Teacher Success Story #1
By M. Benoliel
It seemed like a typical morning at Okeeheelee Middle
School. Students were eagerly awaiting
the first bell to ring so they can enter their beloved school and meet with
their first hour teachers. Or second
hour, or whatever was first that day. I
was hanging around the hallway in front of my room as I usually do, speaking to
Ms. Rivera and estimating how many dress code violations would come our way. Suddenly Ms. Ingram appeared near the door of
her classroom, across the hall from my own.
I don’t know if she was in her classroom the whole time, or if she
walked right passed me in the hallway.
She just seemed to materialize out of nowhere. She wore a huge smile on her face and her
aura was beaming in a supernatural way.
“You’re going to
be so proud of me!”
I couldn’t
imagine what she meant by that. “Did you
bring breakfast?” Because what could
impress me more than that?
“I did a writing
assignment with my class and they did great!”
“No way!” I said.
To make a long
story short, and to hide the fact that I just don’t possess the skill to convey
Ms. Ingram’s enthusiasm in mere prose, I will highlight the takeaways from our
ensuing conversation:
1)
Ms.
Ingram never considered herself a writing teacher.
2)
Ms. Ingram took herself out of her comfort zone.
3)
Ms.
Ingram’s students learned more subject matter with greater enthusiasm than they
normally would have.
4)
Ms. Ingram will definitely use more creative
writing assignments in the future.
5)
Ms. Ingram had more energy on the days working
on this project because the students were motivated and directing their own
learning.
The assignment asked the students to trace the “life cycle”
of a grain of sand as if they were a grain of sand, combining elements of
fiction and non-fiction writing. The
students had to demonstrate knowledge of the rock cycle and related scientific
concepts.
Summary: Had fun. Learned more. More teacher energy. Good mood.
Proud of herself.
I can’t think of any more to say except that it gives me great
satisfaction to have been part of this experience. Thanks Ms. Ingram!
