When teachers are learners...

The best teachers are also the best students. They understand that learning is a never-ending goal and strive to grow with their students through the school year. During this past school year, my teachers have read books and articles and attended conferences to help equip them to meet the needs of our students.  They have met collaboratively and observed in one another's classrooms. I asked teachers to share with me lessons they have learned this year as educators. Here are a few of their lessons from the school year and goals for growth:

What it really means to have a growth mindset   

Allowing the 5th graders to teach the Kindergartners was also educational for me.  They came up with some fresh, creative ideas for teaching colors and shapes in Spanish.

Homework needs to be meaningful and not something the parents have to reteach with the majority of the students.

Introducing new and advanced lesson plans is important.  Telling time and conjugating verbs was hard for some and required more hands on help from me or students around them, however it was challenging in a good way for many of them.

  My students can teach me and their classmates.  Sometimes their ideas are better.

Leaders are made, not born.  Almost every student can develop into a leader if the desire and willingness to work are there.

Passion is contagious!  Many of my students are now planning on a future in church work.  Praise God for this!

 The more students are involved in the lesson ( groups, Ipads, collaborative art work, etc.), the better they learn and retain knowledge.   

My kids can do ANYTHING as long as I set the bar for them.  Some will go over but they all have the ability to make it.

I like keeping Student Profiles on index cards in Math and Reading to have ready at any time for a parent conference.  This was something I observed Kary and Anissa doing.  I really liked their format so I began using it.

Incorporate more Brain Based Learning strategies in all subject areas.  I plan to read a book by this guy whose name escapes me right now.  (Obviously, I need some brain based learning myself for recall.)

My passion for teaching is far stronger than I ever imagined.  

I am super incredibly blessed God put me at Nashville Christian School. 

It has been exciting to be a part of a passionate Dream Team of educators who by pushing boundaries, taking risks, and loving learning, inspire our students to do the same.

Stay off the track

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I am passionate about student-centered education and student-centered culture. My dream school is one where you see students at the heart of every activity ----students giving announcements, students planning and leading classroom activities, students involved in decision-making, a garden growing confident, trustworthy individuals.  I believe when students are valued as trustworthy  and when they are empowered by and entrusted with developmentally-appropriate responsibilities, then they will almost always exceed our expectations.

But in order to do this, we, as the adults, have to be willing to stay off the track. Imagine a runner in a race where the coach instead of standing on the sidelines watching the race and cheering, is instead standing in front of the runner, running backwards giving instructions, encouraging, criticizing, re-directing, and essentially blocking and slowing down the runner’s pace. The runner can’t see his destination. He can’t think to himself about what to do; he can’t make adjustments to his pace or his path because all he can see and hear is the person in front of him. Ultimately, we will never know how fast and how far he could go because the coach won’t get out of the way.

That can be true in the lives of our children. We can be like the coach described above blocking the progress of the students we serve when we choose to be: 

• A teacher who refuses to give up control in the classroom and clings to being the center of instruction and the source of knowledge. 
• A principal who sets rules and establishes a culture that tells students “You are untrustworthy and incapable of making good decisions.” 
• A parent who blocks a child’s growth by doing too much for them and preventing them from experiencing struggle and failure. 

There are times of “training” when our children need to hear direction from us, when we need to be close by to closely monitor and coach. There may even be a few occasions where a child needs us to demonstrate how to run, but when it’s time to race, the only one on the track should be the child. It’s his race, her journey, and we have the incredible blessing of witnessing, coaching, and cheering from the side. 

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