I sat down to write this post so that you’ll know more about me, but being a teacher I am naturally more inclined to celebrate the achievements of my students than my own. I’d love to take this chance to highlight the best advice that others have given to me about teaching and learning that have become integral to who I am as a mother, a teacher and a lifelong learner. My teaching philosophy, as it stands now, is informed by the wise words of those that came before me.
My seventh grade history teacher (shoutout to Bob Dylan superfan, Mr. P.) taught me that middle grade teachers were a special breed of human. They had the sense of humor of a twelve year old, untold patience, the ability to pivot on a moment’s notice, and always an obsession with something deemed “weird.” Was it chess? Or playing the bagpipes? Or bodybuilding? Every single one of my teachers had something “outside” of school that made them unique, and I looked up to them so much for it. They found that special thing that made them happy and made time in their lives to pursue it. Additionally, they surrounded themselves with people who supported their interests. They created a professional learning community of creative, passionate and unique educators. They always looked like they were having the most fun and, in turn, so did their students.
It was no wonder I gravitated toward teaching middle and high school (I majored in bugs for my undergraduate degree, after all, that’s pretty “weird”). Mr. P. also emphasized that middle grade teachers also needed to remember what it was like to be a middle school student. (That's me, above, eating pizza while working after school on the yearbook staff.) We can’t be so far removed from the time when everything we knew to be true about ourselves was changing: our shoe sizes, music taste, our personal styles, and in my case, my hair and eye color. I was voted “most original” in middle school which meant I was so “weird” that my middle school classmates deemed me “original;” I still feel like that was one of the highest honors bestowed upon me from my peers. Who wants to be “Most Typical,” “Most Predictable,” “Most Likely to Follow the Crowd?” Couldn’t be me.
When I’m in the classroom I share my diverse and varying interests and expertise with my students through daily enrichments. Whether it’s a lesson on entomology, crafts, woodworking, painting, math, writing, improving reading skills, art history, public speaking, sewing, basketmaking, travel, project management, business, conducting interviews, cooking, minimalism, photography, and just generally being a lifelong learner. I’ve worked professionally in many different fields due to moving around, graduate school and each role I’ve held before working at Kalexedy has required me to wear many widely varying hats (and once, a welding helmet). So when it comes to teaching “specials,” “electives” or “enrichments” I have so many topics to choose from that come from either my personal interests or from skills I’m still developing. A different student leads their own enrichment each week and they have covered topics ranging from a multi-day "Spy School" to how to do Cat's Cradle with a loop of string.
I’m a deeply curious person and when that is paired with my enthusiasm for learning and encouraging learners; my classroom looks like a very different place than the draconian, rote-memorization-encouraging places we imagine when we think of a typical classroom of yesteryear. I love to take the thing people would consider “boring” (like math) and make it fun (because it IS fun) – the key was to mix things up; find how the topic relates to their life. It may be as simple as using familiar names in a story problem, or as complicated as teaching the concept with a different method. There are many ways to solve a problem, and I love finding as many as possible until one resonates with a learner; you never know when an ah-ha moment is going to happen.
The world, and education, has thankfully changed a lot since Surge soda and Daria were popular in my middle school. I’m grateful to be a part of building a learning environment that celebrates the originality of our learners and their various interests and needs. I think the more we know and understand, the less we fear – and more importantly the more we know how to access knowledge, ask questions, do research and identify reliable sources for our information, the better off our society.
Focus on progress, not perfection. There are no “easy” topics. There are no “boring” subjects. Nothing is simple, but the joy that comes from learning something new like coming up with a “hack” to solve a problem a different way or a new pneumonic device to remember which state is Vermont and which one is New Hampshire. I’m always amazed at the creativity that comes with learning.
I always emphasize that it’s about the process, not necessarily the product. We learn as much if not more from failure than from success, and what better way to celebrate failure than in a safe learning environment? This is how we develop grit in a non-traumatic way, by safely failing. Today one of my students (very) patiently sat down and taught me how to solve a Rubix cube on one of our breaks. I have been leading detailed writing workshops akin to what students would see in a graduate course, and my middle grade students have kept right up with me. They’ve come up with original story lines, mapped their work on the Hero’s Journey, workshopped plot developments, character traits, tropes, genres – I’m beyond impressed with their efforts. Today we recorded a new species for our Birding Life List (a raven on a nearby telephone pole) and then we read Poe’s “The Raven” in turn while taking a walk around our Kalexedy neighborhood. And that’s just today. Tomorrow will teach us all something new; someone will make an observation, have an epiphany, an inspiration, a spark – and we will celebrate and encourage it.
I look forward to the tomorrows. I enjoy looking back on the growth from yesterday and I’ve decided that every day is a good day – we just need to find the thing that made us smile; what got us excited and encouraged us to come running through the front door each morning, ready to take on a new day. I’m excited for the future led by our students. Their abilities to make their own magic and seek knowledge, to tell their own stories and create new things is beyond anything I could have ever imagined.
And last but not least: Stay curious and you’ll never be bored.
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