After 20 years of teaching at Brookfield Central, I am saying goodbye. Although I spent the majority of that time in the physics classroom alongside my learners. That changed for my last 18 weeks. I ended up in a place similar to where I started, teaching chemistry and biology. So, rather than dealing with juniors and seniors at the end of their high school careers, I was in classrooms with freshmen and sophomores still trying to find their place. At the same time, I was learning and teaching a set curriculum I hadn't taught in over a decade. So, we were learning. But, of course, I already knew the content. The point of this post is to take a step back, reflect, and share the gratitude from the last students I had in my 20 years at Brookfield Central High School, as expressed through the cards and notes they made for me on my last day with them. I don't take many "yay me" moments. But after 20 years, I'll soak this one in.
I just got home from an amazing experience at University School of Milwaukee's Spark Conference. I saw some amazing presenters. These are people whose books and blogs I have read and adored. I saw Aaron Hogan , Tara Martin , Michael Matera , Shelly Burgess , and Julie Smith . But looking at the #USMSpark feed , I saw so many people taking selfies with their #EDUHeroes or their PLN. Looking back on the 2 days, I realized that I did no such thing. The main reason is my crippling shyness. I have be working on just come up and say “Hello”to people this year. Now, I actually have to ask if you’d take a picture with me? That would take me way out of my comfort zone. Yes, it is probably something I need to work on. But, I don’t think I’d get the same high I get when I see something else in my Twitter feed. The thing that really gives me the feels is when one of my #EDUHeroes retweets something I said or even better quotes me in a retweet. Think about it, we live in an age where ...