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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