Policy and a Pint – Education in Minnesota

As per usual, Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current in partnership with The Citizen’s League pulled off a sweet Policy and a Pint event last Thursday night (10/8). As much as I enjoyed the UBS Forum at the MPR studios in St. Paul, MN, I heartheartheart the Varsity Theater and was so very excited to see the event back there.

The topic: Education

What makes for a good teacher? What changes do we need to see in teaching to ensure the best futures for our children? How much input should parents have for their children’s education? How much responsibility should they take?

My companion: my beautiful (inside and out), dedicated and passionate first-grade-teacher sister, Miranda
The fun part: The Citizens League asked me to “live-tweet” the event and the MPR crew asked if they could chat with me about it afterwards, which was super fun.

Anyway, you can check out the play-by-play of the event here as @AmySBryant and I essentially #duelingtweeters‘ed, but the highlights (my takeaways) from the event are here:

1. Amber Damm, MN Teacher of the Year, is very fortunate to be able to write her own curriculum in the school where she teaches.Teachers are often required by their districts to nearly follow materials verbatim (I’m assuming this is true in other states too, right?), almost as if there were a script, in the name of continuity and teaching to the standardized tests.  Amber is a middle school English teacher that commits each year to different focuses of study including film, history, poetry, novels, music and art.

2. Nate Eklund, professional speaker and trainer and author of How Was Your Day at School? Improving Dialogue About Teacher Job Satisfaction – offered some really, really great perspective as a former teacher and current Education Consultant.  He was a confident and articulate speaker and his passion for his involvement in education was apparent.

3. The relationship between teacher and parents has to be one of trust and of humility. There are moments when the parents need to trust that the educator has the best solution/answer to a particular situation, and there are instances when the educator needs to show humility and admit that they don’t know, that the parents DO know best, and then to commit to learning from that situation and growing. This is easier said than done.

We also addressed things like teachers’ salaries, Teach for America, job satisfaction, moving vocational experts into the teaching field, private/charter/public/homeschooling options, and layoffs. We covered a lot of ground in an hour!

As always, Steve Seel proved a great moderator obviously being familiar with the accomplishments, writings, and stances of the speakers as well as directing questions from the crowd to the speakers, and with keeping the momentum going and the event on schedule (for the most part).

On top of all that great info, I made new friends, which is always a win for me.  I was so excited to get to meet Mr. Eklund as well as MPR’s Steve Seel (The Current DJ) and Tom Weber (Education Reporter for MPR, who has great, great hair).   I love being involved with public radio events and happenings, and If we learned anything from DeRushaDay, it’s that I get absolutely giddy meeting people in the local journo/ad/media scene.

Wait a second – didn’t I JUST POST this week about how I wanted to further my involvement in public media aside from being a member? Yes, yes I did.

Also, being there with Miranda was the BEST part – hearing the thoughts of a real!life!teacher! post-discussion about education and teachers in Minnesota just brought it all home. We headed next door to the (same owners) Loring Pasta Bar for, well, pasta, another glass of wine and a recap of the evening. From an informative standpoint, it was lovely to get her thoughts on the issues that were addressed. From a personal standpoint, it brings me SUCH great joy to watch her eyes light up as she shares her thoughts on a topic so personal to her and that she dedicates so much of her passionate energy to.

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My best impressions of great teachers are always the ones that spent the time needed to answer the further questions you had, the ones that motivated and encouraged learning to continue outside the classrooms, and the ones that were so passionate about their jobs and their subject material that it was impossible not to get on board.

This event got me thinking about teachers that made a lasting impression on me.  These are them:

Park High School’s Mr. Bach (Honors Chem) for teaching me that I can, in fact grasp chemical properties and reactions even if I’d rather be writing, Mr. Hyland (Social Studies) for teaching with a sense of humor, and Mr. Detviler (Political Science) for prioritizing relationships with EACH of his students; and to the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication’s Mr. John Rash (who would later serve as one of my most influential mentors and bosses), THANK YOU.

Also?  To my parents, who sacrificed all sorts of things to teach Miranda and I from home for over five years, for instilling in us both not only the desire to constantly be learning, but the ability to process information and essentially, teach ourselves.

For being great teachers and inspiring me to the degree that 5, 7, and 10 years later you’re the ones that come to mind when someone asks about “great teachers,” I’ve had before.

I know some of you readers are teachers and lots of you folks are Minnesotans – any thoughts on teaching in your city/state/school and how you’d improve it?  Those that are further removed from the teaching profession – what do you remember about the most influential teachers you had through school?

Tagged as: Citizens League, Dinkytown, Education, MPR, Policy and a Pint, the current, Varsity Theater