I love to travel, every year I try to hit a new country and immerse myself in a new culture. When I was young, my family was dirt poor. We shared a two-bedroom apartment with another family and at the highest point we had eighteen people sardined in that small space. I was the youngest which meant that the one television we had, I never got to control the remote, so defeated I would read books. In the pages of many, many novels I traveled the world immersing myself into wonderful universes that elevated my mind and soul. In those days, books were my escape- I traveled into so many great places and met the most fascinating characters. Now, as a gown-up I am able to physically travel and every year I try to take a trip outside of the US- I feel like traveling has been an education on its own merit because it has given me a different outlook on life. The more I travel the more I rejoice in our similarities and stories.
I also chose an image, that the staff at my school and I did to share with our students during this pandemic time. While scrolling through my social media page I saw an image and it gave me the idea for a photo collage with each staff member holding a word in isolation and together those words formed a sentence, “Hey, OFL Eagles we miss you so very, very much and want you to know you are loved.” The whole charter jumped at my suggestion and we created the picture attached to bring a little joy to our students. My principal later told me that the picture had gotten the most attention ever for our school posts! I love looking for creative ways to pull in our students and as I continue developing as an educator I will continue to find ways to make it fun!
Lastly, I chose a letter that one of my students wrote because I think that a great assessment of my competency as an educator will always be my students. While I won’t be able to save all of them, I know that I can try to help as many kids that are placed in my journey. I think for a teenager to express gratitude and in a form of a letter is pretty special and I hope that I will continue to see a few of my fruits to encourage and motivate my educational journey.