Teach like a Champion....
Hmmm.....
Right now, I think that means....
Finish the race, keep it up through the end, don't shed your ideals, your ethics and your identity as a professional because of fatigue or stress or any other cause that sprouts up from a myriad of reasons.
Teach like a CHAMPION who WILLwin, because they KNOW they can, they have VISUALIZED it, they have PLANNED for it, they have put their blood, sweat and tears into completing the task at hand.
Our kids deserve it, we deserve it..... so go forth and finish well.
I appreciate your words in this post, Kim. Years ago while teaching in Washington DC, I was involved with professional development around "The Responsive Classroom". Ruth Charney in her book by the same title wrote about clear positives. Clear positives are those ideals, personal and professional ethics that you as a teacher desire to embody in your classroom for your students on a daily basis. Lately I've been thinking about those clear positives for myself as learner and wondering do I model the same for my students.
ReplyDeleteLisa wrote about frustrations when thinking of passing or not passion a test. I realized that scoring high test scores was not in my list of clear positives. Additionally, learning to be a life long learner with self motivation to pursue interests, to make the best growth I can in areas of strength and to improve in areas of challenges, to be a participant in my own learning which includes getting along with all people, completing what I start, learning to move past excuses to doing, and demonstrating an acceptance that I am a human who by nature can make mistakes or need help, but can be a problem solver, be creative and have fun. The strategies in Teach Like a Champion provide strategies that help me improve in these areas.
Thanks Kim for reminding us to Teach Like A Champion all the way through the end of the year. It is so easy to be too tired to want to keep teaching. And with OAKS testing done, it can feel like any teaching you do now want effect the testing, so it feels wasted. I am saddened as I watch some teachers doing lots and lots and lots of extra recess right now. Once in a while, especially as a reward for hard work, is okay. But I have seen way too much learning and teaching time going to waste on the countdown to the end of the year. It is a battle, but I am going to try to Teach like a Champion all the way until the kids leave for summer. :)
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