| I have to admit I ripped this one off of Pintrest, however it is perfect. |
"A teacher is a candle - it consumes itself to light the way of others" - Mustafa Kemai Atatürk
"A teacher is a candle - it consumes itself to light the way of others" - Mustafa Kemai Atatürk
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Day 17: What do you think is the most challenging issue in education today? I believe that the most challenging issue facing education is time. Yes, teachers are always fighting for more time with kids, time to teach, time to plan, time to collaborate, etc. But I mean time as in history. The education system is one of oldest institutions in world history and has seen a lot of change throughout time. However, these changes are small compared to the amount of revolution that has occurred in our world while school has been chugging along. Recently I had the amazing opportunity to view the special collections area at the CU Boulder library with my reading class. We were shown children's books dating back to 1777 and analyzed how education, including home education of introduction to morals, play, and views of children's futures has been presented through the years. We saw books on "multiculturalism" that would make Martin Luther King roll in his grave and saw the changes in presentation of what a "book" can even look like. I've been thinking about those books all week. As a lover of all things literature I was in heaven, however it's really been striking me how much we teach kids without really meaning to through the materials they use and are exposed to every day. I feel that with technology and all the amazing possibilities our students have today, we have not let the education system adapt to these changes. Instead we are holding students back and hoping that they don't get too absorbed in technology when they are the ones who could (and should) be teaching us. I don't have any answers for this and it is something that is a challenge to me daily, but I can tell you that it will most likely be this exact challenge that eventually removes me from the classroom. I am hoping this change will be the presentation of the opportunity to work bigger at helping the education system adapt and move forward, however I'm not sure.
Day 16: If you could have one superpower to use in the classroom, what would it be and how would it help? I think my ultimate superpower would be to see where a student is going to end up in the future. I don't want a crystal ball that tells me good fortune, I just love imagining where students might end up and what kind of shaping they will have in their lives in to the adults they will some day end up. I wish I could show a student how writing is going to be powerful for his job as a manager of a construction site, or give a student a book that will encourage them in their role as a female police officer, or give a student the tools they will need to make notes as an emergency room nurse. I love helping students make goals and I honestly love the ambiguity and discovery left open to middle schoolers about where they might end up someday, but I sometimes get sad at the fact that as many of these students move on, I may never see them again or find out where they end up. I am waiting for the day when my child's pediatrician is a former student of mine or one of my high fliers is shown in a news story on the Today show. I just know there is great destiny for all the students who come through my class and I would love to know where these basic skills they're learning today might land them tomorrow.
Day 15: Name three strengths you have as an educator.
1. Building relationships I am complimented almost every year on the relationships that I build with students. I rarely write referrals because I always try to work things out between me and the student first, I try to ask students about their lives outside of school, and in my job as an advocate for students whose first language is not English, I build relationships in order to gain trust and confidence from my students. Yes, I have a small population to work with, but I believe that the relationship I build with those students is more of a motivator for them to perform well and grow in their learning than any fancy lesson plan I put together. 2. A classroom environment that is conditional to learning I try to keep my room organized and prepared for whatever might come in to my head to throw in to a lesson. I always need to have examples, pictures, realia, etc. to help students understand concepts we are talking about. I like to have posters that help students think about what we're learning or help aid them, I use a lot of color, and I try to have a literate environment so students know how important literacy is to their learning. This year a goal of mine is also to include technological learning such as QR codes into my classroom. 3.Collaborating I love working with other teachers. I would much rather do an interdisciplinary project based lesson than try to come up with inventing the wheel on my own. I don't understand the way that our education system is set up with no time for teachers to plan and talk together. There is safety in numbers people....
