GRAFTON — As August slowly starts to fade away, the thoughts of teachers, students, and parents start to transition from summer to a new school year quickly approaching. As a teacher, my batteries are recharged, and I can't wait to get back into the classroom.
As I start to get my classroom organized and ready for the students to arrive, I re-evaluate the past school year. How can my students get more out of my classes? How do I reach each and every student? How can I improve?
These questions can't be answered at the end of the school year because they need time to marinate. By the end of August, these questions seem answerable as fresh, new ideas for the new school year are spinning around in my head.
One question that is easily answerable at all times is why I do what I do.
I teach because I think it is the most important profession in our society.
Preparing young people for the global world they live in, motivating them to realize their potential, giving them the tools to be successful, and inspiring them to follow their passion - this is what teachers do. Educating young people can create a better society and world, and I can't think of a more important task.
I teach because I love it. As all teachers do, I spend early mornings, late nights, weekends, vacations, and even summers working on ways to improve my teaching.
I don't do this because I have to, but because I truly want to. This job is too important not to put that time and energy into it. Getting to know and work with young people is incredible, and it is for them that I do what I do.
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As the 2010 Vermont Teacher of the Year, I have had the incredible opportunity to meet some of the most amazing educators in the United States. Their energy, passion, and dedication have truly inspired me.
To know that we have such devoted and skilled professionals working in schools in every state and territory is great to see. Getting together with these colleagues at conferences over the past year has led to great ideas about what works and doesn't work in schools today, and, more importantly, how we can change it.
I have also been honored with meeting top policy makers in education, from Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Vice President Joe Biden, and President Barack Obama to Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Congressman Peter Welch.
These politicians are receptive to hearing what is going on in classrooms across the country and what teachers have to say. It was very positive to see that our federal government values teachers and wants to hear from them about improving education in the U.S.
From these experiences, I have gained a number of new teaching strategies that will improve my classroom and better prepare my students.
I've not only learned methods to improve my teaching and my classroom, but I've also learned a number of successful ways to improve our school and better involve the community, too.
Specifically, I need to do more with students creating videos or writing blogs for assignments, and being more of a facilitator in the classroom, letting the students guide the learning.
I have also been able to become part of the state and national conversation about the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which has introduced me to the world of educational policy.
Being part of this and other policy discussions has enabled me to become more well-informed about the issues and concerns policy makers have when writing and debating educational policy. Teachers need to be a part of these discussions and decisions, and it has been great to see that the Teachers of the Year have been included.
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From this wealth of experiences, I've found the biggest issues facing education in Vermont and the U.S. have to do with changing how we teach to prepare students for the global world they will be entering.
Students need to have skills to enable them to work at jobs that don't even exist today. The 3 R's (“reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic”) aren't enough anymore. We need to also focus on what the Partnership for 21st Century Skills calls the “4 C's': critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity and innovation.
We need to focus more on integrating more technology into our lessons so students learn to use different programs and skills that they will be able to take with them after graduation.
We need to educate our students more about the global world they live in. This includes focusing more on global studies or world-cultures-type courses, starting students earlier in foreign language programs, and offering more opportunities for students and teachers to travel and study abroad.
In my classroom, where I teach World History and World Cultures courses, a constant theme is focusing on the students living in an interconnected global society, in which they are not outsiders, but global citizens.
By learning about issues around the world and how they affect not only the United States and Vermont but also teenagers and the world they are living in, students see the importance of events happening around the world through interactive activities.
I use activities where students write and give speeches as if they were a leader like Nelson Mandela or Deng Xiaoping, as if they were a mediator at a roundtable meeting between India and Pakistan, as if they were journalists writing fictional newspaper editorials on the invasion of Iraq.
My students create propaganda posters over the Three Gorges Dam, write postcards or travel brochures from the Taj Mahal, and record public service announcements about blood diamonds.
At Bellows Falls Union High School this year, we introduced a Literary Kick Off to start the school year off with, centered around global studies, diversity, and literacy, with Loung Ung's First They Killed My Father.
The student body all received a copy of the book before the end of last school year, and with an informative website, collaboration and activities at the Rockingham Free Public Library, and support from Village Square Booksellers, students will come in at the start of this school year to activities and lessons that connect the book to their content areas in an interdisciplinary fashion.
And as a way to motivate and inspire students, Loung Ung will visit the school and speak on Sept. 8, first to the students in an effort to connect her experiences in Cambodia and Vermont to the lives of teenagers at BFUHS. Loung Ung will also speak to parents and any interested community members at BFUHS at 7 p.m.
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From speaking with teachers around the world, it is clear that Vermont is highly respected in education, and we are doing some incredible things across the state. From programs like the Governor's Institutes of Vermont, to Leland and Gray's Journey East program, to SIT's Experience in International Living program, Vermont is doing an excellent job in global education.
Lastly, we need to make sure we have an effective way of evaluating teachers to make sure we have effective teachers in every classroom. This includes improving how teachers are evaluated, a current conversation at the state and national level.
Change is inevitable; progress is optional. As a new school year approaches, it is an exciting time for the community, the school, and the students - as well as the teachers, who get a fresh start to do better than the previous year.