Goal #1: Me Manifesto

Through this blog, I will be attempting to complete the 30 Goal Challenge for educators (found here: http://teacherbootcamp.edublogs.org/30-goals-2012/ ). Each challenge will hopefully help me "get my groove back" as a teacher, so to speak, and also help inspire me to be the teacher I want to be but just can't seem to achieve. I think this challenge comes at the perfect moment; I'm almost at the three year mark of my career, and I feel like I need something to reinvigorate the spark that was once there. While I'm passionate about my career, I easily can get caught in the day to day drudgery, and forget to be that innovative, excited educator (usually just out of sheer exhaustion).

The first challenge is simple. Write my Me Manifesto, my teaching philosophy if you will. I know a lot of people who are doing this challenge have been super creative about it, using Glogster, Animoto, Wordle, Youtube, etc. to make these really cool manifestos. I tried to do that too, but I think it's just easier for me to write it out in blog form. I always seem to express myself better in words anyhow. If that be boring and un-inventive, so be it I guess.

Me Manifesto
To put it simply, at my core I believe in the potential of every child. That's what sparks my desire to teach, to work with children, and to work with other educators towards the same goal. I believe that students deserve the opportunity to own their learning, and when given that chance, great things happen. But because of this, teaching and learning (which are really one and the same) must be collaborative. We don't live in bubbles or vacuums, and  if we never have conversations with colleagues or students education will be nothing more than ineffective. Learning should be exciting and challenging and empowering. And above all, it should be authentic. If I can't find relevancy or students can't find relevancy in what they are learning, then what's the point? It is my hope as a teacher to bring meaningfulness into my classroom, to make lessons fun, hands-on, messy, and difficult...just like they are in the real world. Just like the real world too, I can't assume that everyone learns the same way, and it is my belief that school should adapt to, embrace, and accept the many facets of learning our students bring with them.

Specifically, as an English teacher, I see communication as the foundation on which everything else stands, and I want my students to as well. English class is more than just essays and grammar, but increasingly it's about how we communicate in a world that's constantly evolving. My teenage students live in a dichotomy of communicating extremely well and extremely poorly all at the same time. I love to watch those students transform over the course of the nine months I share with them, but more than that, I hope students find my class filled with lessons that will stay with them for years to come. 

Lastly, I accept, like in everything, teaching comes with huge hurdles and challenges that students and teachers alike must face. We have to face them together, and we have to do so while looking in both directions. We don't exist solely in one moment, but are rather a culmination of what has come before and what we dream will be. Reflection is key in creating a harmonious, caring, inspiring, exciting, constantly evolving classroom. I can look at what we have accomplished or what has been difficult, what has been successful or what fell flat on its face, and use all of those pieces to create the best learning environment for my students.

This is what I believe.