Saturday, July 26, 2008

The Cop/Teacher Continuum

dy/dan started with this question:
1. How does a policeman's ethic of care mirror that of the classroom teacher?

which brought him to this conclusion:

dy/av : 006 : carver's classroom management from Dan Meyer on Vimeo.

I meant to blog/reflect on his question before watching his video and then again after, but I just couldn't stand the suspense anymore. Apparently I'm a blogging machine tonight, either b/c I'm avoiding fretting/planning/packing for wedding lift-off tomorrow, or because I like feeling productive for the first time in sometime (again, wedding, etc, etc.). So, here's my response with only the after:

I think the link between the classroom teacher and the police officer is an interesting one (wish I had thought of it) b/c it's so cyclical. Put parents in there and you might have the life cycle for kids in their formative years. Maybe the real issue is how kids see teachers and how teachers play the balance: parent/nurturer or "cop"/punisher. One of my struggles has been getting through to the kids who feel everyone in their lives is the latter--trouble at home, trouble at school, all leading to trouble with the law. If the kid comes to me with that baggage, it's so hard to find the cracks in the armor that might let me in. Not impossible, but so hard.

I'm still percolating on this one. Check out the discussion over at Dan's blog.