The Best Gift a Teacher Can Get

Don't get me wrong. I love me a Dunkin Donuts gift card and appreciate the sentiment behind it. I love all the gifts I get from students and parents and enjoy the recognition and appreciation they represent. My students and parents were generous this year to the point I'll be treated at D & D's for most of the summer.   But it was the gifts that can't be measured through monetary value that left a lasting impression on me and pointed to the ultimate impact that we, as educators, have on our students.

One gift came in the form of a white-lined sheet of paper. This young lady wrote me a two page handwritten note expressing her gratitude. She remembered three years earlier when I said my favorite gift was a note from a student. After working with me the past two years as a member of my leadership group, she waited to the last day of school to hand me this note. It was so well-written and heartfelt that it nearly moved me to tears (I'm not much of a crier).  The fact that this young lady remembered my words from three years earlier left a lasting impact on me that my words carry a powerful weight with my students, and I must continue to choose them wisely.  

Another one of my leadership students wrote me a note in a hand picked card detailing all of the ways I had influenced his life. The thought and emotion that went into the card verified every reason why I work in education. He spoke of the opportunities that he had been given to lead and the choices that he had to make along the way that have "helped turn him into the person he is today."  This reminded me that I must continue to give students opportunities to lead and grow through their choices.  They need to learn to not only fall down at times, but learn from it and get back after it. 

The most creative gift of the day went to a young lady who made me my own picture book. She wrote and illustrated a book that detailed her experience in my class. I couldn't believe the time, effort and thought that went into the creation of this unforgettable gift.  She titled it "The Adventures of Mr. Pardalis and Rebekah."  She told the story of her year complete with dialogue, nicknames and a theme.  She reminded me that when we allow students to create and think outside the box, there is no limit to what our students can accomplish. 

Sometimes we get caught up in the negativity that surrounds our profession. Test scores, new initiatives, outsiders questioning the educational system. But these thoughtful gestures by kids give me the reminder of what this job is really all about. The gift of meaningful relationships where I can truly make an everlasting difference in students' lives keeps me coming back energized year after year. The gift of knowing that what I do matters in the eyes of the kids that walk through my door motivates me more than any evaluation score ever will. A simple note is the gift that drives me to make a difference in the next student's life. These youngsters don't know how thankful I am for the gifts they gave me. 

EdcampSWCT Wonderings and Wanderings

An overwhelming success, the inaugural EdcampSWCT came and went with a flurry of collaboration, sharing, and learning from the 100+ educators and students who passed through the doors of Brien McMahon High School. As an edcamp rookie, I had only experienced EdcampCT this past summer, but I was instantly hooked on the concept of professional development with other teachers who want to learn on their own time.  Being surrounded by other educators whose passion for the profession and whose love of their students permeated every conversation was a great reminder that we are not alone in our classrooms.  Teachers and students from all different backgrounds told their educational stories of successes, failed attempts, and learning experiences with the purpose of improving the experiences of students.  Here are some things I noticed and some things I learned throughout the day:

Relationships before results

"Challenge: When you walk into school on Monday, talk about something other than school first. Share something about your weekend. Anything other than school.  Build rapport." Paul Bogush (@paulbogush) challenged a group of educators to concentrate on building relationships with students before worrying about the content.  I couldn't agree more.  Showing students that you care about the "person" instead of the "content" or the "data" or the "grade" goes further towards creating class buy-in than any well-crafted content lesson you could prepare.  Once students trust you, the possibilities are endless as to what can be accomplished.  Paul's students even followed him to an Edcamp to present ideas from their class.  

During this same session, Paul talked about the importance of looking at body language when working with students.  He talked about what to look for in their feet, defensive positions, how they were holding their arm, etc.  It was one of the most insightful educational talks I have heard, and to be quite honest, I had never thought to look at those things before.  It was something that I plan to look for on Monday giving directions...after I talk about something other than school, of course.  

Technology was at the forefront of sessions (except when it wasn't)

Most sessions held some sort of technology piece to them.  Google Drive and Classroom were presented.  Blogging came up on multiple occasions as did digital literacy and gamification.  The underlying theme to all of these technology pieces though was that they allowed for student voice and student choice to shine through within a classroom.  Technology within these sessions acted as a gateway of sorts to allow students to expand audiences through blogs, creation of book trailers, and other videos that could be shared beyond the classroom walls.  It also acted as a means to allow choice in how students demonstrate learning.  Jimmy Sapia in his session on Digital Literacy stated that "kids should be content creators."  Allowing choice among technologies as to what content they create helps to build a classroom of unique creators where creativity and curiosity run rampant. Technology or no technology, we all have the opportunity to allow for a variety ways for student voice to shine through and for students to choose how to demonstrate what they have learned.

