Celebrating Failure in Rm 613

While many people believe that the best educators earn respect with grand gestures, Aaron Hogan disproves this final myth in the sixth chapter of Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth . He insists respect and rapport from students is gained through everyday interactions and gives simple ideas to implement every day. Its so simple. You don't have to do anything crazy, invest a ton of money, or take away from family time. You just need to do a few tiny things every day that show students that you care. As someone who is not the insanely outgoing and goofy teacher who has no fear, I appreciate that the 'little' things matter. I always try to be proud of my reserved manner and find beauty in it, but I still find myself beating myself up for not being the crazy, energetic that the myth requires. My three thing I plan to add into my every day schedule: Greeting students at the door - Hogan discussed how a daily routine or question will help you notice irregularities. A gree...

For me, my favorite chapter of Aaron Hogan's  Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth was Chapter 5: Valuing Vulnerability. He focuses on destroying the myth that the best teachers have all the answers, which is definitely one that I battle with every day. In fact, if you look back to the first time I did a project-based unit I struggled with my role changing from a 'sage on the stage' to a 'guide on the side': "By the end of the project, I was surprised at how much they were getting out of the project that didn’t involve me directly teaching. As self-centered as that sounds, its true. I grew up with teachers that stood up and directly explained information...it worried me that maybe the students didn’t learn anything from the research, but I know from their passionate conversations, presentations, and eagerness to complete the project that they did get something meaningful out of it. ( Original Post )" As I read through the chapter, I couldn't ...

The fourth myth busted by Aaron Hogan in Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth is that perfect teachers excel by meeting existing expectations. He challenges you to dream and rethink long-held ideas. Favorite Quote from the Imagine it Better Chapter. Every year I like to reconsider how I can design and organize my classroom. Last year, I mostly focused on tying everything in the classroom together with a clean, finished look. I got rid of a lot of the clutter and focused on simplifying the overall design.  For whatever reason, my focus this year is the lighting in the classroom this year. My classroom is notoriously dark; most of the fluorescent lights are off with maybe one off on the side. I keep the blinds shut because of the glare it causes for the project as well as the screens of students nearby. Fun fact: never realized that darker lighting means students can dim their screens and save their battery power.So many times, it ends up being much darker than I really ...

When I was little, my dream job was a meteorologist. I envisioned myself being a weather-girl/storm chaser that studied all the crazy weather phenomenon, mostly inspired by the movie Twister. My vision was set until my sister attended a college fair and got information for me about becoming a meteorologist. I realized that studying weather was more science and technical focused and less social and relationships. As a person who thrives on social interactions, I realized that maybe meteorology wasn't for me. While nerding out to my mom about something I learned in AP Biology, she suggested that I become a teacher; I enjoyed learning and talking with people about what I learned. Long story short: I became a teacher and it was the best decision for me. This is why the third chapter in Aaron Hogan 's Shattering the Perfect Teacher Myth  struck such a chord with me: teaching is inherently social. It is so easy to isolate yourself as a teacher, but that isolation can cause you...