Educators should be like Olympians

Before the Olympics began in July, I watched Oprah's special on some of our most famous Olympians. Carl Lewis said that striving for less than excellence is unacceptable...and I think he is onto something.

Our world continues to berate teachers and the education system for being poor. We are, overall, a fairly poor system because not all of us strive for excellence in the classroom. I do not believe, however, that the lack of excellence is because of a lack of desire. I believe it is because of a lack of confidence, support, and preparedness. I realize many of us spend hours upon hours preparing but we are often reworking the same thing instead of working on something new. In order to achieve excellence we must make the leap into new territory, whether that involves new texts, new styles of teaching or a new way of gathering references.

This year I will start a new job in a very tiny district with little budget on which to survive. My challenges will be many, including structuring a classroom for only two students, teaching English to students from 5th to 12th grade and bringing in new frames of reference and materials for my normally remote and somewhat sheltered students. I am lucky to have the support from friends and family who willingly purchased new texts for my classroom. People outside of the classroom really do play a role in improving the world of education, whether they know it or not. Just like Olympians have support systems to help them become the best, educators need support systems to become excellent.

Add your friends and family to your toolbox and see what you can accomplish with a little help. Share new text titles with friends, sign up for an educator blog, check out DonorsChoose.org, visit Teachers Pay Teachers, use ReadWriteThink.org, read new magazines, watch shows the kids enjoy and listen to their music on occasion. You never know what you can use successfully in the classroom until you are willing to explore the routes open to you. Sometimes the seemingly obscure is what you've been looking for all along.