Be Awesome on Purpose

1

Introduction

My Story

My sister hated it; from the time she was an infant, she was my student. I loved school and being six years older, I felt compelled to prepare her for her upcoming journey. She progressed from being in a booster seat reciting the alphabet and counting to ten to eventually being able to sit and write sight words at her tiny wooden desk in my bedroom in front of my worn-out chalkboard. I was in my glory. Among her classmates Winnie The Pooh, Barbie, and Tiffany the dog, she was the star pupil. I remember explaining the importance of what I was teaching her as she tried to leave to go play with her Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Eventually, Strawberry and her friends were enrolled in my class along with the others.

Teaching was my calling; I felt it even on the first day of kindergarten. My mother’s recollection is clearer than mine of the day that I bounded home from the bus stop into the house. She tells me about how excited I was to tell her about my new friends and activities that I could teach my sister. On that day and every first day of elementary school, she helped me fill out my reflection book. I remained steadfast in my plans; I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up.

The gender bias of this does not go unnoticed. If I were encouraged to be a firefighter or scientist, my answer would not have been any different.

Although it seems that my path was set out before me, my road to becoming a teacher was anything but straight and narrow. The first curve was in junior high where it seemed most of my teachers did not value curiosity as much as compliance. My grades plummeted as I became disinterested and disengaged. I was ultimately labeled a trouble-student. Eyes rolled when I was introduced to my teachers in freshman year.

The Ds and Fs on my academic record are the landmarks along the path that tells the story of the importance of connecting with a teacher or not. Without the deeper learning experiences that I craved and opportunities to pursue my interests, every day I became further detached from the classroom. Eventually, there were more diversions than times I stayed the course, and my dream of being a teacher diminished along with my GPA.

While working on my BS in Biology, I worked in a variety of jobs from medical assisting to insurance case management; I was always designated the preceptor for new employees. People often asked me why I wasn’t taking education classes. You’re a natural,

This is in your blood,

were things I heard regularly. My response was always the same; I can’t be a teacher because I love learning too much. In my experience as a learner, teaching and learning did not align.

My career in education started as a result of months of prodding by my college career counselor as I prepared to complete my undergraduate degree. She convinced me that my fresh perspective and curiosity were needed in education. I had the honor of working with several veteran teachers over the course of five years. The lessons learned from this experience helped build the foundation of my career. I saw teachers’ various styles and paid attention to their short- and long-term patterns. With all of their best intentions, a persistent and comfortable cycle seemed to remain consistent and hadn’t changed much since my disappointing experience in junior high:

Teacher schedules test according to report card date

Teacher gives notes, students take notes

Students take quiz

Teacher gives lectures, students take notes

Students take quiz

Review

Students take test

Grades go on report cards

Repeat

Notice the ownership here; teachers give and students take. There was a theme of students being passive recipients while teachers were in control of the tempo and content. The focus was on teaching instead of learning. There was a lack of curiosity, authenticity, and the sense-making opportunities that I always craved but could not articulate.

At that time, instructional units generally proceeded like this. The teacher introduced a new topic and new vocabulary. Outside of class, students used a variety of worksheets and flashcards to memorize definitions in preparation for the quiz. Meanwhile, the teacher used text-dense slide presentations to move the entire class through the more complex material. Warm-ups and checks for understanding were used to formatively assess whether the class understood as students’ heads bobbed up to the board and down to their handwritten notes. Students who write faster than others had time to chat and check their phones while waiting for the rest of the class to catch up. Other students struggled to keep pace and might have wished they had the time or the courage to ask questions. Then the teacher gave a vocabulary quiz, usually matching or other recall activity. Kids handed-in their work and waited for their peers to finish. At this point, the teacher would assign some type of knowledge deepening assignment, and there would