At What Moment Did You Know You Wanted to Be An Educator/Teacher?

I like many others have joined LinkedIn. I belong to 14 groups that deal with education. One of the groups I belong to is called The Teacher’s Network.  A few weeks ago a member of our group Herm Allen, who is the President, Herm Allen Coaching in Greenville, South Carolina Area asked everyone the question,” At What Moment Did You Know You Wanted to Be An Educator/Teacher?

At first, I thought this is an interesting question. There were several people who commented, including me. Two people knew they wanted to be teachers in elementary school; some people became hockey coaches or volunteered with youth groups and realized they wanted to teach; someone did not know what to do with her degree in art and became a teacher. Then she loved it. One gentleman spoke about becoming a school teacher in India in the 1980s and that teaching had a stigma to it, and it was the lowest paying job in his province. He left it for 3 years and went back to it.

I was in the sixth grade when I knew I wanted to be an educator. I went to Catholic school. I had a nun called Sr. Amy. She loved the Yankees. The Yankees made it to the World Series. She brought to class a real small black & white TV, so that we could watch them play. While we did this, she had us do math, science, reading, social studies, and current events.

 We each had a player. We worked on his stats not only for the games, but for several years before. We had to try to figure out what he would do, and back up our feeling with math. We looked at the stats of the other teams, also.

We studied the weather on the day of the game, science of throwing a ball, hitting it. We read articles about the games and wrote summaries. We did research (library-book research) on the area's economic, jobs, social issues etc.

 When she did that, I realized that there is no substitute for learning. I wanted to be an educator like Sr. Amy. I have had a long career in my chosen vocation, but I always ask myself "Is this what Sr. Amy would do?"

Now, I have to ask “Why are you staying in teaching?” “Why have I stayed in teaching?” My answer comes in a story about my grandfather. My grandfather came to the United States from Italy in 1920s. He was told by his brother-in-law that in America the streets are lined in gold. Yes, I know-STOP LAUGHING! I can remember asking my grandfather, “Were they really lined in gold?” He said, “Yes, but the gold in American streets were the ability of anyone to send their child to school”. He said, “The gold he saw was the sides of the pages of books. Books that if he stayed in Italy, his children and grandchildren may not have had the opportunity to read or write. The gold of America was the ability of an immigrant’s child and grandchild to have the same opportunities as rich people’s children. Why-because you are educated!”

Those of you, who know me, know I am writing this blog through tears.  I still want to believe that the streets of America are paved in the gold of education that my grandfather believed in. Why do I still teach? Because - I believe “Tutto è Possible” (Anything is possible!) through education.

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” (Robert McCloskey)

When I was growing up (Yes, I said that phrase, I always hated to hear someone say that to me), communication between people was much different than today. Today we can e-mail or text a person. Then we could write them a letter and mail it via the US Postal services or have it hand delivered. Both then and now, we could call them on the phone. Of course then, we had a party line so other people could listen in on our private conversations by being very quiet and not invited to join in like now. Today as well as then we could use IM. Today IM means texting, twitter etc. Then IM meant that you would ask a friend to go tell the other person something for you right away, thus you used IM (Instant Messenger).

I have been dragged into using 21^st Century, kicking and screaming (figuratively oh course). I now have an IPhone and a Kindle, both of which I originally did not want, and now cannot live without. I miss the face to face touch of a conversation. I also miss the passion and insight in reading a hand written letter.

The quote by McCloskey, however, is how I feel sometimes, when my cell phone starts to go in and out while I am in the middle of a conversation. It is definitely how I feel when I call any company and get the dreaded computer voice giving me choices none of which address my particular need or question. It brings to memory my taking classes online and using Ellumination and Blackboard. Both of which were supposed to help education and trainings, but 75% of the time had a glitch with either the audio or visual part of the presentation. It reminds me of when I try to have a face to face conversation, but the other person keeps cutting in on my thoughts or knows what I mean more than I do.

At this point you may be thinking “Is this blog just a way to complain?” Actually I want to talk about the key to good communication. I think that the use of “IM” has taken away some peoples’ listening skills. Instead of “IM” meaning Instant Messaging, some people believe it means “Inconsiderate Me”. They are inconsiderate because they show a lack of regards for other people’s feeling. They say /post anything they want to. There is not a person there whose immediate facial and body language they can see. “IM” and social media were designed for our fast paced lives. Using “IM” does not preclude us from being good listeners and communicators.

In order to communicate well with others we need to use the techniques of active listening. There are 7 points to active listening.

Encouraging: Show an interest in what the person is saying. Ask questions “Can you tell me more..?”

Validating: Validate the person’s viewpoint even if you don’t agree with it. “I can understand why you might…”

Restating: Paraphrase the main points or content of what the person is saying “It sounds like you have….”

Reflecting: Deals with the person’s feelings “This has been a hard day for you.”

Clarifying: Use brief question “Do you mean…?”

Centering: Help bring speaker back to what is important to them “What would be most helpful to you right now?”

Attending: Pay attention. Focus on the speaker.

Being an active listener will affect how you make people feel about themselves and you.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. “Maya Angelou

Why was Leorian Learning Center founded?

Leorian Learning Center was founded as a result of a community-based needs assessment  study that was conducted in May 2010. The participants of this study were the local residents and employers in three zip codes in Providence, RI.

This study found that there were several needs in this community for both residents and employers. The residents wanted ESL classes, Citizenship classes, GED-Prep classes, and computer training. The employers were looking for a place that offered their employees basic literacy, computer classes, and work readiness classes.

Yes, Providence does have other not for profits that offer these services. However, we are not only offering these classes, but are also offer training that restaurant workers need for certification and recertification, workshops for early childhood staff and enrichment classes. Originally, we were not offering the restaurant classes, but residents asked us to offer them. Therefore, we are.

We found that the adults, who answered our study's survey, wanted more one on one instruction, or small groups not to exceed 6 adults at one time. We also found that it was important to have a flexible schedule. We offer day, evening and Saturday classes in order to help address our students' scheduling needs.

Leorian Learning Center was founded to help our areas adults to become life long learners. That is our mission.