Today bright and early at 7:30 am I opened my room to 25 familiar faces excited to see their friends after having 2 weeks of winter break. I greeted them at the door and was reminded why I became a teacher. Each smiling face, hug, and high five revitalized me. I became a teacher for a simple reason; I love interacting with kids every day. The way they approach tasks, the risks they are willing to take help me to set goals in my own life. Kids aren’t afraid to try new things because they haven’t yet been taught that they could fail. I think their energy rubs off on me and motivates me to try something new. I need to learn and try new things so that my students will see that they have no reason to be afraid. That they never need to stop taking risks. That failure is not an option.
My newest risk has been trying to incorporate the LAUNCH cycle into my classroom. I started with the MARS Challenge. It went well but was a bit rushed and not as planned as I would have liked. The important thing was that I saw how passionate my students were to participate. Students who usually don’t want to try were bringing new and creative ideas to the table. They were taking risks. So, with my neighbor teacher, (Shout Out to Donna who is also blogging, check her out -> Teaching and Learning) I am taking a risk too. In the midst of BAS testing, STAAR prep and teaching all of our content, we are trying our 2nd Launch project of the year. Fingers crossed it goes even better than the first one and that my students continue to work passionately. Because, when they are passionate, I learn important lessons from them. From my students I’ve realized sometimes, risks are worth it and that if you keep trying, failure is not an option.
Pirate to Teacher 