December: Gratitude

All the turkey has been eaten. The last crumbs of pie have been licked from the plates (if your house is anything like mine). The fall leaves, scarecrows, and pumpkins have been replaced by pine trees, snowflakes, egg nog, and twinkly lights.

A midst the bustle of a different holiday season, we are taking some stolen moments protecting time around here to express gratitude - gratitude for the people who have influenced our professional lives.

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I would like to thank (and apologize to) Chilton High School's class of 2008. I was their eighth grade ELA teacher. It was my first year of teaching.

I made a lot of mistakes. Let me just say that again. I made a lot of mistakes. I am confident there are kids that I failed (both literally and figuratively). For that, I apologize.

I was learning about classroom management. I was learning about assessment. I was learning to allocate time. I was learning how to do all the other "stuff" that is part of teaching - the stuff that didn't actually involve student learning.

I was doing the best I could, though. I built relationships with kids. I encouraged choice in reading and writing. I built a classroom library. I asked kids to write every day. I read and studied to become better at my job. Plus, my bulletin boards were top notch, and I had a new seating chart at least every quarter.

There was someone by my side through all of that. Pat Sowls, the district reading specialist, helped me learn to reflect on what caused my mistakes. She celebrated my successes and knew just the right times and ways to push me further. She introduced me to the Wisconsin State Reading Association.

My first years of teaching (and the learning of the students I knew in those years) would have been a very different place without Pat.