Category: Reason for Teaching

Posted in Friday Note, General Inspiration, Pep Talk, Reason for Teaching, Teaching Power, You Are Awesome!!!

Some [funny and inspiring] Thoughts on Teaching

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use the image if you link back to the blog and/or give credit to Dear Teacher/Love Teacher)

Dear Teacher,

This week was full of some heavy posts…inspiring and encouraging, but still heavy.  I thought I might make today a lighter day and celebrate some of what we love about teaching!  And because my post have been longer this week, I am going to have you do more watching than reading.  🙂

Our job is difficult.  We try to use innovative methods and strategies, but sometimes it just doesn’t seem like the kids are getting it.  Sometimes it feels like this…you may or may not remember this Saturday Night Live sketch from the 90’s.  If you have seen it, watch it again and enjoy.  If you haven’t seen it, watch it for the first time and laugh your socks off!  It is hilarious, but it is amazing how it actually feels this way sometimes!  The only difference is that in real life you don’t give up…you don’t give up because you are AWESOME!  🙂

Now, unfortunately, the world at-large thinks that it is really always like this and that we are just flying by the seat of our pants.  But we don’t.  We plan.  We fight.  We do all that we need to do to make the biggest impact we can on students.  It is hard work, and we don’t get paid enough to do it.  That doesn’t matter to us, in the big picture, though because we know we do this for more than money.  Sometimes it is hard to get other people to understand why, though.  Here is another video you may or may not have seen; but you most likely have heard the dinner party story before.  Taylor Mahi does an awesome job of telling the story and showing the passion of why we do what we do.  Have a watch.

To round out this all out, I want to go back to the first video.  That was a comical look at what we do, but I want you to see a teacher’s perspective, someone like us, on what we do day to day…and why we love it.  I found this while I was looking for the Taylor Mahi video.  This is another one by him, and I really think it sums it all up nicely.

You are so awesome.  What you do is hard.  It takes time, it takes heart, it takes grit.  You are good at it.  You are making a difference.  You are a miracle worker, and you are amazing!  Never give up and never surrender to stress that we swim in.  Keep going and keep teaching, Teacher!

Wait…before you go.  I want to give a weekend homework assignment.  Homework over the weekend?  Yes, home work over the weekend!  I want you to go through and find three of your favorite posts here at Dear Teacher/Love Teacher and share them with someone (or a lot of someones).  Share on Edmodo, Facebook, Twitter, email, or how ever else you can.  Then come back here and tell us all the response.  Encouragement is hard to find in our job sometimes, so when we find it we need to share it!

Thank you, Awesome Teacher!  You are the best!

Love, Teacher

PS…Oh, and for those of you who use Edmodo, I have started an Edmodo Group for the daily updates.  This way I will be able to make the “Edmodo blasts” in the Communities few and far between…I don’t know that everyone “loves” them.  🙂

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Posted in General Inspiration, Note to Teachers, Reason for Teaching

Celebrating Independence

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Today’s post will probably mean most to my American readers, but even if you are from another country, read on…it may still speak to you!

Today is July 4th.  Happy 4th, everyone!  Today most of us will go to a cookout and/or watch some fireworks while we spend time with friends and family, as well as a number of other traditions people may have.  It is a day to celebrate and to remember when our country was officially founded.

July 4th is the day that we mark the Second Continental Congress’ passing and signing of a resolution of independence from England called the Declaration of Independence (though there is a lot of debate about when it was actually signed by most of the people who signed it).  This document was the founding document of the United States as an independent country with its own government and no longer under the reigns of England.  Today is the day that we celebrate that independence.

This morning, I read up a bit on the traditions, celebrations, and meaning of the 4th of July holiday (Wikipedia had some pretty fascinating tidbits on it).  I found out some interesting pieces of information about it.  It was almost an instant holiday.  The year after the Declaration was passed, there was a celebration on the 4th in Philadelphia (the capitol at the time and where the Continental Congress met), and the party even included fireworks!  The tradition of celebrating on that day continued year after year and spread throughout the country.  To me, this seems pretty amazing that the holiday basically began the year after the event!  But it was a pretty amazing event, and it should be remembered, honored, and celebrated!

Now, how am I going to bring this back to teaching?  I don’t know that I need to, but I think I will anyway.  🙂

Think about your students.  I know that we all teach students of different backgrounds and each year our students are different.  Most of us are on summer break, as well.  For this reason, just think about your students in general.  Some come from excellent homes and environments…other don’t.  Some have amazing and obvious gifts and talents that will take them far…but not all of them.  Some know how to learn, think, and explore knowledge independently…but not every single one of your students.  Some know how to be independent learners…a lot may not.  Some students know what it means to be free and what freedom means…other have no idea.

We are teachers.  We are like the armies, soldiers, and volunteers that fought for the freedom for our countries founders to be able to declare independence from England.  We have to fight for our students to know thinking independence.  Without the freedom to think on their own, they will never know true freedom as an adult…and I believe that most of our job is to get students ready for the future, no matter what we may teach.  We need to know each student and what their individual learning styles and need are, and then teach them how to know how to do this on their own.  They will not always have us fighting for them…we need to teach them to fight on these battles on their own!

I know this post may be a stretch, but a part of celebrating independence is understanding what independence is.  We as adults have a pretty good understanding of what freedom is.  Not just freedom in the sense of the freedoms we have in our country, but freedom of mind…to stand and think on our own.  We need to remember that our job is to help our students to be able to do the same one day.  We are fighting for their freedom to be who they will be one day, on their own.  Don’t give up the fight for your students’ independence!

