Some Inspiration On My First Day

Today, I want to share with you all an amazing speech I heard from an incredible eighteen year old young man. A recent CMS graduate, the student shared his school experience with our faculty and staff. From the second this young man opened his mouth, it was clear that he was an exceptional, exceptional.

I did not mis-type there; I did mean an exceptional, exceptional. What this means in the teaching world is that the student has a learning differences that impacts his ability to learn and thrive in a traditional classroom setting without additional support or modification. The double exceptional however, implies something more. It means that while he has differences that impact his learning in the traditional classroom, he is of incredibly high intelligence. While I never saw his IEP, it was clear this was the case as indicated by his incredible test scores and speaking skills. The kid scored in the top 1% in the country on the writing section of the ACT!!

Then the young man said something incredibly important

"Be open minded and let your students teach you how to teach them"

What an incredible, yet fundamentally logical statement! Once he finished speaking, my principal, Ms. Davis, asked us to discuss with the people around us what our takeaway was from this speaker. As an educator, it is much more important to me that my students learn how to be good citizens. In fact, if I had to lay out my teaching objectives for the school year and re-write the standards, they would go a little like this.

At the end of the school year, my students will be able to tell a stranger how they learn best and why using specific examples of when they excelled under stated conditions.

At the end of the school year, my students will be able to advocate for the well-being of themselves and others both inside and outside the classroom

At the end of the school year, my students will be able to understand that learning is an experience and not something that comes from a textbook.

But Becky, they're just kids! What do they know about how they learn or what's best for their education. Well, the truth is that most students will not inherently know how to advocate for themselves. They always won't be able to tell you that because they have difficulty reading, they need a multi-sensory approach to phonics. They won't always be able to tell you that they need to experience history through simulations because imagining it in their head is just too abstract. It is my job to help them understand how and why they learn the way they do so that they can have the confidence and evidence to explain to others how they will help make them as successful as possible. This is sometimes more than a year long process.

That is OK!

Being reflective and thinking about why a concept finally made sense when it did and why a concept doesn't make sense when they are confused is hugely important to helping them become better students, and their teachers to become better teachers. And it's the job of the teachers to listen to what the students are saying, even when their initial message isn't entirely clear. 

While I admittedly do not remember this young man's name, I will never forget him or the powerful message I knew, but will always need to be reminded of through my years of teaching.

Yours,

Becky