Skip to main content

A Celebration

This past June marked my 30th year
as an educator.                                                                                

source: http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/celebrate-48313119




It seems like a milestone.

It is a milestone.
Yahoo!
It's a moment to celebrate.







Yet, part of me feels like I should hide this fact.
And, instead, say I have about 20 years in education, rather than 30.
Why?
Because 30 feels like a long time.
It is a long time.
It's as long as I've known
and loved my husband.
Another celebration.

But, somehow,
it doesn't feel like a long time.

It feels as if I still have a lot to learn.
It feels as if I still have a lot to teach.
Because I am always in the process
of becoming the educator I want to be,
every year is an adventure.                                                                                                           source: http://www.clipartpanda.com/clipart_images/celebrate-48313119

As a means of celebrating, I've listed some of my biggest takeaways from the last three(!) decades. In case you're wondering, they're listed in random order.

  • Always listen to students. They will teach you what you need to know to teach them well.
  • The best "behavior management" system is always about building authentic relationships with students. It is not about gold stickers, extra recess, or "free time", whether it's earned individually or collectively. It doesn't matter. Rewards and punishments don't encourage life-long learning. Period.
  • Content doesn't matter; you can teach anything through any topic or subject at any grade level to all students. (See the first bullet point above.)
  • Standardized tests tell me nothing I don't already know about my students. In fact, they are, more often than not, a distraction from real teaching and learning. 
  • Observing students at work, and at play, gives me important information. Social-emotional responses are key to learning anything.
  • No matter what you teach, make sure that you read and write widely. Read professional books and write...anything.
  • Connect with other educators on Twitter, Facebook, blogs and through professional organizations. This will be your lifeline when it seems like nothing is making sense.
  • Be a mentor to less experienced teachers by offering support, encouragement and respect. Also, be ready to learn from then as well! You'll be pleasantly surprised and forever grateful!
  • We can learn anything from anybody, even during a less than stellar PD session :-). 
  • Speak up when necessary, but pick your battles always. (Still learning this one!)
  • Be a voice for your students and encourage #stuvoice whenever and wherever you can.
  • Read, read, read books that your students are reading or may want to read. They'll thank you for it later.
  • Write, write, write so that you can anticipate your students' struggles and celebrations.
  • Take a break from school by enjoying time with your family, watching a little TV., exercising, meditating or by sitting silently for a few minutes. (Still working on some of these.)
If you're nearing a landmark year as an educator, you may want to reflect by leaving a few of your takeaways in the comments.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Reading Strategies Book - Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension

The strategy lessons highlighted in Chapter 12, Supporting Students’ Conversations – Speaking, Listening, and Deepening Comprehension, in The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo are critical to students’ engagement and comprehension, as well as their ability to write literary essays, or even book reviews, summaries and reflective pieces about books. If students aren’t able to talk about books in a way that is invigorating and joyful, they will be less likely to develop an interest in growing ideas for writing about books. In her introduction to this chapter, Jennifer Serravallo, reminds us that when conversations go well, children are inspired by what they read and are motivated to keep reading. However, when conversations fall flat, then kids get bored and tune out. How do we avoid this situation and teach kids to  have  focused conversations about books?  The answer is easy: teach kids  strategies to help them develop effective conversa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Partner Reading and Content, Too Routine (PRC2)

I'm a hoarder. There, I've said it. I try to deny that I'm a hoarder but it comes back to haunt me every time I move houses, or pack up my classroom at the end of the school year. I have old articles, lesson plans, handouts, folders brimming with teaching ideas, past issues of profesional journals. I hardly throw anything out though I've learned to be more selective over the years. My one rule of thumb, and I really try to stick to this, is that if I haven't used or referred to something in a year, then it's time to toss it into the recycle bin. One exception to this rule (you knew this was coming, didn't you?) is past issues of journals from professional organizations. However, with the ability to locate articles online through my professional memberships, even this exception is becoming less and less useful, which brings me to the topic of this blog post. I am currently reading a copy of The Reading Teacher from 2010. I've clipped a cou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rewards and Punishments

I'm always surprised and disappointed when educators I respect support the use of rewards and punishments to control student behaviour. Whenever I feel like my students are "misbehaving" or not behaving as expected or agreed, it's usually because I'm "misbehaving" or not behaving as expected or agreed. Sound odd? Perhaps, but think about this for a minute. When something goes wrong, i.e. not according to plan, it's usually because the kids have responded in unexpected ways to what I'm teaching or presenting to them. Unless I'm prepared to handle these contingencies I can lose focus of the lesson and the children. I find that the best way to deal with these "disruptions" isn't to control behaviour through carrots and sticks but rather to take a deep breath and think about what may be causing the problem. Often the cause has to do with one or more of the following: how I've presented the lesson (it's confusing, ...
10 comments
Read more