Learning comes in all shapes and sizes

Great conversations occurred during every session with presenters ranging from veteran teachers from various grades to middle school students who gave up their Saturday to share their learning.  While classroom sessions provided for excellent learning and a variety of topics, my favorite discussions came in the informal setting when I was able to pick the minds of experts on their topics of expertise.  I was fortunate enough to be able to pick Sharon Plante's (@iplante) mind on the topic of dyslexia, a topic which she is clearly at the forefront on in the field.  In a ten minute informal conversation, I gained resources I can use with my students right away as well as a person I feel confident I can contact when I need further help on the topic.  David Saunders (@DesignSaunders) also provided a wealth of knowledge on the concept of Makerspaces.  He gave me so much information, that I needed to go back to him the next day to ask for the specifics again. (Thanks for the information on Little Bits...really cool stuff by the way.) If you were willing to ask the questions, people were willing to help and share.  

Being a connected learner is great, but face-to-face connections are really where it's at

Twitter has been a great tool for me that has continued to challenge my educational thinking by exposing me to educators around the world.  Reading blogs, engaging in chats, and following hashtags has been a non-stop flow of professional development that has opened my eyes to different classroom strategies and practices, authors and books, and basically anything education.  With that said, meeting with other passionate educators face-to-face refreshes my educational soul.  The passion and productivity in the air cannot be replicated across the screen in a chat.  The EdcampSWCT environment was reinvigorating and exciting to be a part of.  Plus, getting to know some of the people you meet "through the screen" face-to-face makes the "community" piece of PLC a little more real.  It was a pleasure to meet some "tweeps" face-to-face for the first time.

If you build it they will come.  

Great things happen when you are willing to take a chance, take that leap of faith and just go for it. This may not be as big as building a baseball field in the middle of an Iowa corn field.  But EdcampSWCT was just that; a group of educators that had met for a minute going for it.  I want to say thank you to Rob Pennington, Sharon Plante, Amy Traggianese, Jimmy Sapia, Frank Rodriguez, and Sean Hutchinson for taking a chance and putting together a great event.  This was a memorable day for many educators because of the work you all put in.  Thank you for giving educators in our part of the state the opportunity to learn from each other.  I can't wait to start planning for next year.  

Why I Teach...

I teach to make a difference. But what difference do I want to make in my students’ lives? Yes, I want my students to leave me as improved readers, writers and lovers of learning, but most importantly I want them to leave New Fairfield Middle School as better people. It’s easy to get caught up in standards and the alphabet soup of acronyms that lead to data.  But when it comes down to it, our most important job is to help mold youngsters into men and women who understand how to collaborate, use their minds creatively, and think beyond the four walls of a classroom.  

Having grown up in the town I teach in, I understand the bubble my students live in. My job is to expand their thinking past the borders of New Fairfield. It is my job to get my students to understand that the words they choose matter and have a powerful effect on others. Words are power. With this word power, each student has the choice to use their voice as a weapon to tear down or a tool to build up.  I teach because I want my students to wield their powers responsibly, learning to treat others with respect regardless of appearance, popularity and common interests.  There is a big world outside of New Fairfield. It is my job to open up my students’ eyes to different ways of thinking.  This starts with being able to collaborate and take part in active discussions where disagreeing without being disagreeable is the norm.  

I teach because I want my students to understand the value of a question.  Students who learn to question unleash their curiosity. Questions open pathways to deeper thinking and reasoning.  Teaching a student an answer leads to an endpoint.  But, teach a student to question and the learning possibilities are endless.  I want students to question what they read, the actions of others, why people say what they say.  Students who learn to question turn into adults who are less likely to accept the status quo and search for ways to continually improve the world we live in.  

I teach because I want students to leave me as leaders willing to speak and act for others and with others. I want my students to experience life thinking about how their actions influence the thoughts and actions of those they meet.  Students need to be given ownership and voice, but, most importantly, students need opportunities to lead.  As educators, we can’t be afraid to give up the wheel and let the students steer the ship.  Students need to experience the ups and downs that come with leadership while being given the leeway to work through and learn from failures and missteps along the way.  

I teach because I watched my mother and father affect the lives of thousands of students that entered through their classroom doors.  Walking through public places with my parents, students, past and present, rushed up to greet them because they valued the relationship they had. They were my role models, and I want my students to have that adult role model who values interpersonal relationships and positive communication.  Students need to be taught the tools to survive and communicate in the world.  They need to be empowered with the confidence to go out in the world and contribute while understanding their responsibility to treat others equally no matter their station in life.  In the end, I can teach students everything they need to know about reading and writing, but I hope it is the lessons that go beyond the standards that stick with my students the longest.