Reflect 31: Day 14 -
Today’s reflective inspiration and question comes from a veteran teacher and elementary administrator; Laurie Taylor. We are lucky to work with her as our Executive Director of Elementary Curriculum. Just this week I had the opportunity to speak with her about several different school district initiatives and the thing that is always apparent is her love of students. The key to her philosophy is students first and she believes that her role is to inspire great teaching in order for students to succeed.
Laurie states, In order to truly teach our students, we must be willing to learn from them. Then she asks us to consider, What have you surprisingly learned from your students that made you a better teacher?
In my seven years as teacher and seven as an administrator, I can think of endless students that made a profound impact on my teaching. The lessons from my students were a daily occurrence some big and some small but always more powerful when I took the time to stop and consider the lesson. It’s going be hard to pick just one. But as I reflect and see their faces in my mind the word that keeps coming forward is trust. I learned that students had to trust me beyond just being their teacher they had to know I was real. Trust was an essential for making deep connections to learning. Without trust we didn’t move forward together. I could go on there’s so much more to say but this is about the you. We are looking forward to hearing everyone’s stories and connecting further.
Share your story with us via #Reflect31.
I have learned that, although I am a good teacher, I am a much better student, and I was blessed to learn valuable lessons from my students on a daily basis. They taught me the importance of teaching to a student - and not to a test. Erin Gruwell
Wishing you a relaxing and reflective day,
Laura and Matt
