What Inspires You to Dance in Your Classroom?

Reflective Blog Post Time.

It is almost time for the beginning of school. Some teachers are already in school, some don't start until after Labor Day, but here at Bermudian, we start on Tuesday. The beginning of the year jitters are in full-swing (though, I heard someone still talking nicely to the copier this morning with a string of "pretty-pleases," so the jitters haven't turned in the last-minute panics just yet from what I have observed.)

With a string of in-service professional development sessions, we've spent a lot of time reviewing ISTE, SAMR, the 4Cs, and what it takes to be a teacher - we've reflected on why we're here, what we're doing, why we're doing it. In all, the focus has really come back to empowering us to find our passions and share them in an effort to spark these passions in our students.

This is a difficult reflection coming off of summer. For instance, I'm still really passionate about my 1PM afternoon nap. It gives my heart joy when I can close my eyes for an hour or so after a big lunch. I will miss it, yes, but it is a surface level joy.

But it also gives my heart joy to see a student really finding what he or she wants to know. I find I'm passionate about helping students and other teachers create things and find new creative avenues. I was passionate helping a colleague brainstorm a solution to tech problem this afternoon, and I actually forgot all about that 1PM afternoon nap because I was busy focusing on what I needed to do to help my students realize I care about what they want to do, where they want to go, who they want to be. I was engaged in discussions over the best tool to solve a problem, how to create digital media, and what creativity might look in my classroom.

What I've found is that while we all have our niches, our content areas, our subjects, teachers are passionate just not about summer naps and gel pens and whether or not they permit glitter in their classroom, but they are truly most passionate about learning and what they can do to help every student find how to learn, why to learn, and what makes it so darn important.

Educators have moments they want to sing and moments where they want to dance, and it isn't just when the copier is cooperating ten minutes before the buses unload. We sing and dance the most when we help others make meaningful connections with ideas, concepts, facts, other people, books, challenges, etc. We're facilitating connectors who tinker with how to help others explore what exists and find what fits.

When we remember that, we don't miss those summer naps so much.