Day 14: What is feedback for learning and how well do you give it to students? In my ESL classroom it is really important to show students where they are and where they're headed so that they know what is needed to push themselves on the ACCESS test and return to the regular language arts room. For that reason, I am always trying to provide feedback in their language that they can actually grow from. I feel what has worked best for me are rubrics that show student exactly where they fall in the expectation of a project or prompt and in the comments that I give them, both written and verbal, after I hand something back. I feel like too many students are solely grade motivated and I try really hard to allow my students many different avenues to see where they did do well and where they can improve the next time they do something similar. I have friends who have learned to give verbal feedback and digitally send it to students. I feel like this would be a huge time saver and I'm thinking it will be a goal of mine this year to provide that for my students. I have even considered doing a personal podcast think aloud for my students who I want to be pushed to learn how to improve their writing. I still need a lot of work in providing feedback that is meaningful to my students without having to go to each individual kid. Mine are just needy that way. Or maybe it's just me :)
Day 12: How do you envision your teaching changing over the next five years? I have actually been giving this question a lot of thought recently. As you probably know I have started a masters program this year. I decided to go for my masters now before I have kids to make sure I don't kill myself or those around me. I also started now because about a year ago I was given a new direction in my career. I had the opportunity to record a video by a nationally known textbook publishing company and I am featured on their professional development area of their website. From that, I was also asked to direct breakout sessions using a teaching model I'm familiar with and technology. These have been immense honors that I still can not believe are actually truths in my life. This opportunity has led me in professional directions I never dreamed of going in. However, I have found that I love it. Working with these experts in education and those who wrote the curriculum I work with every day was inspiring to me and caused me to reevaluate what I might want to do. This is a long explanation to say that after my masters degree is complete, I'm not really sure where I want to head at this moment. I have learned through the opportunities I've been given (I don't believe in coincidence) that I enjoy studying about curriculum and how students learn best. I also have learned that I like working best with small intervention groups that demand more help but need to be reached. I also have learned that I enjoy teaching adults as much, if not more, than I do children. So, in 5 years I'm not really sure where I'll be, but I know, in all certainty, that true to my profession, it will be a change from where I am now.
Day 11: What is your favorite part of the school day and why? My favorite part of the school day is actually the moment between when the first bell rings to let kids head to class and when kids enter my classroom. No matter what school I'm in, what students I have, or what class happens to be first of the day, I have always loved that moment. Coffee in hand, a complete day ahead, students filing in talking and enjoying their social time before I let them know what the day might hold, I just like the anticipation that moment.
Share five random facts about yourself I have kept a journal since 8th grade - I have about 25 journals I'm deathly afraid of spiral staircases and people in mascot costumes Coffee is my favorite food I LOVE finding deals at Goodwill I am an only child Share four things from your bucket list Visit Greece Immerse myself in another country and become fluent in their language Learn to play the guitar Take a week long backpacking trip in the mountains Share three things you hope for this year as a person I hope that I survive grad school I hope I can make at least one student find a love for reading or writing I hope that we can learn as a society to actually be social and not just rely on social media (I'm guilty of it too!) Share two things that make you laugh or cry as an educator Middle schoolers say the darndest things... "You're just trying to get us to communicate! It's not going to work!" --On a lesson about future goals and dreams Ms. M: When I was in 8th grade, I would have dreamt that I would have a family and be married at this point in my life, but a lot of my other dreams have come true. Student: One of your dreams did happen, Ms! You have us. We're your family!" Share one thing you wish more people knew about you
I wish more people knew that I am a musical person and love to sing
Day 9: What is one of your biggest accomplishments in your teacher that no one knows about (or may not care about)? Lately I have been feeling less than accomplished in what I'm doing. Feeling lack of support and lack of communication in what you're doing unfortunately is leading me to less motivation to accomplish anything of substance. Still, it is those times where it is best to look back on the moments that were worth it. This post has caused me to think through all the lives that have touched me both at the high school and the middle school and in all the districts I've worked and observed in. There are many students who I've built relationships with, encouraged to reach higher, and watched make huge leaps in their own goals....however I think the greatest accomplishment I feel in my teaching has been really discovering what I love to do and where my skills are. If you had told me when I graduated college that I would be teaching middle school ESL and it would lead me to such leadership in a district and a second job giving presentations for one of the greatest teaching methods, I would have laughed in your face, taken a long breath, and contented to laugh. But I love where I have ended up and I am confident in the direction I'm headed in. I love my graduate degree program in literacy and curriculum design. Though I have no idea where life may take me next, I am confident that the next chapters are only going to get more wonderful and exciting and I'm ready for that challenge.
Day 8: What's in your desk drawer and what can you infer from these contents? My desk is a lot more empty than it was last year. I have the typical things I want to keep away from students: hand sanitizer, lotion, candy used for bribery, the deadly scissors, the good pens and markers, etc. Also, there is a tube of chapstick and toothbrush thingys to keep fresh. There are some earbuds for when I need to drown out the world. There are things that I've put there because they once had some importance but I can't remember why now. And there's a copy of Jesus Calling that I pull out when I'm feeling particularly incapable of handling the day. The goal was to read one every morning when I got to school and first sat down at my desk, but every teacher knows that you rarely have a moment to yourself even at 6:45 in the morning so there the book sits. And I think from these contents, I will let you infer what you will about me. :)
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