Category: Uncategorized

One Step Forward

by JC Bowman, posted in JC Bowman, Mental Health, Uncategorized

Life can teach us some tough and painful lessons.  There are many experiences we wish we didn’t have to go through.   It seems, sometimes, we take one step forward, and then two steps back. 

We can learn these lessons through our own experience, or by watching the events of other people’s lives.  It can be painful and it can drive even the strongest person to their knees.  Grief, disappointment, hurt, pain, anger, sadness, and even tears are all just a part of life. 

Difficult times have a particular way of reminding us of what is essential, and who is important in our lives.  We must recognize that there is something deep and hidden inside of us during these hard times.  The will to survive is bred into every person who has ever been born. 

We should remember the little things, and keep our focus on what really matters: life, hope, dreams, and love.  For some, it is an unwavering faith in God that still guides us through the darkest times. 

if we are honest with ourselves, nothing in the world will hit you as hard as life.  Often you will be blindsided, caught off guard at the most inopportune time.   And if you let it, life will keep beating you down.  

The scars of our life are more than souvenirs, they shape who we become.  More importantly, how we react to heartache, failure, unhappiness, sorrow, and lamentation influences our outlook on life.  Malcolm X wrote: “Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.

When I am at the lowest points in my life, I escape into my words, and the words of others, to capture the rawness of life and look for a sense of hope. Every battle and every fight, every tear, I write it down so others may find courage or find hope, or just to know they are not alone. 

From the depths of my soul, I am not afraid to expose my own brokenness for the world to see.  I have learned that even if it doesn’t help my own struggle, my words may capture the exact emotion someone else is experiencing.  We need more people that can offer hope through life’s difficult times.  We need those who can demonstrate love, patience, forgiveness, kindness, and humility. We should embrace those people and keep them close, for they are very rare these days.

For every step forward we take in our life, we have to make sure that we do not take two steps back in channeling our emotions because of what life has hurled at us.  The dark premises of human weakness, along with the issues we face in this world, means we have to be resilient.    

Every person who has ever walked upon this earth have experienced painful situations in life, and have questioned whether or not they were going to get back up.  And if I fall, I will rise again.  It’s not the fall that defines us. It is our actions afterward that build our character. 

As long as I have a breath, I will keep trying and keep going.  I won’t quit at life.  One step forward.  One step at a time.

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JC Bowman is the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the association are properly cited. For more information on this subject or any education issue please contact Professional Educators of Tennessee.

Serving at Christmas

by JC Bowman, posted in Holidays, JC Bowman, Uncategorized

I have never shied away from sharing my Christian faith, as imperfect as it is.  I view faith as something personal, but appropriate to share with others, as long as someone is not compelled or required to conform to as a condition for employment or citizenship. We do not have a national religion, but we are still a nation that values belief in God.       

For educators, Christmas marks the half-way point in the year.  When school returns it will be a new year:  2019.   Educators will spend a few days at home with their own family at Christmas.  It may afford them an opportunity to catch up on reading as well as a chance to finish some personal chores left untended since school started.  Christmas is a special time for family, friends and faith. 

Christmas Day is one day a year we set aside to thank God for the gift of His son.  We must all eventually ponder the meaning of the life and death of a teacher from Nazareth, Jesus Christ. For those of a different faith or even no faith, it is also an opportunity to partake in the goodwill of friends and neighbors, who may be Christian.  This time of the year should reflect the best of mankind. For Christians there are five things to consider:

  1. Miracles.  We can claim Jesus is the reason for the season, but the truth is we get lost in the busyness of the holiday.  So, it is through childlike wonder we must remember a tiny baby in a manger born in Bethlehem.  And while we fully engage in myriad of events, we do not lose focus on this miracle of Jesus Christ living among us.  He is the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
  2. Message.  The hopeful message of Christmas is that we are not alone.  God so loved the world that he sent His son Jesus Christ into a world of sin to restore the brokenness between God and Man.  His gift of love is better than any gift found under a tree.    
  3. Meaning.  Without Jesus birth, His death could never have happened.  Jesus’ death made possible the forgiveness of sins, which in turn enables us to look forward to living and reigning with Christ in the Kingdom of God.
  4. Mission.  Our mission is to serve others, in love, and with grace.  As Eugene Peterson wrote: “Christian spirituality means living into the mature wholeness of the gospel. It means taking all the elements of your life—children, spouse, job, weather, possessions, relationships—and experiencing them as an act of faith.”
  5. Ministry.  Ministry is more than just work done by clergy. The Greek word in the New Testament that is often translated as “ministry” is diakonia. The basic meaning of this word is “service.” The ultimate example of ministry is Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus of his own free will gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became like a human being and appeared in human likeness. His entire life on earth, and ultimately His death on the cross, was about others.  Ministry means to serve.   

