Vicki Davis: A Woman of Many Talents

Vicki Davis, A teacher, Blogger, Radio Host, Author, Technological Innovator, Wife, Mother, Volunteer, Speaker, Award-Winning, self-proclaimed "Country Girl," and human being.  (Where I found out all these adjectives). She is also the Edublogger who I made two comments to recently. The reason why I picked her is because she is one of the high school teachers who leads a classroom of students in AIC, a simulation course run by U of M graduate students like myself (Read more about AIC here). I work with about 15 of her students, who do some of the best work of all of the students in my simulation. As a class, we skyped Vicki a couple weeks ago to hear more about how she runs her classroom in relation to AIC. She was so enthusiastic and friendly, I was delighted to find out she also blogs regularly!

The first blog post I commented on is titled "The Right Tough and F’s in school: are we failing kids?" She wrote about how many teachers brag about failing students, and questioned if it was something to really brag about. She discusses what failure in classrooms really means, and what is doesn't mean - i.e. failing to be an A+ human being. I really identified with this post. I told her that I completely agree with the point she makes - that an F is a bullseye to give a student more attention. I stated that I truly believe we should devote our time and energy to not only changing struggling students' grades, but also their perception of themselves! She also write about how students put up walls that stop them from achieving in school. I elaborated on her idea by sharing that there are so many kinds of walls. It is so hard to get in touch with every single student and help them make little doors in their walls to let certain people through, but we continue to try. Once the breakthrough is made - success happens!

The most important part of her post, for me, was when she wrote about the support of administration and how important that is. A segment of my comment to her is below: 

"You say that you are lucky your administration has always supported you in failing students when they earn the F, and the idea that some administrations don't makes me sick! I was just talking to my mentor teacher today who stated that she would get questioned, and reprimanded for not reaching her "goal" if she failed a student whose parent pulled them out of the school, but didn't "officially" disenroll the student, so they were being counted as "absent" and their assignments were "missing." She said that F would be looked at just as any other kid who is just skipping school, or coming and not paying attention. I can't imagine that a teacher would be in trouble for things like that. It makes me so sad!"

I ended with a few questions for her: How do you tell the difference between someone who won’t let you help and someone who just takes time? How long do you pursue them in this case? I asked because in my ideal future, I will never stop pursuing a student even if they act like help is the last thing I can give them. However, I know how frustrating and discouraging that must be. 

I love that she writes about things that are applicable to all teachers, regardless of the "content area." As Maria Coolican always says, "You don't teach French, Science, or Math. You teach kids." I can see that shining through in Vicki's blog.

The second post I commented on was one about enjoying the silence of the morning and being alone. This was so important to me because I am so caught up in all of the work I am doing in and outside of school. In undergrad, I often forgot to take time for myself. I have gotten much better at this during grad school (when I have less time to give up, of course), but now I often feel guilty about it. Vicki's post made me realize how important and essential this time is to leading a happy and (mentally) healthy life. 

I haven't heard back from her yet, but part of that is my fault. I didn't realize she moved her site to a new address, and I commented on the Failure post at the old address. I copied on to the same post at her new address so hopefully she will be able to find it and reply. I will comment back on this post when and if she does! 

I have subscribed to her blog in order to see when she updates it, and I plan on checking back on it regularly. She truly is an inspiration and I encourage you to check out her site. Let me know if you find any intriguing posts (how could you not?) and what your thoughts are! 

In case you're interested, her twitter handle is @coolcatteacher :) Have Fun and a Good Holiday Break, everyone!