Day 10: Inspirational Colleagues

This quote really summed up my experience with this blog post. When I considered trying to choose just one inspirational colleague, I realized very quickly how fortunate I am. I have been surrounded, from the very beginning, with amazing colleagues who were willing to support, assist and teach me. If I can in any way consider myself a good teacher, these people deserve a lot of the credit (and all the remaining belongs to my amazing family!).

The following is a list of only a few who deserve this credit. I've chosen to reveal their initials only.

P.M. - This colleague showed me early on how great a school can be when we treat each other as family. When my first vehicle ('85 Plymouth Voyageur SE) died it's final death, he lent me his truck without prompting so I would be able to drive around that weekend and get a new car.

B.M. - He showed me the power of a strong relationship with students. I remember students stopping him in the street to tell him how much of a difference he had made in their lives. How he was the reason they were able graduate.

E.D. - I have never known a more critical thinker in my life. Seriously, this guy showed me how to think about everything. With thinking at the forefront we created amazing lessons and assessments together; we ever came up with, designed and built 2 Game-based Learning Units (1 of which he helped build after retirement!)

K.G.(W.) - There are some people who you just have to listen to. When this colleague channeled her righteous indignation or her fiery imagination I (and her students!) couldn't help but learn. She was the one who helped me realize the importance of the term "different not dumber" and convinced me that teaching could be more than just the way I'd been taught.

L.M. - Inspiration comes from vulnerability. This person allowed me to see that by being vulnerable herself. We spend hours of time talking about teaching and philosophizing about life. I can't count the amount of her time I must have wasted, but she's never made me feel like a bother. Through years of quiet talks about the possibilities that surround us in Education, this colleague helped me develop and refine my pedagogy in ways that I can't thank her for enough.

L.P. - Sometimes in life, we find those people with whom you just click. This colleague always made work feel like a home away from home. Her humour, her passion and her drive to be the best are outstanding. Her kindness, compassion and willingness to reach out to those around her are honed to a level that I strive daily to come close to.

J.K. - When I was in grade 5, an experience at school convinced me to keep my emotions hidden - just play it cool and nothing could bother me. Over twenty years later, this inspirational teacher showed me just how powerful a tool genuine emotions, interests and enthusiasm can be. Though younger than me to the profession, she was an inspiration to me every day we worked together and I still look to her as a role model.

Ultimately there are more who belong on this list. I have often imagined myself as a sponge trying desperately to soak up all the greatness that I've been blessedly surrounded by. If I missed you, I'm sorry. You are important too.

I am still privileged to be surrounded by greatness. My new role, school and colleagues have an amazing wealth of greatness and inspiration. I try desperately to absorb what I can and be worthy to be so close on a daily basis.

Day 9: Report Cards are done! (aka I'm baaack!)

"Man, it's been a long day

Stuck thinking 'bout it driving on the freeway
Wondering if I really tried everything I could

Not knowing if I should try a little harder

Oh, but I'm scared to death

That there may not be another one like this

And I confess that I'm only holding on by a thin thin thread

I'm kicking the curb cause you never heard

The words that you needed so bad

And I'm kicking the dirt cause I never gave you

The things that you needed to have"

OK, so I'm being a little over-dramatic with the whole Maroon 5 intro here, but I gotta tell you it was a long couple weeks leading up to the finishing of my report cards this term. Not that they were bad either. The Faction (the name my Grade 7 colleagues and I have given ourselves) decided to attempt creating our own report card system this year. So, with the blessing of a very supportive administration, we've spend the last few weeks making our vision a reality. However, I'll save the details of this development for another time. Instead I want to spend this post reflecting on my goals and learning so far this year.

1. Growth Mind Set - So far this goal has been one of my stronger areas. I feel pretty proud about the way that I've maintained the mindset that I have the ability to improve my teaching this year more than ever before. I've been working to pass this on to my students and, with the help of the Faction, have been able to lead them through some pretty authentic lessons so far.