Live life by those beliefs and values. Love God. Love each other. Love the world. Love the least. Make disciples of others.  When we lose ourselves in the service of others, we discover our own lives.  Mother Teresa said: “Give your hands to serve, and your hearts to love.”  That is the path forward for faith, and the “riveting, redemptive, and revolutionary story of God, who left His home to bring us home, and more profoundly, to make us His home” added Nathan Edwardson. 

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JC Bowman is the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee. A veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He is a lifelong educator.

My Father’s Son

by JC Bowman, posted in Holidays, JC Bowman, Parents, Professional Educators of Tennessee, Resources, Uncategorized

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I drew back my fist and tried to defend my mother after my dad had struck her numerous times.  I don’t remember my exact age, but I was around 4 years of age.  It is etched forever in my mind and fuels my abhorrence of injustice and deep respect of women. Sometimes I close my eyes and it is as if I am there again.

In high school, it was endless cycle of verbal battles—and I could give much better than I would take. My dad, Francis Bowman, was a tough man. He was the 11th of 12 children of a moderately successful, yet well-respected father, who himself died way too early.  It was hard for me to love him, yet other people told me stories of his constant charity and gregarious nature.  He had a determined work ethic, often working two jobs, and he taught me to never expect to be handed anything in life.  Certainly nothing would be handed to me under his roof.  When I was 17 it escalated and he finally slapped me.  I wanted to hit back at him, but somehow, I knew better.  I yelled the words that I thought would hurt him the most: “I hate you.”  And at that moment in my life, I did.

Hate is a motivating emotion.  Fear, anger, and hatred are all painstakingly linked together.  Much like love, all of them can serve to influence our behavior. My father had served his country during the Korean War in the United States Navy.  So, after high school, I needed to show him that I was much tougher than him and I joined the United States Marines.  I didn’t even bother to tell him until just a few days before I left for boot camp.  It was the only time I ever recall seeing him cry.

It is an ancient ritual of fathers and their children.  The child yearning to grow into adulthood, and a father’s tough love.  Mothers can be demanding, but they have that nurturing and caring side that escapes most men. Fathers try to instill discipline in order to help their children succeed in a heartless, often uncaring, world.

When you become a father, you are reminded by memory and experience or from others and those lessons you pass along to your own children.  The ritual of fatherhood continues.  You will hear the words of hate spewed back at you, and it hurts.  The emotional pain hurts more than any physical pain.  At that moment you realize the hurt you caused your own father.  It is then you start the healing process.

The Christmas before he passed away, my dad asked me to come see him.  He handed me a wad of cash, and a newspaper with the price of hams circled.  He then handed me a list of names and some addresses.  He wanted me to deliver, in secret, hams to all those addresses, including many people I had never met.  I had discovered he had been doing this much of his life for the underprivileged.  I also learned from my Uncle that he had played Santa Claus at orphanages in South Korea while he was in the Navy.  He said he would never play that role again, and he didn’t, because one little girl had asked him for a father.  I started to understand him better.

My mother called me on that October day in 1991.  You need to come home, your father is dying.  I had heard that before.  More to please her than to satisfy him, I went home.  He was dying.  But it would be a magnificent death.  For once all was clear, pain seemingly gone.  For just a few days he was able to apologize for all the wrongs he had committed or felt he had committed.  Words were said that needed to be spoken, and a message was given that needed to be heard.  He held nothing back, sharing a lifetime full of words in a few hours.  His remorse was heartfelt and restorative.

Sitting there watching my father pass into his eternal reward, based on his Christian faith, I reflected on the broken man who raised me.  It was years later when I was truly able to forgive.  I don’t condone many of his actions, but I was able to move past them.  I learned that I am much like my father in many ways.  A strength, a toughness that is entrenched into my being that I inherited.  I remember among his last words: “Life really is simple, we just complicate it. If I had to do it over again I would focus more on those things that are important, like faith and family.”  I am my father’s son.

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JC Bowman is the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, a non-partisan teacher association headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.  Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author and the association are properly cited. For more information on this subject or any education issue please contact Professional Educators of Tennessee. Follow him on Twitter at @jcbowman or his Blog at http://www.jcbowman.com     

Killing Public Education

by JC Bowman, posted in Advocacy, JC Bowman, Leadership, Legislation, Professional Educators of Tennessee, Uncategorized
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Bill O’Reilly has gone on quite a killing spree. He has written books such as Killing the Rising Sun, Killing Reagan, Killing Patton, Killing Jesus, Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln. I think he should also write one called Killing Public Education.

