Part of the Goals 2010 Challenge Series, Goal 16
In 1996, I taught education classes at a hands-on science museum. For years I taught the same three siblings. The older brother was a nice student who was very responsible in looking after his younger brother and sister who were 6 year-old twins. The girl was the sweetest child. Everyday she’d give you the brightest smile and a hug. However, her brother suffered from severe anger issues and ADD. He confessed to seeing a therapist because he wanted to strangle his sister. Everyday he would get in fights with the other children.
The museum internship was preparing me to be an effective educator. The focus was on developing hands-on lessons that helped students make real world connections. My program director was an impressive mentor. When working with this angry 6 year-old she would not let us blame the child. She challenged us to try various methods with him to inspire him to improve his behavior. After the third summer of having this student, I finally figured out how to motivate him. We became friends that year and I would laugh with him. I found out he worked best alone and with his hands. Often, he needed alone time and did not work well in pairs. This is when I first began learning how effective learning stations are for classroom management. However, this was the last year he attended the summer program. I often wondered if I had helped him and worried about him.
In 2005, I began working closely with a nun at a high school. You can read about her impact on my life here. One day I walked into her classroom and noticed the boy I had taught was sitting in the first row. Later, I asked her about his progress and she related how he was a star student, one of the most well-behaved and highest achieving students. I was overjoyed!
The Challenge
Yesterday, Joan Young, @flourishingkids, tweeted to me, “I think sometimes we forget to tell those who inspire us that that they are important in our journey.” Many of you who have taught for awhile may have stories like the one I related where years later we find out that we made a difference. That is why today’s goal is to voice your appreciation for someone. The long-term goal is to continually voice our appreciation for those who impact our learning journeys. These are a few ideas, but please feel free to offer more:
- Send a message through social media outlets!
- Dedicate a song through BlipFm.
- On Facebook, post a photograph of a memory from decades ago and comment on how the person made a difference that day.
- Recommend an educator for an award and let the colleague know why you voted. Sean Banville recently posted a great BBC award site to recommend a teacher.
- Call one of your family members and thank the member or write a blog post about the family member. My father was so excited by this post I wrote about him.
- In this post, Educators Are Only Human, many educators related their appreciation stories.
- Send an e-card with your message. My favorite e-greetings site is Care 2 Cards where your card supports a cause.
- Make an Animoto video or Blabberize the message. You can find more services to show appreciation here!
Challenge:
Voice your appreciation to someone. Tell someone how he or she has contributed to your learning journey!
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This is goal 16 of this series! If you’d like to join the challenge, please read this post with more details!
Don’t forget to leave a comment that you accomplished this goal using the hashtag #30Goals!
Who will you appreciate today and how? Do you remember a a time when someone voiced appreciation for you?
