Thursday Thoughts April 30
What an amazing time to be a kid! No seriously, I know that we can all recall something about our childhood that kids miss out on these days, but I often marvel at everything that kids are encouraged to learn and do in the 21st century. As a child, I was not encouraged to think outside of the box or explore my creative side. Nothing against my parents or my school, but it was all about the 3 R's and the ultimate goal was to grow up and get a good job. In fact, I have a cousin who is highly creative (she is a graphic arts designer now) and I can remember how she used to get in trouble for drawing in class. I often felt sorry for her and couldn't understand why she wouldn't just "do her work" in school, so she could stay out of trouble at home. I am so excited that we are teaching in a time where creativity is being encouraged and celebrated. Students are able to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways and can be as creative as they'd like. Tonight's Art Show was an amazing example of how our students are learning that everyone is creative and that their work is worthy to be displayed and celebrated. The challenge for the adults is to tap into our creative side more often so that we can lead by example.
Staff Spotlight
This week I would like to shine the spotlight on English Avery. English is not only a master at her craft; but she also has a unique way of bringing out the creativity in everyone. It was amazing to see close to 700 pieces of student art on display tonight. Many parents commented on the detail of the student work. In fact, I marveled at how even the kindergarteners' artwork looked better than anything most adults could do. Throughout the year, English worked with grade levels to enhance their various units. She was also instrumental in designing the blue ribbon displays that have adorned our windows this year. English has been at the forefront of using iPads in the classroom and is a champion for STEAM instead of STEM. I appreciate English for the work that she does with our students and the way she reminds us that ART is a critical part of the development of the whole child.
4C's: Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking Skills
Why Teaching Is Still The Best Job In The World
7 Reasons Why Teaching Is Still The Best Job In The World
by Paul Moss 04/01/2015
Sometimes, good teachers quit. Teaching is an increasingly demanding job with divergent influences, dynamic sources of innovation, and aging dogma that makes it all a struggle. It can be emotionally draining, and at times, impossible.
But in lieu of that–and in an age where start-ups are glorified, entertainment is endlessly emphasized, and tech is kind, teaching continues to be the best job in the world. Or at least I think so anyway. Here are 7 reasons why.
7 Reasons Why Teaching Is The Best Job In The World
1. The potential to transform lives – ask any teacher who has helped a student in any number of ways, from academic to welfare and emotional learning, and they will tell you that life is not only good, but amazing.
2. It gives you the chance to be continuously creative – of course there are increasing levels of accountability in teaching, but teachers are allowed to be creative in every lesson. Even in observations, in fact most of all in observations, lessons are encouraged to be creative and interesting to engage the students. Teachers have so many opportunities to try new ideas, and indulge in iterative process to ensure the optimum learning environment is created.
3. It offers you a chance to continuously get better – teachers are not only encouraged to seek continuous professional development, but can ask for observation on a regular basis, to provide opportunities to grow and learn from masters or more experienced practitioners. In so few professions is there such support, and considering that as a minimum, contracts are for a year, teachers have so much time to demonstrate improvement. A growth mindset is part of the foundation of teaching.
4. It is a grounding, humbling profession – the amount of work teachers do compared to remuneration is shockingly disproportionate, in 2 senses: firstly, in terms of how many paid vs non paid hours of work they receive, and secondly, in relation to other similarly creative and important (and not so important) vocations in our society. But that is not why teachers teach. So few teachers go into the vocation for the salary – it’s a calling before anything else.
5. There is always satisfaction somewhere – teaching is a calling, and no one enters it without his or her inner voice telling him or her that. Of course there are always some imposters, but the massive majority have their hearts in the right place. How cool is that for the students?
Having said that, teaching can be and is incredibly demanding, and often we can lose sight of that calling, bogged down in aspects of the profession that don’t seem to be connected to it. But on closer inspection, most of the extra demands are actually central to the job itself: explaining to parents where you are coming from; being observed; collaborating with others; marking.
Take this last aspect, crucial to understanding whether students are learning what you believe you are teaching. Yes, it is very time consuming, but perhaps one of the most important and fundamental weapons in a teacher’s arsenal; any good school will understand this and the other cited demands, and create an environment where they become part of directed time.
It is when these aspects are not acknowledged in directed time that the conditions for burnout are rife.
6. It’s a chance to truly to lead the world in the 21st century – introducing students to new technologies and ways of presenting, curating, and collaborating with others with what they know is truly exciting and truly invigorating. Modern teachers are actually pioneering pedagogy, and can and will be able to hold their heads up high in the future when we look back and see how learning in this day and age took a radical but enormously beneficial turn for the better.
Engaging students in greater collaboration, and instilling initiative in curation and the promotion of information leads to truly independent learning, and setting up such learning environments is an opportunity that all teachers now have before them. There are few more gratifying feelings that being needed.
7. The children.
Conclusion
Of course, so much of the technological addition to teaching has all been achieved mostly through our own initiative, having to source and implement the enterprising learning strategies. But this only provides another string to our bow, and in the context of how important 21st century skills are, another example of why teaching is such an amazing thing to do. Sometimes teaching is exhausting, but friends, always come back to the core of what we are doing.
We are change makers, and that is something to be proud of. Long live teaching, still the best job in the world!
Technology Tidbits
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