Here is what is killing public education:

  1. A Culture of Disrespect is rampant in our schools. This can be created by a variety of reasons. Lack of respect for a profession, which is roughly 80% female. Too many people incorrectly believing that anybody can be a teacher. The very structure of our public education system, as well as the state of our society, often means educators are the major authority figure in many children’s lives. This necessitates that educators are on the frontlines of the culture wars. This result in an ugly fact: teachers provide the only correction or discipline some children ever receive. This leads to a negative perception of teachers and public education in general.
  2. The struggles that most educators face are daunting. Poverty is rampant in our nation and it is particularly obvious in our Southern states. One high school principal told me: “My school has very high poverty and mobility rates. We can’t continue to blame failure on teachers and principals. Families are failing and the evidence of that damage is clear. We love our students and are dedicated to them. Honestly, I don’t know what the answer is anymore. Eradicate poverty seems to be the obvious solution.” However, government has been trying to address this issue for well over 50 years. And it really hasn’t improved the situation. Family structures are being redefined and crumbling.
  3. We have become so driven by standards, testing and accountability that we have lost sight of what truly matters: children and those who educate our children. Testing has become big business; it is no longer merely a snapshot on a child’s progress. Data is the gold standard. We care more about what data tells us, than what a teacher tells us. And what do we know about the people creating the tests and interpreting the data? Data is not more important than children, or those that teach them. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli said: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” Perhaps we are not looking at the right statistics.

Educators know what needs to be done to improve education. Unfortunately, their voices have too often been replaced by philanthropists, business leaders and outside organizations. Often these “outside influencers” are driven by poor understanding of the issues, self-serving interests or in some cases greed.

The argument often used to counter the power of educators is that public education needs to be run more like a business and be more efficient. These arguments often fail to consider the “inside influencers” of district policy, state policy, and federal rules, laws and controls which often end up essentially micro-managing our local schools.

If we do not want to kill public education, the teaching profession must be elevated in stature. Educators must be seen as community leaders both inside and outside of the classroom. Far too often the voices of classroom teachers are not included in the decisions that impact their livelihood or their students. Few occupations are given so little say in their chosen field.

Let’s not wait until the autopsy or until Bill O’Reilly writes another book to explain that educators must be given a more active role in determining the policies that concern their students and the teaching profession. It is imperative that that we accept and nurture the teacher-leaders we already have and look to them for the guidance we need to improve education.

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JC Bowman is the Executive Director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, a non-partisan teacher association headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Follow him on Twitter @jcbowman.

You Did It!!

by JC Bowman, posted in Advocacy, Educators, JC Bowman, Leadership, Legislation, Parents, Professional Educators of Tennessee, Students, Tennessee Education, Uncategorized

Last night I watched legislators—on both sides of the political aisle, whether you agree with them or not, bust their butts; I witnessed Educators: teachers, administrators and Superintendents—across the state, individually and completely on their own initiative work for a common goal; I saw parents using all means at their disposal to work for the same objective; and, I observed a beleaguered Department of Education also work to get this done with all of us. It was beautiful. No adverse action may be taken against any student, teacher, school, or LEA based, in whole or in part, on student achievement data generated from the 2017-2018 TNReady assessments. Perfect? No. But we will take it. So when the union comes along and claims credit for this work. Remind them: The effort belongs to all of us. We simply serve to protect our kids, educators and schools. We are public education. And together we all accomplish more. —– JC Bowman.

Be Consistent!

by JC Bowman, posted in Uncategorized

Be Consistent! A frustrated teacher in Tennessee sends her thoughts on TNReady….

TRENDbits

Be consistent! From my earliest days in undergraduate education studies, these two words were embedded into my classes. Professors were always talking about consistency. Students need you to be consistent. They need you to be consistent with your discipline policies, they need you to be consistent with your routines, they need you to be consistent with your grading system, and they need you to be consistent with your attitudes and personality.

I was taught that many students come from very inconsistent and unstable lives and it was my job to give them some consistency and stability. Students need to know that they can count on what I say and that if it’s due on Monday that means Monday. Student’s need to know that my grading system will be fair and that Susie’s paper will be graded exactly like Johnny’s. So for the last twenty-four years, that is what I have…

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Champions for Children

by JC Bowman, posted in Educators, JC Bowman, Leadership, Professional Development, Professional Educators of Tennessee, Professional Learning, Tennessee Education, Uncategorized

Respected teacher leaders and presenters from across the state of Tennessee lead professional development  at Professional Educators of Tennessee.  Register here:  http://www.proedtn.org/page/LeaderU2018 

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