(c)DearTeacherLT (You may use the image if you link back to this blog.)
(c)DearTeacherLT (You may use the image if you link back to this blog.)

You are an awesome teacher!  You are a great freedom fighter!  Don’t give up and don’t ever stop!  You are changing the future one student at a time!  This makes you amazing!  Keep on teaching, Teacher!  Happy Forth of July!

Love, Teacher

PS…The picture is from when I went on a cruise and got to sail past the Statue of Liberty.  It was hard not to think about what it must have been like for the millions of people that sailed to Ellis Island from around the world in hopes of finding the freedom promised in America.  Are you that beacon of hope of future independence for students?  I want to be.

Posted in Challenge, Guest Post, Homework Assignment, Hope for Teachers, Reason for Teaching

Substitute Teacher Subway Station

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use this picture if you link back to this blog.)
(c)DearTeacherLT2013 (You may use this picture if you link back to this blog.)

Dear Teacher,

As you may have noticed, the last week and a half on the blog has been guest posts by other people.  I have taken a break from school and school-related activities and others have stepped in as “Substitute Teachers.”  I am very grateful for the work they have put in to writing and promoting their posts.  They have done a great job!  Thank you, Substitute Teachers!

For reasons that I will bring up tomorrow, today is the last day of my hiatus from blogging (and teaching/planning).  I decided to make today’s post a “clip show” of the Substitute posts so that you have a chance to read and see something you may have missed while I was out.  This post is like a “subway station” of the guest posts.  I am also going to make this a quick and easy homework assignment.  Read at least three of these posts, pick your favorite, comment on it, and then share it (Facebook, Edmodo, Twitter, etc…).  I will be nice and not assign a due date.  🙂

Enjoy and share the hard work of my Substitute Teachers!

Alright, don’t forget to do your homework!  I hope you enjoy each of these as much as I have!

Teacher, you are so awesome!  You are going to do something great today, if your are still teaching or on summer break.  People with the teacher’s heart do amazing things every day…and you are one of those people.  Go out there and awesome the heck out of today!  Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

For more hope and encouragement: @DearTeacherLT (Twitter), Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Facebook Page, and the Dear Teacher TpT Store.

Posted in Guest Post, Reason for Teaching, Teacher Testimony

Why (Did I Become a Teacher)?

Posted on by Dear Teacher/Love Teacher

Dear Teacher,

Let me introduce your Substitute Teacher for today.  I am quite excited to share his thoughts with you, because it is different than any other post I have put up so far.  It is a “teacher testimony” of sorts.  It is the back story of a teacher and why he decided to put the hard work in to become and stay a teacher through all of the ups and downs of teaching.  I think you are going to like this one!

Your teacher today is Mr. Tim Sexton.  Teacher Tim has been a teacher for the past 15 years and is currently teaching at Davidson Middle School in Crestview, Florida.  He believes that all students CAN learn and that it is our job to facilitate their learning.  He teaches students to think for themselves and be responsible citizens in the school, the community in which they live and within their own lives.

It was 6 a.m. June 3, 1994, at the end of the graveyard shift of stocking at the local grocery.  All night I was thinking of math formulas, biology vocabulary, and other items of testing interest for the second part of my day, college.  The store manager had asked me to stay later because it was the July 4th weekend, and there was still product to put out for the potentially busy weekend.  I told the manager that I was unable to stay because I had class at 8 a.m. You could see and hear the frustration as he told me to go to his office; he wanted to talk to me.  I opened the door to the office to see him standing there huffing and insisting that I stay later to help out.  I repeated, “I can’t”.  He asked, “What are you going to school for?”

I told him I was going to school to become a teacher.  As he replied while laughing, he said “you know teachers don’t make that much money, right?”  I told him without hesitation this reply, “I know, but if I can keep one student off the beaten path I was forced to walk growing up, or see the “LIGHT” come on in the eyes of a student, that is worth any amount of money you can ever pay me.”  He had nothing to say after that, and I left that office to continue my pursuit of fulfillment.

Have you forgotten your reason why you do this?  Most of us are heading into our summer break tired, run down, and ready to do nothing but re-coop.  Think about that question, “Why?”  Why do you get up early to go a place that doesn’t seem to appreciate you?  Why do you stay late trying to do a little extra for those same people that drove you crazy all day? Why do you make calls to parents who don’t care to talk to you? Why do you keep trying?  Well, we do it because we care; we do it because we are called to do so; we do it to make a difference in the lives of young ones where this may be their only chance to find that difference.  Take out those letters you have collected throughout the years from former students thanking you for being there, for teaching, for taking the time to say “HI” every day when no one else did.  Those are reminders of “WHY” we continue doing what we do.

How do you answer that question?  Whether you are a beginning teacher or 15 years into what appears on the outside a thankless profession, Look inside and remember your “WHY”.

Thank you, Teacher Tim!  I love this idea of remembering our “WHY,” especially on those tough days!

Teacher, what is your “WHY?”  Do you have a back story like this?  Do you have a reason for teaching that you can look back to?  Have you developed even stronger “WHYs” since you started teaching?  I know I have!  Please share yours with the class.  🙂  It is encouraging to hear the reasons other people teach, because it reminds you of yours.

You are awesome, Teacher Tim and every other Teacher reading this!  You are believed in.  You are amazing!  Keep on teaching, Teacher!

Love, Teacher

For more hope and encouragement: @DearTeacherLT (Twitter) and Dear Teacher/Love Teacher Facebook Page.