Teacher's Potential

Our passions become their curiosity.
Our interests become their knowledge.
Our abilities become their successes.

We are creating passionate students every day.We are fostering students memories that will stick in their minds for the rest of their lives.We are giving them the best base to stand on and the strongest leg to put forward. We are encouraging them in the classroom and in life.

We are creating the future leadersWe are molding their futuresWe are lighting their fires. 
Our experiments will feed them.Our voices will stand for them.Our motivation will create them.Our questions will enlighten them.

Every time we share a moment
with a child, not only does it shape them,
it reminds us once:

We needed teachers that would feed us concepts.
We needed someone to light our fires and teach us where to stand.
We needed someone to teach us strength, someone to teach us hope
And someone to show us how deep curiosity could go.

Once we needed someone to brighten our path and teach us about our potential. 

Opt Out

I read this article the other day that really got me thinking. It is all about how some parents are opting their children out of standardized testing. What a remarkable idea!

Here the government is trying to fix the system, the teachers are fighting it and the parents could solve it right under everyone's noses. If the kids don't test, there is no argument to be had.

Now, I know the benefits of testing, I understand wanting to know how your child compares to the rest and make sure everything is going the way it should be, but if teachers went back to teaching that creates passion and dedication, then the students would learn more about how to learn in a way that benefits them and works in the society that can learn all the facts with a touch of their thumbs.

We, as teachers, need to learn how we can help students ask the right questions and question further, how students can learn the next level and question themselves.

As a teacher, I am an advocate for what is best for my students and I think opting out of these tests and standing up to the issues in the education field is hands down what is best.

Mid-Year Parent Teacher Conferences

I love parent teacher conferences at the preschool level. There is less pressure and a better chance to set up things for the parents and having parents listen to you not just fight you.

I either have completely wonderful parents this year or I have done a remarkable job doing what is right for the students this year. My low students, parents want support. My high students want ways to continue. When parents are looking for the educational benefits and when parents are invested it makes a world of difference for the teachers.

I was able to set up a free screening for development at my school in February so when I approached parent teacher conferences this week I was able to say that I am not a professional but I have the professionals coming to help and parents can use this opportunity for free and without hassle!

I was able to offer my help for providing games that parents can play with their students that encourage learning and questions to ask their students. I was able to motivate some parents and calm others down. I was able to answer any questions and have a relationship with these parents instead of an introduction.

And for all these parents, this is the first time we have had a sit down conversation about their learning, about what they would like to see and about what we bring to the table. It has been a remarkable (albeit exhausting week).

What works well at your parent teacher conferences? Would you ever consider doing one midyear? Would it be any different at your school?

I Belong with Monsters

http://flic.kr/p/jhG6K

People want to belong. There is something just ingrained in us that makes us want to be accepted, cared about and important. In the classroom, students are always worried bout what belongs and what doesn't, who belongs and who doesn't. We do it too. Which teachers belong, which students belong together, which belong apart? How do we create a lesson plan that belongs in the curriculum? How about a test? Belonging is much more than looks, ability and personality. 

Look at your classroom like a living monster with body parts of all sorts, shapes and sizes that not only can function, but those limbs can function individually and together. Finding the pieces of this moving monster puzzle can be difficult at times and cause every teacher to question themselves and their class.

Just like students adapt to fit in, you can adapt how you work. You can take that monster of a classroom and build a system that supports all the components. Making accomplishments out of possible failures can help you feel important and help your students feel like they belong. How can you find accomplishments in what you do to help build a wave of success for your teaching, classroom and students?

This looks like a job for Superman!

This probably should have been my first post. I named this blog I could be Superman for a number of reasons.

1) I have always loved superheros and everything they stand for. I see the strengthen in them, the ability to put others first no matter what. To give up their own lives sometimes for the sake of other people. And I think sometimes, we forget that side of the superheroes. It gets to be so easy to view them as a ritzy jack*** (I am looking at you, Ironman) or the same old rich kid with no parents tune we have been hearing for years. Sometimes, I think it is important to think about what is beneath that. That these men (and women) give up their lives, they put their families on the line for the sake of some black silhouette of a person they don't know.

2) Waiting for Superman. I won't lie and say I saw the movie before starting this blog. That's a lie. (Though I finally did have the courage to watch that movie) but I did specifically say I could be Superman because of that movie. Not because of anything the movie said, not because of anything the movie didn't say. Just the title. That's it. It's exactly how I feel about education, it seems like we are waiting for some super famous amazing fairy godmother character to come in with a magic wand and fix education. No one is stepping up. And we could, we all could. I could. I have said this for months. If I knew who to contact at least to shoot down my ideas if nothing else, I would call them up. But even I, I could at least attempt to fix the education system. If I tried something different enough, maybe it would get better. If it didn't? It sure can't get any worse. Maybe YOU could fix education and make it the kind that makes students think.

3) We have super powers. Superman wasn't some rich man. He didn't have lots of degrees. I mean he had superpowers but don't we? Teachers have a special way of being exactly what a classroom needs and changing it on the spin of the dime if it needs changing. We know how to wrap students around information, we know how to push their questions out of them, we know how to make those "Ah-hah!" moments happen. If you threw Joe Shmoe into the classroom, he wouldn't be able to do these things. We chose this because we can do it.

