What Is My Why?

Growing up, I loved music.  I tried a few different things on for size while I was going to school for my bachelor’s degree, but nothing really stuck.  I did some work in radio, which I loved, and I did not stop pushing until I had the opportunity to work in the music industry.  I held a few different specialized positions in marketing while working in the music business.  I enjoyed the work immensely, but in the early 2000’s, the bottom fell out of the industry, and I was left trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up.  After working in music, I had stints in banking, non-profit work and restaurant marketing.

By the time I reached my forties, I wondered if restaurant marketing was what I was going to do for the rest of my life.  The thought terrified me.  I could not imagine the next twenty years of my life going to an office, making phone calls, sending emails and working on spreadsheets.  It seemed like a terrible existence and one that I would be miserable in.

I have two children.  Jackson is now fifteen and Aidan is now thirteen.  I vowed when I became a dad, that I would be involved in my children’s lives as much as I could.  I made conscious decisions about jobs in my life, choosing time (with my children) over money.  I wanted to be present in their lives.  My biggest connection to both of my boys has always been through sports.  I loved playing sports as a kid, so it seemed natural to become a coach to be closer to my children.

When Jackson was six and a half, he was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes (T1D).  T1D is an autoimmune disease in which your body attacks the beta cells in your body that produce insulin in your pancreas.  Wiping out your bodies’ beta cells makes you insulin dependent.  Blood glucose levels need to be regularly monitored and insulin needs to be administered at every meal and at least one other time during the day (long lasting insulin).  

When Jackson was first diagnosed, it was terrifying.  All we knew was that our job as parents was to keep our children happy and healthy.  Our jobs, in one diagnosis, became a lot more difficult.  We were lost, but one thing that the doctors and nurses kept telling us that rang in our heads was, “When you have T1D, you can do all the things that anyone else can do.”

Jackson enjoyed playing sports, so being on the sideline with him became that much more important.  I was able to monitor to see if his blood glucose was going low and give him some apple juice or Gatorade.  I was able to see if his blood glucose was too high and make adjustments to give him more insulin.  Being on the sideline with him helped our relationship to be closer, but something else happened along the way.

I had a mom come up to me at the end of a soccer season and ask if I would be returning to coach the next season.  I asked her why and she said, “Last season, he (her son) would come home after every game that they lost and cry and not want to do anything.  It ruined his whole weekend.  This year, every game, he came home happy.  Win or lose.”  She explained to me that he fell in love with soccer because I made sure it wasn’t about winning or losing, it was about being part of a team, supporting each other and having fun.

It was then that I realized that I enjoyed spending time with children more than I did adults.  Children are naturally inquisitive.  They wonder about the world.  Children want to learn about new things.  They want to run and play.  Children want to feel like they are a part of something that is bigger than themselves.  I wanted to be around that energy as I looked to discover what would be the next chapter in my life.

I began to look into how to become a teacher and applied for the M.A.T. program at Rhode Island College.  In 2019, following graduation, I became a long-term substitute in the Providence Public School Department.  This was the start of my journey to begin to make a difference in the world.  This was where I would find my meaning.

One of the benefits of coming into teaching when I did was that I had experience with children from being both a parent and a coach.  I also had a whole other career with an entirely different set of skills, but many that were transferable to teaching.  While I wasn’t a twenty-something and a digital native (in the eyes of Marc Prensky, someone that grew up immersed in present day technology), I came to teaching with life and technological experience.

Scott Noon’s 4-Tier Model of Teacher Training in Technology sets forth four different stages of technology in the classroom.  I came into the classroom already in “Stage 3” as a Techno-traditionalist.  In the classroom, I use an electronic grade book, use email, can create digital slide shows and use word processing.  One of the benefits that came out of the pandemic was that we, as teachers, were forced to be uncomfortable and learn how to teach virtually.  I created a virtual classroom, was able to create online assignments and began to use new online platforms.  While I am not yet a Techno-constructivist, I am beginning to use technology to change my approaches to teaching and learning in the classroom.

We have spent a lot of time in this class thinking about our “Why?”  Simon Sinek urged us to think about our why.  The why for teachers is what is it that we believe about students and their learning?   I believe that students learn from people that they like.  I believe that connections (or relationships) are the entry point for learning.  I believe that classroom management becomes easier when there are connections with home and students feel as though there are consequences (both good and bad) for their actions.  I believe that students need to feel loved.  I believe that students need encouragement and praise.  I believe that students thrive when given safe spaces to work.  I believe that each student is different and that we (as educators) need to try to understand these differences and scaffold as much as possible.  I believe that learning should be fun.  I believe that learning should be challenging.

I try to create a classroom environment that is built on relationships.  Michael Wesch believes that learning is about relationships and when we have trusting relationships with our students, we can help get them to where they want to be.  Learning is a natural human process in which we need to make mistakes to help us learn.  Learning is about the journey (process) and not the destination (grade).  Much of Michael Wesch's thoughts on learning play into Carol Dweck's thoughts about Growth Mindset.  I need my students to believe in these ideas the way that I do and by having strong relationships at home, I can get families to become adopters in Michael Wesch and Carol Dweck.

During the start of the pandemic in the 2019-2020 school year, I was teaching in a self-contained Autism room.  When we left school on March 13, 2020, we were unaware of what was going to happen next.  I began utilizing technology I had never used before including Google Classroom, Flipgrid and Zoom.  I also began using technology that I had used before, such as YouTube, in new and interesting ways.  The students in my class, for the most part, were not able to do schoolwork on their own (which is why we had three Teaching Assistants in our class).  When we left school for the pandemic, if I did not have strong relationships with families, I would have never had participation in class.  What we saw online during the pandemic was fascinating to me.  I had students that sat on Zoom next to their parents working on their assignments and participating.  My students, primarily because of their autism spectrum disorder (ASD), needed structure.  I needed support at home.  Through it all we found a way to make it work.

My final project is about using technology to build stronger relationships with families.  Ken Robinson believes that to get out of Education's Death Valley we need strong teacher support and tight links with the community.  We need to build community.  

I have a website where my personal portfolio sits, so I am going to create a page every year for my class.  I will post student work, videos, photos, Student of the Month, etc., while also posting resources that could be of use for families at home.  I may have all the text in Spanish also (as all of my MLL students were Spanish speaking this past year).  

I will also start a blog that I update weekly to summarize the week and discuss any upcoming events.  I believe this technology will only help to strengthen the relationships with families in my class.  

Sherry Turkle believes that "we expect more from technology and less from each other."  I think that we are starting to rely on technology too much and there is no substitute for a phone call to a parent, but I want to use technology to cast a wider web.  While you can never reach everyone, my hope is to increase the touchpoints with families.  Hopefully, the connections with families will become stronger and those existing relationships may even grow through being more accessible.  

My hope is that with strong connections between home and school that we can get students to new heights.  With learning, it is never about the learning not happening, it is about it happening, "not yet."

Here is the link to my presentation...

Here is the link to my Self Assessed Rubric...