Love This Teaching Business!

Today I had the privilege of being a guest at a local LISD elementary school.  They are doing a PBL activity on their college future.  Their teachers are having them research everything from where they might want to go, how much it might cost, scholarship opportunities, study choice, etc.  I was invited to talk to the students about how they could begin preparing their lives now for college.  We talked about opportunities for them to learn, experience, and grow every year until that time.  I shared with them stories about my own sons as to how they focused on their talents, made good grades, and graduated from two major universities.  The thing that interested them the most, though, was the fact that three years ago, I taught their teacher, Kelsey Newman, at UNT.  They loved imagining her sitting in a classroom like they were doing right then.  I explained to them that their teacher had good attendance, was always on time, turned in her homework and always showed pride in her work.  I told them how those qualities were what she needed to be able to be successful now in her role as a teacher.  They understood that they could begin right now preparing themselves for their own future and that I hoped that they would never let anyone tell them that they could not go.  I hope they will remember my words.  After all, don't we all have memories of words our teachers said to us....some of the affirming and some of them painful?  Maybe it was 10, 20, 30 years ago, but the point is that we do remember!
I had a great time and hope they did, too.
Afterwards, I drove by another school to surprise my former student, Ashley Runyan.  I had not seen Ashley since we had burned the midnight oil revising and tweaking her essay for the LISD New Teacher Award.  I was not able to be there when she was actually named, so it was great to hear all about it first hand from her.  She is amazingly gifted as a teacher.  I spotted it when I supervised her a year ago.  Another thing that was really cool was that she had decorated her door with a theme related to the book, Calvin Can't Fly, that I introduced to the class during LA Methods.  It was a fabulous display showing all the many connections that were made to the book.  It is a great feeling when you can see applications in the classroom that were a result of your own teaching.  I am so proud of Ashley and know she has a fabulous future ahead of her.
So, now I am at one of my Starbucks offices processing this wonderful day.  I am so very grateful that I can still experience the joy of being an educator.  I am so fortunate to work at UNT where I can cross paths with students teachers and also connect to district classrooms.  It just doesn't get any better!!