4) And we are up to the challenge. We sit here waiting for the moment that we can teach how we should be teaching, when we can do what we should be doing. We are stuck in the ways of the world and we ourselves are broken. We stopped asking "Why", we stopped experimenting with our own jobs. We like the money, we like the job security but we are the ones that are supposed to be up to the challenge and save the people that we don't even know yet.

Those are your kids, your future students, your current students, the people that question your job, the people that belittle your work. We need to save them because if we don't? No one else will.

We can be the Champion of the Oppressed. We stand for truth, justice and the American way.

We can be Superman. Up, up and away!




“You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, yet everyday I hear people crying out for one.” 
― Superman Returns 2006

Tackle Your Expectations

Sometimes, we like to live up to other people’s expectations. It becomes difficult when you feel like you let someone down. 

Imagine you were football player and your father, the biggest football fan you ever met, told you that he wanted you to win him a superbowl ring. Year after year, you pushed yourself, through doubles and practice year round and you gave it your all. Yet after a few years, your coach saw that you weren't going anywhere and told you to give it up. 

How do you think you would feel about yourself knowing someone else gave up on you well before you did? How would it feel to have someone who is supposed to push you, tell you that you aren't good enough? The same is true for your students. If you constantly give up on them, how are they ever going to reach their dreams? By letting down your students you start to let yourself down too. 

What are some ways to avoid letting your students and yourself down?

What Are You Giving Your Giving Tree?

Take care of your school

We like knowing we took part in something important. We want to see the fruits of our labor. Just like a gardener, you can take care of your relationships and help them reach greatness. Are you doing everything in your power to help it reach that greatness?

Here are some questions to guide your thoughts:

Nurture

• How do you show you care for your school?
• How can you show that you care about your coworkers?
• How can you show that you care for your parents?
• How can you show that you care for your students?

Protect

• What does success look like for your school?
• How are you keeping it healthy?
• What new goals are you making?
• What are you doing to make sure you remain at the top once you get there?

Growth

• What ways are you encouraging consistent success? 
• How can you adapt failure into a newfound success?
• How can you constantly strive down new paths to make success easier?

Help your school reach success, just like you would help that seed become a tree.

I do not take credit for this picture or any on my blog

I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate||Spoken Word

This will sure make you think. It is definitely a much watch! Maybe even a much watch 10 times! I love this video.

Swimming in The Have To Do's-- A Teacher's Perspective

As a teacher, sometimes overwhelming is an understatement. We always have pre-tests to make, progress tests to take, post tests to grade, lesson plans to create, team meetings to attend, IEP Meetings to structure and everything in between. Most of us get lost, we get swamped on the "To-Do" lists of our lives. And it seems like we will be swimming under the papers until the day we die.

And sometimes the sigh of relief that is supposed to follow the victory of completing an aspect of the to-do list is replaced with 10 more items on your list. In fact, in my classroom, that's how it feels every time. But we need to remember to take the victories for what they are and celebrate every accomplishment (just as much, if not more than, how much we dread every new task). Take a second to focus on the fact you are still chipping away at that mountain of papers you have in front of you. And that it is in fact making you a better teacher, better student, better leader in this crazy world around you. Don't let the avalanche of the "Haven't happened yets" fall all around you to the point where you drown in the monotony.

How can you celebrate every time you complete another obstacle on your list?

This is a picture off of Google Images and I take no credit for it or any others on my site.

Dystoian Connections

I have learned a lot about reading this past week about how broken our world is, how hard it is to find a solution when a solution may work for an instance but not forever. I believe there is no system that will work forever and there is no savior that will save this world. But I do believe people need to learn to be their best, to push themselves their hardest and to find something that makes them better.

I read Ender's Game and I am going to need to read all the rest, they sucked me in and left me asking more questions than answering.
Could you imagine a life so structured that the only escape is leaving the planet. At 6 years old is anyone wise enough to give up their life for the greater good of the world?
Did anyone realize the number of propoganda in the book, that forced people to make ill-informed decisions? Yet a set of preteens were able to bring it all down.

This book challenged me because I did not connect with the characters, they were too far removed from me and I couldn't find one I could throw myself into, and yet I studied them, as if I were them, what choices they would make and if I could do the same. I would fail, but if I was them and if I could pass I would feel how they felt and I would feel like a tool, another propoganda lie for the government.

I am so sick of the government. I am so sick of the control they have over everyone.


Next: I read The Divergent series and it made me think and question.
There are 5 factions:
The Dauntless: The Brave
The Abnegation: The Selfless
The Amity: The Peaceful
The Erudite: The Intelligent
The Candor: The Honest

And in the beginning I asked which one I would join and it seems like the only answer would be the Erudite but a part of me would fit in all of them. I try to be strong and strength to me is being brave, I try to be selfless by putting others ahead of myself, I try to keep peace and crave knowledge and I try to hold myself to honesty.

But there is a lot in this world that I question and a lot I want to fix. Our world is as broken as theirs even if it isn't as obvious. Our world is full of needless propoganda and that people buy into as if they had no other choice.

I want a world that cares for one another, that may not be perfect but gives you the ability to fight for what you believe in. I want a world that gives you an option to be a hero. That forces you to learn about yourself.

And if I can't live in that world, one day, I am going to have to create it and write a book with as much emotion, with as much pull and with as much strength as my being possesses. Because the world we are in, is not the one that I was meant for.