Dream.
My favorite of Leila Christenbury’s Centennial Blasts from the Past: In 1977 former NCTE Executive Director J. N. Hook proposed an NCTE Commission on Dreams, urging the Council to consider the challenges of the future. The members of this Commission should be recognized for their vision, imagination, ability to look forward, and affirmative thinking and, he felt, should probably include a poet.
Would our education landscape be different if this Commission had been created? Would the vision of our schools really be to: “prepare our students to compete in a global economy,” “prepare students with academic rigor,” “accelerate the achievement of all students,” “maximize the learning experience of every child” or “prepare our students for high-stakes testing?”
These “vision statements” are truly tunnel vision. They have little to do with the passions that drew us to our profession and that we hope will similarly inspire our students: Reverence for the tenacity of the human spirit. The awe and ahhh! of an idea artfully expressed. The connectedness across time and cultures of what it means to be human. Celebration of our students’ creativity, insight, and hard-won successes—and gratitude for the privilege of being invited into their lives. The rich kaleidoscopic mix of imagination and experience, past and future, wonder and curiosity. The poetry.
Connect.
Vision without action, though, is inertia. But taking solitary action today is like pushing the rock of Sisyphus up hill. Instead, we work and teach collaboratively through teaching teams, cohorts, writing projects, research groups. Or we connect through learning communities, blogs or Facebook, or through personal connections to kindred spirits. We turn to NCTE conventions, journals, webinars, books, online communities, and to NCTE’s new collaborative effort—the National Center for Literacy Education. We are not limited by geography as we connect our practice or our classrooms across the globe. We look for critical friends to further inspire our practice, to share our struggles and successes as we work to make a difference, to reassure ourselves that we are not alone.
Ignite!
These are the treasured moments, when a creative spark catches fire. It’s the teachable, ah ha! moment, where understanding is mirrored in the eyes of every student, light bulbs palpable above their heads. It’s the passionate one-period discussion where the students are still in lively debate as they leave class. It’s the honest question that torpedoes the lesson plan and inflames student-led inquiry that results in a change in their world. It’s the voices-raised give-and-take with colleagues over coffee or a beer, sharing books, aspirations, triumphs, and debating philosophy, policy, and pedagogy. It’s the golden nugget from a book, a professional article, a conference, or a research study that rocks our professional world. These are the moments that connect the vision to the reality, the intellect to the inspiration, the teacher to the student. The moments that make us honorary members of the Commission on Dreams.
I look forward to your proposals illuminating practice, pedagogy, and research: Showcases of exceptional work from your students and the pedagogy that supported it. Validation of the importance of curiosity, play and divergent thinking. Representations of the pre-school through adulthood spectrum of students’ literacy development, bridging gaps and crossing divides. Examples of engaging the re-mix generation through popular culture, technology tools, popular literature as well as the classics. Critical connections between research and practice. Examples of the many forms of thoughtful collaboration. Inspiring projects of critical literacy, social justice, and global understanding. Partnerships between teacher preparation and practicing teachers. Integration of visual arts, creative writing, digital production, media literacy with core standards. Proposals that challenge our thinking and renew our passion for our profession.
Thank you for contributing to the grand conversation of NCTE 2012 and for the difference you make in the lives of your students.
Sandy Hayes
Program Chair