Book Review
SELECTION FROM CHAPTER 1: ROCKSTAR BY DOUG ROBERTSON / OEA Member
T
eaching, like music, is a performance art. Good performers are aware of and engaged with the audience. They draw the audience in and make them want to participate. Make them want to be a part of the show. Infect them with the energy. Is the energy always there? No. Bands have off nights. The key is that the audience never knows if you’re off or not. That’s professional. That’s part of being a Rockstar Frontman. Teaching is experimental theater. I don’t know if a lot of the things I try in front of my class are going to land. Some of them will fail. Some will fail hard. But that is always better than teaching the same thing in the same way for years on end. Teaching is a never-ending quest for perfection. I try different things all the time. If I’m bored then I know the students are bored. I know teachers who have taught the same grade at the same school in the same classroom for years and years. One opinion on that would be, “Well, then they must be very good at what they do.” And that’s true. Repetition
breeds familiarity. Malcolm Gladwell, in his amazing book Outliers, said that it takes 10,000 hours of doing something before you can be truly great at it. There is a line though, especially in something like teaching, where you become too set in your ways. Teachers become part of their classrooms and even teachers with the best of intentions stagnate. “Because this is how we’ve always done it,” is a common refrain when teachers push back against change. It is also just about the worst reason for doing anything I can think of. It’s not that these are bad teachers, it’s just that these are teachers who have stopped growing and experimenting. Those ideas and more will be explored throughout the pages of this book. As a bombastic rock star frontman of a never-ending education funk machine I embody intensity in ten cities. I have to bring it every day because my audience expects nothing less than my best. I should be on my game even when I feel off because rock stars don’t miss a gig. The class isn’t just the audience, though. Not in my room, not with how I view learning. The class is my band and I am their band leader. I set the tone, I tell them when to bring it up and I tell them when to break it down. I wave the stick and they bang the drum. Together we make music. The education funk machine is all about finding that deep groove and settling in until something moves you out of it. A new kid, a different set of standards, a change in the tests, boredom, the need for new. A machine never stops; it doesn’t rest. I listen for creaks and squeaks and rattling and strains. I care for the machine, constantly oiling, constantly improving, constantly updating. An education machine can crank away all day, a Terminator-like AI, learning the best way to teach you. I have detailed files to make me a more effective information imparting organism. Knowing that I’m forever striving to be a bombastic rock star frontman of a neverending education funk machine keeps me positive in the classroom. Funk is not angry.
THE CLASS IS MY BAND AND I AM THEIR BAND LEADER. I SET THE TONE, I TELL THEM WHEN TO BRING IT UP AND I TELL THEM WHEN TO BREAK IT DOWN. I WAVE THE STICK AND THEY BANG THE DRUM. TOGETHER WE MAKE MUSIC. Funk doesn’t shout at you when you mess up. Funk is love. Teaching is love. Author Bio: Doug Robertson has been an elementary school teacher for seven years now. As low man on the totem pole he moved around a lot (3rd in CA, then 3rd, 6th, 3rd, and 4th in HI), but it has given him a chance to experience all kinds of teachers and students. He now resides in southern Oregon with his wife and son, where he teaches third grade (again). For fun he trains for triathlons, rides his motorcycle, and makes small children cry at the mall. Doug vehemently resists the negative stereotype of teachers and fights for teacher rights as often as he can. He advocates for his students and loves and believes in each and every one of them. Doug has a grand plan to become a famous teacher and infect future generations of educators and students with his philosophy, which will lead to a joyous education renaissance, flying unicorns, and rock and roll for all. Doug will be at Bloombury Books in Ashland, Ore. on Thursday, May 8, 2014 at 7 p.m. for a book reading/signing/Q&A.
TODAY’S OEA | FEBRUARY 2014
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