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Snap.

Oh, snap.
Oh, snap.

Collective  consciousness is a powerful force.

Seems like hallway conversations, emails, and blog postings are all reporting the same news: teachers and students, you have been abandoned. Room in the lifeboat? Left behind? Stranded? Perhaps.

Frequent, constant, and standard assessments are not going away. In fact, they are fairly well entrenched: some feel like a tick on a dog, others see them like the matchhead, burning tired and tenured ideas out. I don’t know if I’m the tick or the match;  but I do imagine most of us are feeling like the dog.

Codes words like “accountability” and “collaboration” sometimes mask managerial speak for “do more with less and be postive about it.” But I am going to focus on this word: empowerment. We are a creative force for change and growth — we have wonderful jobs. (Although with 1500 cuts coming next year, I do wonder if I will have one..?) There are doctors, nurses, and general good-do’ers out there who are truly saving the world. If outside forces, the mega-wealthy, the special interests, want to continue to diminish our children’s futures for their own gain, I’m not sure they know who they’re messin’ with.

 

I’m talking about quiet revolutions, although revolution is too strong of a word. But teachers are dangerous people. We want our students to know why they should care about themselves, and find passions and voice, as much as their teachers and parents do. Not to keep it hidden behind data. Expose the data, use it, and learn from it.

We need…

A snap cup.

From the movie Legally Blonde, Elle uses a Snap Cup to promote sunshine and sparkles in a drab, perfume-free world. Though my own college experience is about as far away from the fluffy sorority girl motifs in the Blonde series, I still played with Barbies.

What would School Teacher Barbie do?

Just celebrate the victories, the growth, the gain; little happy spots that build up, and mortar against the muck, mire, and muddy negativity.

Over the break, I plan on adding a little panache, positivity, and planning power to my New Year. Get some junk out of my system, and try to start fresh. I am going to start a Snap Cup, and snap out of it.

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