2. Organization - As always this one is my sore spot. It's funny because I think that I'm actually doing better with this than I ever have before (hurrah for those proactive ideas that I put in place quickly this year!). Still, I notice that my natural tendency to hoard and stack papers instead of dealing with them leads to a lot of clutter in my room. That being said, I'm trying to celebrate the small steps and keep with it.

3. Finish strong* - This one is interesting. I just now realized that if I'm not successful with this goal, I can probably write off the other two! I think I'm doing pretty well here. I do need to remind myself that I (and the Faction) started this year with an almost boundless energy and that maintaining that pace would lead to a breakdown sooner rather than later. So, instead of trying to finish the year with the same level of production and creativity that I started, I'm going focus on making sure that my pedagogy stays forefront in my planning and assessments. Less is more when done well.

4. Healthy living - This one's been tricky. In achieving those earlier goals (and keeping my closest relationships healthy), I've been spotty at best with healthy living. I did make the gym a few times, but have yet to get the rhythm. I have maintained my weight though, so  I'm feeling good about that. Definitely hoping that as I find a better rhythm at school, I can increase my focus in this area.

*I fully appreciate that the one area that I really haven't had success with this goal is in my blogging. Staying in the growth mindset does allow me to accept that reality and move forward. Trying not to beat myself up over this too much! :)

Day 8: What a Day!

*This post is actually based on an experience at the end of September. Sorry it took so long to post!

I teach Grade 7. I teach it because I want to. I teach it even though it can be frustrating, daunting and draining. Yesterday I was reminded of the rewards that come from this choice.

My school is experimenting with Flex Time this year. What this looks like on paper is every Wednesday afternoon is blocked off for this opportunity for the students to pursue Learning that inspires them. What it looks like in reality is my colleagues and I working frantically after school Monday and Tuesday trying to plan out and prepare for this time.

One of the struggles we have being a brand new school is that so many of our spaces are still not ready to invite learning. What makes teaching grade 7 so amazing is that our students allowed us to turn this struggle into something awesome.

By using Google Forms and quickly cramming some intense online collaboration into the lunch hour, my colleagues and I were able to organize close to 100 grade 7's into groups that made our school a better place for everyone. We had teams of students:

• cleaning the field that has yet to receive any garbage cans
• collecting & organizing recycling from around the school (a huge job when you consider how many boxes and other packing materials a new school can produce)
• rearranging furniture and reorganizing recess balls
• compiling data on our unique spaces (generated by every class in the first few weeks, but still awaiting retrieval)
• unpacking and organizing the Science Prep Room
• unpacking and organizing the Foods Lab
• researching basic pantry necessities and pricing out a shopping list
• assembling Ikea tables and storage units

I'm not going to sugar-coat it. It was an exhausting day for me. We had only 5 adults (4 teachers plus an EA) to supervise all of these groups.* We gave every student who filled out the Google Form (88 out of 93), an activity of their own choosing. We had to direct, assist and then move on to the next group quickly. Some teams needed a permanent supervisor, while others were spread across the school and could only be supervised in intervals. 

At the end of the day all of the teams had achieved something. They had tangible results to prove it. Truth be told, there is still recycling to be done, only 1 piece of furniture make it all the way to completion and we still don't know where all the balls for recess are, but this is easily outweighed by the feelings of success, the spirit of community and the understanding of how small actions can have a large impact.

So, why did it work? TRUST. We trusted the students to choose wisely; they trusted us to honour their choice. They trusted us give them tasks that they could handle to assist when they were stuck; we trusted them to work hard, to struggle when they encountered challenge and to be on task. The school trusted our students had a purpose and were out in the hallways to make the building better.

* In actuality this turned into a few more. Our day-custodian dropped his regular duties to help the recycling team create a better system. Both our Principal and Vice-Principal were very visible in the school and interacted with the teams and supervisors regularly. Our amazing secretaries answered questions and helped direct everyone to supplies and organisation systems. A huge thanks to all of these people who increased our success tremendously.