Deborah Kenny was a young mother of three small children seeking to make sense of her life amid the despair of her husband's untimely death when she decided to devote herself to radically reinventing public education. Born to Rise recounts a journey that led Kenny to risk her life savings to open schools in Harlem while proving that all children, regardless of socioeconomic circumstances, can learn at high levels. Students enter Harlem Village Academies several years behind grade level, but in just a few years they are transformed, ranking among the highest in the nation—with 99 percent of eighth graders meeting proficiency standards in math, science, and social studies.
-Amazon
Curious to know Deborah's secret for success, I sat down at a nearby bench and read a few random chunks. According to my 20 minute skim, she credits her success to a carefully selected team of all-star teachers. I was particularly interested in her descriptions of the various teachers she encountered on her quest for "rockstar" teachers. A number of candidates had great resumes and interviewed well, but when she went to their classrooms, in nearly every case, the lack of behavior management skills and student engagement ruined it for her. "mostly" controlled was not enough for her. She was looking for pied piper level engagement in the roughest schools.
This was a source of chagrin for me in that some of the disruptive behaviors she witnessed were definitely elements of my classroom back in my urban teaching days. Granted, I had much more classroom control than other first year teachers there, but I admit it was usually around only 88% of the time.
So then I took to reflecting on my own abilities as a teacher. Am I a "rockstar" teacher? Would this lady hire me if I were applying to her school? Highly unlikely for both counts.
This is something I have been thinking about a lot recently as I finished up my 7th year teaching. I know I'm a good teacher, but I also know I'm not a rockstar teacher. My goal from day 1 was to be a rockstar, I always figured I would be a rockstar, and yet, 7 years later, feels more like I'm an airport lounge singer. Okay, maybe not that bad, but still...not a rockstar.
I feel I do have the potential still to be great, but it just doesn't quite feel there yet. My students are engaged and tell me they were challenged in my class, fun happens (could happen a little more), and there are results, but not everyday is a homerun. I always feel that there could be so much more...SO much more.
What, then, could push me into that privileged realm rockstarrism? More time? greater effort? paradigm shift? I'll keep working on it.
