Common Core vs Human Core

Yesterday, we announced  our school's teacher of the year.  I was proud to be a part of that announcement as Mrs. Nadine Greenspan, our choral teacher, was bestowed with this honor. Mrs. Greenspan has been teaching in our district for over 30 years. She has touched the lives of at least 5,000 students. Her choral performances rock the house. Last year, we had to move it into the gymnasium to accommodate the families since there were over 300 students (over 30% of the total population) in the chorus. This is a picture of last year's performance.

In her class, students design lesson plans, teach and assess each other, have an Edmodo page, and she has even attempted to flip her chorus classroom. Why is she so successful? It could be because her pedagogical practices meet the expectations of the common core, but Mrs. Greenspan is successful because she invests in the human core.  

Mrs.Greenspan receiving this award is validation for all those teachers who do whatever it takes to meet the needs of their students.  She validates those teachers who put student needs ahead of their own. Mrs. Greenspan does this never seeking recognition, she just wants to make music. However,she deserves this recognition for the lives she has impacted not just by making music, but by:

• making kids feels special that have never felt special
• making kids feel worthy when they themselves and others made them feel worthless
• making kids work hard and not even know it
• making kids laugh at the time they need it the most
• making kids smile on their worst day
• by loving her students unconditionally

At times, myself included, this profession can get very myopic as we seek to invest our time in the Common Core, but a teacher like Mrs. Greenspan is someone who invests in the human core. If, as educators regardless of title,  we invested in the human core the way we do everything else, imagine what the possibilities could be. I am privileged and honored to work with a teacher like Mrs. Greenspan and others in our building like her. Teachers like this represent all that is right in our profession, but most importantly all that is right for our students. No matter what position you have in education: How will you invest in the Human Core?