I was honored to have the opportunity to participate in a learning session with Principal Baruti Kafele at the recent virtual ASCD conference Respond, Reimagine, Restart.
I experienced something I have been needing for a long time…a guide who challenged thought through reflective questioning. Although many of my former students would complain and expound on the virtues of my teaching methodology, the one thing they would always say is, ” Your class was hard because you always made us think, support our thoughts, and refine our thinking. It was not like any other class because you forced us to reflect on what we thought we knew and then stretched us by asking divergent questions.”
Principal Baruti Kafele did this for me last week. He started by asking us…
“Who are you when the students’ faces appear in your class?”
B. K. Kafele July 2020
Although this seems to be a simple question, I did not take this question lightly. This is the type of question I would have asked my former students of Education. This is the type of question every teacher should be asking him or herself in both times of certainty and uncertainty. This question transcends the fact that we are wrestling how to use space and place for teaching and learning. It leaves the plane of delivery and enters the atmosphere of connections and relationships to learning.
As educators we have always been more than a vessel of subject content or an expert in a particular knowledge base. We play many roles in a synchronous symphony of our craft. In her book Enhancing Professional Practice: A framework for teaching, Charlotte Danielson (2007) discusses the complexity of teaching and says that this is “a thinking person’s job” (p. 2). How often do we stop and think about who we are in relation to our students? When we are working toward meeting state standards are we also asking how we are supporting our learners’ social emotional well being?
If we reflect on my last question then we need to include the idea that even though teachers are also business managers, human relations leaders, fine arts designers…they also need to be curators of trust, restorative justice, and feelings of well being.
So the one sentence, 11 word question asked by Principal Kafele is not a simple one to answer. However, it is one that needs to be asked within the context of each day you interact with your students.
I believe we must own, that whether we like it or not, we are the glue in our students’ lives.
We are the ones who provide a safe place for making mistakes, a conduit to their family structure, a service provider of goods and services for living healthy lives, and we are their guide understanding the impact of culture on them, their community, and their future.
During this time of health and civil unrest, it is now more important than ever to reassess your responses to the following questions:
1. Who we are when the students’ faces appear in our class?
2. Are you all about these children?
,3. Are you excited about your craft?
4. Are you excited about your own professional growth and development so that you can bring more to your students?
Although difficult, this is a time for innovation, recreation, and beginning of new journeys. This is a time when we, in the field of education stand up and help construct learning spaces that are available and supportive of all learners.
So, I challenge you to take some time to answer Principal Kafele’s questions about you and your practice. Write it down. Make it purposeful. Make it actionable. But most importantly share it with others so that we can start a movement that defines the answer to the question of who are you as an educator?
Reimagining Education 