Rockin' in My Teacher Shoes...by Getting My Teach On

Funded Oct 21, 2017

First of all I want to thank you again for your support. My funding allowed me to attend a conference that was, in a word, amazing. This conference is run and organized by teachers. These teachers are working in their classrooms to inspire their students and also sharing their expertise with other educators. I walked away from this conference not only with ideas that can be used in my classroom but also a sense of community and caring that is hard to describe. Hope and Wade King and all of the organizers stayed until the last conference goer left the venue. Not only did they stay but they thanked everyone for coming. I don't think I have felt valued as a teacher that much in quite awhile.

The highlight of this event was the infusion of bringing a sense of community into the classroom. Also, I think, was the validation that students need to not only feel success but also failure. By this I mean that in the real world not everything is going to go your way but by building the sense of community that was highlighted in this conference you give your students the tools needed to face that failure and learn from it. As an educator I need to build a relationship with my students that encourages them to take risks, work collaboratively, and be comfortable enough to make a mistake then turn around and learn from it.

I think that one of the most fun aspects of the conference was learning about room transformations. Transforming your classroom to match a theme or aspect of part of the curriculum. I decided to begin my year by transforming my classroom in to a crayon box. I used the book "The Crayon Box That Talked" as my inspiration. The overall theme was that we are all unique but we can celebrate that uniqueness and work together to make a beautiful 'picture'.

Another highlight, aha, moment for me is when Dave Burgess, the first keynote speaker, used the term survivor. He compared teachers sitting in an in-service that they didn't choose to go to and how we turn into survivors just to make it through the day. Well..... we have students sitting in our classrooms that are "survivors" for many reasons. As a teacher I need to do what I can to change that survivor thinking in to wanting to be in school.

Again, thank you for this opportunity and I look forward to moving through the year building our community and bringing a welcoming atmosphere in to my classroom and school.”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Jeska