something to do with you. Those that you taught who later are passing along those lessons learned from you had everything to do with you.  So, look around your classroom as you read this and look at that 30 x 30 space. Then realize that your influence goes far beyond those walls.

Elevators

Elisha Otis invented the safety elevator in 1852, prior to the start of the Civil War.  Rumor is that Mr. Otis enjoyed this uplifting experience.  Side note – this Otis is no relation to Otis Campbell from The Andy Griffith Show, who could not stay vertical.  Interesting enough, the elevator shaft was introduced four years prior to this. That intrigues me.  It’s true – the shaft designer was confident that someone would come along and put a great device in the shaft. That’s a heck of a vision! I wonder how the investors felt about that line of thought.  You have undoubtedly ridden in several elevators over your lifetime. Most are pretty pedestrian with the standard buttons and some sort of veneer walls. The top of the line is the hoity-toity elevator where some guy dressed in the same suit that Mr. Ned wore on The Bozo Show pushes the buttons for you and announces the floor upon arrival.Here’s my question – what do you do to occupy your time on the elevator?  Your choices are quite limited… or are they?  You can make personal calls on the emergency phone.  You can be like Will Ferrell from Elf and push all of the buttons to create a Christmas tree.  You can hum “It’s a Small World” incessantly.  You can ask another passenger what gauge of cable is used to hold the carriage up and then watch them lose eye contact. The possibilities are endless.

There are many articles you can read on giving your elevator speech – you know, the speech you give when you have to sum something up by pointing out all of the big ideas in a very  limited time frame…kind of like the old, “Answer in 25 words or less” test question that was common when I was a kid. Imagine, if you will, that you had to describe what you do while riding in an elevator.  What would your presentation be like if you were going from the ground floor to the 110^th floor?  How about from the ground floor to the 55^thfloor?  Or how about from the ground floor to the 27^th floor?  Finally, how about from the ground floor to the 2^nd floor?  Would your speech change in each of these scenarios?  Sure, every educator could talk about where they teach.  They can talk about what they teach.  They can talk about who they teach?  They can talk about how long they have been a teacher?  Those are all valid answers.  Here’s the most impactful one in describing what you do – “I make a difference!”  Isn’t that what it really comes down to?  We can spend a whole bunch of time at a school building and present a whole bunch of concepts.  But, in your time, are you making the difference that you had hoped for; the difference you dreamed about, maybe even romanticized about when deciding on a teaching career? In time, you will have to give that elevator speech about what you do.  What will your answer be?