Today I attended a 'Colloquium for Beginning Teachers' at my district--which was sponsored by the New Teacher Center @ UCSC (our mentor teachers) as well as an amazing foundation, the Ravenswood Education Foundation (who are constantly showering us with love). (Just two days ago, the foundation brought an ice-cream wagon to the staff room to give all the teachers free sundaes and ice cream cones!!) Anyway, back to the colloquium. The President of the Education Foundation spoke and I was inspired. (Actually I was crying, which might not be a big surprise to many who read this). He talked about how someone had told him in his 20s a story about a group of 95 year olds who were all about to die. They were all asked what they wished they could have changed about their lives, or what they regretted. Overwhelmingly, the respondents had three things to say. They said that they wished they would have taken more risks, that they would have spent more time reflecting, and that they would have left something behind (a legacy) that would have lasted longer than a lifetime. I was so touched by this. It removed me from the stress of 'Did all of my students master all of the 4th grade math standards at 80% or above mastery?' and back to the reality of working with real people, real little people that is, and thinking about the ways that I might have helped them beyond math mastery. I realized today more than ever the power of gratitude and appreciation in helping us to keep going when things get really hard. I know I need it. And I didn't realize quite how much I needed it until this year.
I found this quote which really expresses eloquently my emotions of late: "Encouraged people achieve the best; dominated people achieve second best; neglected people achieve the least." Today, after struggling with my students a lot, I felt encouraged--because of the thoughtfulness of mentor teachers and a foundation who are really in touch with what new teachers need. I'm glad there are foundations & experienced teachers who realize that new teachers are fragile and need to hear that their efforts are worthwhile. For a couple hours I was encouraged & strengthened in my workplace. And I am very grateful for that because I've been hanging by a thread this week. Thank you NTC and the Ravenswood Foundation for the very timely celebration :)
1 comment:
Hi Jessie-I appreciated your thoughts on gratitude so much! During Dallin's baseball playoff game I figured out why the players feel deflated- Every time someone does something good instead of praise he tells them how they could have done it better! Imagine running to first base and making it before the ball and having your coach say- "Next time you better run faster" He means well, but someone once told me that we always remember the negative things that people say to us, even if they are attached to positive feedback. I'm not sure this coach has discovered the value of a pat on the back- He is so anxious about teaching the right skills that he forgets his players need encouragement too.
Teachers can make or break a student's love of the subject, just as much as coaches can influence the love of a sport! Just ask Tal about his English teacher telling the whole class that they are stupid and should never be honor students! Teachers underestimate the long lasting influence they have on their student's lives.
Love, Laurie
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