I'm always learning. And, one of the best parts of my job as the leader of our school is that I get to see others learn and grow throughout their careers. I pride myself on the fact that I have hired almost every employee in this school. I absolutely love getting to talk to you about those early years when you were a brand new teacher and how much you've grown. One of my greatest accomplishments as an educator is seeing teachers turn in to true masters of their craft, leaders in our school and district and positive forces within education. But, what I hope none of us ever forget is where we came from.
Trust me. I remember where I came from. I was a terrible teacher. I was a terrible teammate. I was a terrible employee. Yep, it's true. I wasn't terrible on purpose. I was a young, 21 year old who had no idea how the world worked. I didn't realize that I actually had to go to staff meetings. Sometimes if I was busy, I just didn't go. I had no idea that 6th graders in the state of Ohio took state tests. So, when it came time for testing, my kids had never even practiced. I had no idea how to communicate with parents. I had no idea what I was supposed to be teaching. But, luckily for me, there were people who believed in me and saw something in me that I didn't even know I needed to have as an educator. There were people who didn't judge me or make me feel bad about myself, but instead mentored me, guided me, gave me lesson plans, helped me talk to parents and very calmly struck up a conversation with me about staff meetings and asked if I knew when they were! Thank goodness I was a fast learner and I soon realized that I had no idea what I was doing. I hated that uncomfortable, anxious feeling of walking into work every day and having no idea what I was really going to do. I cried for 180 days during my first year of teaching. The next year I moved to a new school to teach 2nd grade because I thought little kids would be "easier". And, once again, I learned that I had no idea what I was doing. And, once again, I was mentored, coached, helped, and lifted up by amazing educators who I soon came to realize were once mentored, coached, helped and lifted up by other amazing educators. This experience ignited in me a passion for learning and becoming a leader for others. I wanted to be like those amazing people who were helping me. And, I was blessed that my principal at the time saw leadership in me and selected me to be trained as the literacy coach for my building during my 4th year of teaching. Throughout my training year, I made a promise to myself to share everything I was learning with anyone who needed or wanted to learn it. I did not want any teacher to ever have to feel as lost and anxious as I had felt during my first few years. After my training, I kept learning and growing as a teacher. And, finally, teaching become fun for me. I felt good about my skills and felt confident in the classroom. But, I never forgot where I came from. It can be easy to roll our eyes or get annoyed with new teachers who are struggling or seem to not be understanding what we're telling them or what we mean when we are sharing lessons with them. However, it important for all of us to think back to our first few years. We cannot let ourselves "get too big for our britches" or forget where we came from. We're all on a journey and not long ago we were at the very beginning of ours. As some of you are reading this you might be thinking that you feel just like I did those first few years. And, my hope for you is that you feel mentored, helped, guided and supported by your colleagues here. You should ask them to tell you the story of the beginning of their journey. I know a lot of their stories too and you'd be surprised at how many of us, right here at JW Reason, felt just like you, not so long ago. Always remember where you came from.
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Darn it COVID.
I let my guard down. I didn't get the booster when Hilliard offered it because I "didn't have time to feel bad for a day or two after the shot". That was such a dumb reason to not get the vaccine. Now, I'm sitting in my house, hacking up a lung with a 103 fever. I always say "pay now or pay later" and I'm the perfect example of "paying later". I wish you all health and more common sense than I have. Thanks for hanging in there without me this week. I'm allowed to come back on Monday with a mask! They say that, "it's all about perspective. Change your view. Change your life."
I know you think I am going to try to inspire you with this post, but, I’m not. [Insert the sound of a record scratching] I sat in pee today. That’s right, I sat in actual adult human pee. How did this happen, you may ask....I’ll tell you. It all started this afternoon as Erynn, Alicia and I were interviewing candidates for our EL tutor position. This sweet old lady came for an interview (she’s a former school librarian---I think this information will help you visualize her). She had a lot of stories to share and she sat happily in one of my colorful chairs for about 20 minutes while she shared her education experiences. She was delightful, not the right person for the job, but delightful nonetheless. After our she left, I got up and walked to my desk. Alicia, Erynn and I were talking as we waited for our next interview to arrive. For some reason, as I walked back to the table, I decided to sit in the chair our candidate had just been sitting in. About 3 seconds later, I realized that I felt a strange wetness on the back of my leg. My brain wasn’t processing what I was feeling so I stayed seated for about 10 more seconds before I jumped up and said “I’m wet, why am I wet?!?!” At which time the three of us realized that there was a giant puddle of pee in the chair. Kim came in to assist. The chair has was thrown away and I wiped myself off with Lysol wipes…then, we welcomed our next EL tutor interview as if nothing happened. As they say, "it's all about perspective. Change you view. Change your life." Right? Wrong….no matter how I look at it, I sat in pee today. No inspiration here but maybe a warning, check your chair before sitting. Whenever I have the opportunity to participate in PD with Hilary Sloat, I take it! I am feeling SO energized after our staff meeting last week. I love it when we are able to work together at a staff and process new learning and it was so much fun to do that on Friday.
The PD prompted me to go back into Zaretta Hammond's book, Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain. I reread many of the parts that I had underlined and written notes about this summer. This quote seemed to resonate with us on Friday and it just so happens I felt the need to underline it as I read this summer too: "Teacher as Ally and Warm Demander In this role, the teacher offers both care and push as needed. The main focus here is cultivating the skills to push students into their zone of proximal development while helping them manage their emotional response..." As we continue to live our motto "Love is an Intervention" this is just the kind of reminder we need. Love doesn't mean that kids get away with things or that we make things easy. Love means that we are their ally and that we learn to be warm demanders who give them just the right amount of both care and push. As we await our books to come in...yes, I ordered 60 of them! Take a look at these pages from Zaretta's book. Take some time to reflect on the kind of teacher you are and the kind of teacher you want to be. |
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