September 4, 2008

A Great Day to Be a Teacher

When you are a teacher, you live for those days when you really reach your students. There is no feeling more energizing and more satisfying than knowing that they get you, they really get you, and that they are actually learning.

I spent the past two days grading paper and speech outlines. My expectations had been too high. I realized I had to go back and review some basics. I was also disappointed that not a single student in my speech class chose one of the more creative options for their personal speech next week.

I gave them several choices. They could write a general speech of introduction, write an awards acceptance speech (creating the award they "won") where they tell the audience how they got to this point in their lives, write their own eulogy and detail out what they want to be remembered for and the types of things they accomplished in their lives, or write a "Last Lecture" Randy Pausch style.

They all chose a general speech of introduction. I thought everyone would choose one of the more interesting topics. I was so disappointed.

Perhaps it was Sarah Palin’s incredible speech last night that energized me, but I found myself piecing together pictures (some serious and some fun) for my own speech today. When they arrived in class, the mood was solemn. I said nothing. I turned the projector on and began to give my own eulogy. As I gave my speech, I could tell that the students were interested. They were learning about their teacher, and they were also having fun.

I used a picture from the wax museum in NYC and put up a slide saying that I won American Idol. I posted my picture of Sebastian Junger and elaborated and told them that Junger was so impressed with me that we wrote several collaborative pieces together. I showed them a picture of my dream beach house, created a story about one of my girls being President of the United States and the other a famous Karate Master and author. I used the theme of fighter and kept it strong throughout. I even showed them a picture of me when I was only three-years old with a hockey stick in my hand and told them I learned to cross-check at a very young age.

When I was finished delivering my eulogy, I paused for several moments before crying out, "I can’t BELIEVE you all chose the easy way out!!!" I continued to tell them that I was shocked that none of them wanted to think outside the box and use their imaginations.

I next showed them an award acceptance speech that was funny and inspiring. The wheels were turning.

As I made my way around the classroom, giving advice on their speech outlines and checking to see if they had their note cards ready, at least half the class told me that they were completely changing their speech. "You gave me so many ideas today!" one of them said.

I inspired creativity today and effort, which is an amazing thing. One of my students said, "I’m going to work on this all weekend. It’s going to be the best speech you ever heard."

Awesome.

Not a single student in either of my classes received a perfect score on their outlines. Many received scores that they were deeply dissatisfied with, but it showed them that I’m serious about helping them learn. I ended class a little bit early today and told them I was going to stay to answer questions and help them. About half of the class stayed and asked for help.

I think today, that even beyond inspiring them to be creative, I inspired them to work harder. It could just be a fluke, but I think we’re going to have a good semester.