A Touch of Greatness

Just watched the most inspiring documentary on Netflix Instant Queue. This teacher, Albert Cullum, was a rare breed and a visionary. Actually he was "just" a gifted, transcendent teacher, but his courage to be different and to elicit the best in kids is (was) remarkable. My cynical self kept wanting to focus on his effeminacy and question his motives, but the longer I watched and listened to his former students speak, about their memories and how they felt in his class, the more I wanted to know how I could be this nurturing and enabling a teacher.

I had the same reaction to reading Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire...these are teachers who go well above and beyond their classroom commitment... I am sure that I will do that, it is how I am wired...but I worry about finding creative, highly intellectually stimulating projects that kids will embrace and be engaged by. I wonder if these teachers worried about the standards or meeting academic requirements. I know there must be a way to do both, but I think the key lies in my knowing the required curriculum inside and out and finding my own passion in it.

Reading Doug Lemov's book Teach Like a Champion and watching this film I noticed how many of the "key ideas" Mr. Cullum demonstrated ...recapping what the student said using rich vocabulary, asking a student what they meant by a certain thing and having them rephrase it better, asking a student to explain WHY they thought something not just taking the answer flat out. A natural. What he wanted to be was an actor, and teaching was his avenue and stage and he was a star. He credits Dewey for the school of thought that the teacher is really there to open the door, but the classroom belongs to the student. I have not read enough about Dewey and think that is the next road to follow.