How Will I Create Awesome??

I have a new principal this year. She and the vice principal are new.  They have made changes, they are trying to get to know us, and they are making our new normal.  So far I LOVE them!

The first week we came back as teachers our principal, Mrs. West, asked us to show her how we will "create awesome" and "change the world this year.  We were tasked with using apps or website things to show her.  My mind wondered what I needed to change to "create awesome."  I feel like after 16 years of teaching - I must do SOME things right.  As a teacher I know that if I am not learning or updating my craft - I will not get better.  If I don't get better I will be ineffective.  I am constantly learning.

This is how I feel at school.  Different. 

I decided to ask the students I had taught their opinions.  I asked kids who I still had contact with their parents.  I asked these students to meet me at the local library.  We met in the maker space.  The background is messy, but the content of what they said was AMAZING.

I videoed for THREE HOURS.  I cut down the movie to about 5 min.  Now - the teachers at my school gave the principal a picture with a quote on it.  My principal got 3 lunch tables FULL of quote pictures.  I felt silly for doing something else.  My editing took longer than I thought it would - so I turned in a quote picture like everyone else on the due date.  I changed the focus on the video to show to an audience of my student's parents.  I showed the video at "3rd Grade Parent Night".

 Create Awesome Video

What I learned from my former students -
1.  Making them feel like they belong goes a long way to getting them to school everyday on time.
2.  How I treated them is what they remember the most.
3. Using their interests got them excited and they even took what they learned home to learn more.
4.  They enjoy working together and feeling like a family.
5.  They like choice.  We had a lot of choice in reading.  My students voted on what they wanted to hear most of the time.
6.  Listening to kids that I taught tell me that I made a difference in their life = very humbling.

My advice to you?  Listen to your kids.  Let them help you guide their days.  Listen to them on the way they learn.  This was a wonderful activity assigned to me by my principal.  I will use it for parent nights.  It helped me reinforce what I thought was good and I will change based on what my current students let me know.  Feedback will help me to become awesome!

Also - don't worry about being different than your fellow teachers.  Sometimes weird is what works.  Kids will adore you for not being like the rest.  Kids love passion and energy.  Don't be afraid to close your door and teach!

Enjoy your year and create awesome!