Friday Focus

Each Friday, our principal sends out an email to the staff titled, Friday Focus.  It includes the typical planning type information--next week’s happenings/calendar, our upcoming Great Expectations Life Principal, where we should be in our campus goals, etc.  She also attaches all the Twitter feeds our campus teachers send out each Thursday showing the learning occurring within our classrooms, among our students.  And then there are the videos!  Oh my; what amazingly thought-provoking, uplifting, hilarious videos our principal sends.  Some she gets from teachers, some from her own research, but all are uplifting.  And when you get to each Friday, a teacher needs to be uplifted.  Teaching is hard and exhausting!  Is it worth it?  NO DOUBT!  I LOVE TEACHING.  (Do you notice all the capitals I’m using for emphasis?)  To have a principal who helps us celebrate our successes and gives us a belly rolling, laughing moment is priceless.  I want to remember to always spread that type of encouragement wherever my teaching path may lead me.

Tuesday's Twitter

Our school district recently started a Tuesday Night Twitter where teachers and administrators from all campuses enter into a six or seven question, hour-long discussion each week.  To facilitate questions, one of our campus principals hosts each Tuesday Night Twitter.  Early in the year, my campus principal hosted so I participated in that week's discussion.  Although I'd had a Twitter account for a while, I had yet to do anything with it.  It was an interesting discussion and I learned much about the art of tweeting, such as you can only use so many characters or it won't post!  Oops.

This past Tuesday, I received a tweet indicating our Tuesday Night Twitter would be starting in five minutes, and that the discussion would be facilitated by one of our high school principals who had asked his students to submit the questions for the evening.  I was intrigued, so I logged in to Twitter and joined the discussion.  Not only were the questions insightful, but the dialogue was amazing!  I learned so much from other teachers and dug deep within my own thinking to answer the questions posed that week by students.  Questions such as:

• "When you think of why you became a teacher, does it still inspire you?"
• "How do you keep yourself refreshed to teach the same material every year?"
• "When you think of how you were taught, how have you made it better now that you’re teaching?"
• "How can teachers be better at helping us to understand the bigger picture of what we are learning?"
• "How can you assure your students that what you’re teaching them will actually prepare them for college/life?"
• "If life will be about how well we use resources, why can’t I use notes on my tests?"
• "What is one change you would make to your school to improve it for the students of today?"

What hit me the most, however, is how our district's teachers where so humble and perceptive in their answers. They saw the big picture of education, thought outside the boxes they are often encased in by limited funds or state regulations, and were open about their classroom, flaws and all. Wow! What I can learn from these teachers.  I am not alone in the quest to be a better teacher by continually growing and modifying how I teach my students. This was an important lesson for me to take away . . . don't grow stale; don't settle for "it's good enough"; continue to personally learn and strive to be better each year for my next group of students.  Thanks #risdchat!  I appreciate Tuesday Night Twitter.