Ms. M's Tales of a Teacher: My Personal Teacher Blog

 Greetings teacher friends! This week let's talk about favorites!  We all have favorite things: a favorite book, movie, sport, song, color, food. No doubt our students also have their favorites, and they are always eager to share them! It's important for us as educators to connect with our students, and help them connect with each other. I think at times we either forget or feel uncertain to sharing experiences and what we like with our students. Let's not be afraid to do this, but rather embrace it as part of the classroom culture. Students are often fascinated by their teachers, and sharing makes for a perfect opportunity to gain their interest. The more we are open and share with our students, the more they will share with us and each other. This creates a climate of trust and respect- two keys we are always aiming for as teachers.  There are many ways to weave in different favorites into the classroom. I say find your classroom theme and run with it! Play more music ...

If you did not attend the Teacher LEADership Development Summit this weekend I will admit you missed out on this amazing professional development. Reach out to me for the recording so you can see all of the wonderful presentations and feel inspired. I am so inspired by our time together, I can't help but share some of my take-aways and highlights.  I was very nervous about hosting this for the first time, but as Dr. Terrie Noland reminded us in her keynote "leaders show up everyday, they do not let fear get the best of them, and leaders do what others are not willing to do." From the "backstage" standpoint, our summit was not without flaws, however, it ran smoothly overall and it proved to me with the right preparation, support, and dedication from our leadership team, we were able to host an amazing day for our participants. Not only am I not afraid anymore, but I already told my officers that we will be hosting it again next year! We have too! The lessons lea...

Just one week left! Time has flown by but we are ready for our Teacher LEADership Development Summit on 2/11/23.  So far we have reviewed L- learn, E- engage, A- accelerate, and finally today I'll be revealing the last letter: D is for Discover. It's time to discover yourself as a leader!  When the planning started for this event, I thought to myself, what is the ultimate goal of the summit? I realized right away that I want all who attend to discover the leader within them, and notice what they already do as a teacher leader. So many teachers I speak with often say they don't see themselves as a leader, and I'm always reinforcing the idea that they are! I think it's natural for us to feel like we aren't because we are humble and it's in our nature to help others. But the small things we do each day uncover the leader within us whether we realize it or not. When we make instructional decisions for our students, we are leading. When we help on a committee,...

Are you excited for the KDP Delta Rho Teacher LEADership Summit in two weeks? I know I am! As time gets closer it also becomes more real for me as one of the leading officers and hosts.  I know that despite my nerves and concerns for how everything will run that day, (and not to mention the surprises that always come with technology,) I know helping host this will accelerate me as a teacher leader because I am pushing out of my comfort zone. My chapter officers and I have hosted small conferences and workshops before, but never in the era of Zoom where many more can attend, so this is a new road for me to travel on.  This brings me to my mini blog series leading up to our summit. We've explored L- learn, E- engage, and this week we will see t he next letter- A is for Accelerate! Just like how I mentioned that accelerating myself as a leader means stepping out of my comfort zone, I think this is an important notion for all educators who are teacher leaders, or who aspire to be...