I Believe

For some reason, Martin Luther King has been resonating in my head as I have been struggling to write my belief statements. Finally I decided to reread the epic speech and remind myself of the powerful leadership and mindfulness that this hero possessed. The first lines,
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream.

Are especially reflective of the conversations that I have had today and my reflection last evening. Today talking with Erin we tried to make sense of the internal conflicts that we have with living our beliefs. We, like most in this class, are aware of the impact of our choices and savy with knowledge about our consumer power, but often feel helpless when we try put these ideals into action. At points it seems as if everything is crumbling beneath our watch, we are losing biodiversity at alarming rates, people are starving, corruption had weaved it’s way into most industries, western consumerism supports child labor in impoverished nations, the list seems endless and understanding the issues alone is draining, When then do we find the time to invest ourselves in adjusting our actions to stimulate change. Maybe our goals are too lofty- this is something that I tried to keep in mind as I was creating the “I believe” statements that are meant to serve as my pedagogy as an environmental educator.
Keeping in mind Eleanor’s comment that we should be designing our lesson plans around our beliefs came me a focused perspective and challenged me to think deeply yet realistically. The feeling of helplessness was one that surfaced weekly during my teaching this past year. I would find myself stressed by the lack of time in the day that I could invest in relearning forgotten information that I was required to teach and then creating a lesson plan that would present the material in a conveying way to my students. Multiple that process by three and sleep became a foreign comfort. My advisors from the previous summer had keyed me into balance and necessity of taking time for yourself, but between my lack of patience towards settling with plans that I judged as inadequate, and maintaining my immediate personal relationships my individual needs often fell to the wayside. This is something that I hope to work on this coming school year and know will improve as I become more experienced and confident in my abilities. I truly think that this goal statement will provide useful as a frame of reference for reflection and serve as a reminder of why I got into this profession to begin with.

SIDENOTE… slammin facilitation by Vicki today. She provided a fabulous activity, “Values Auction” that challenged us to think about and chose one value that was most important to us. This would be a fabulous introduction for my Biology students into the idea of values and transition into making connections to nature.