RIASCD, PTA and reception at the Rhode Island Foundation.

This past week was a very busy one but very much enjoyed. On Thursday I had the honor to speak at the annual PTA Spring Convention Meeting. I was accompanied by my friend and colleague Peter Boland, who is now an officer of the PTA. It was so refreshing to see so many parents from all over the state so involved in education. Parent-teacher relationships is such an important key to the success of students. I shared with them my story and also my gratitude for their dedication.

Friday night I attended a reception to honor and highlight the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and undocumented immigrant Jose Vargus. He revealed his unauthorized status in recent articles he wrote for the New York Times Magazine and Time magazine. In September 2011, Rhode Island's Board of Governors for Higher Education approved a policy that allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at Rhode Island's colleges if they attended high school in the state for at least three years and graduated. The students must sign an affadavit stating they are pursuing legal status. The policy went into effect in 2012.

Saturday morning I delivered the keynote to pre-service teachers at the RIASCD 10th Annual Pre-Service Conference. I offer the following excerpt from my speech:

Relationships are the “stuff of humans”  We do not live in isolation; from birth we interact with others in our lives – parents, siblings, friends, teachers, neighbors, loved ones – and enmesh ourselves in a web of relationships that shape our persons and the trajectory of our lives. We live every day in the context of these relationships. It is because of these very relationships I speak of-- that led me to teaching.

There are three fundamental relationships that you need to nurture as an educator-- teacher-student, teacher-colleague, and teacher-parent/community.

Teachers link together students, other teachers, school administrators, families, and community members to foster the learning success and healthy development of their students.

The most important relationship perhaps is teacher-student. I recently read a study that showed that relationships with students were the most important source of enjoyment and motivation—for teachers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to PBN interview

The link to the  PBN interview.


http://www.pbn.com/Beacon-Charter-educator-named-RI-Teacher-of-the-Year,70619?print=1

Arizona Trip

 My first Teacher of the Year (TOY) trip to Arizona was transformational. Though this paragraph could never do justice to the experience I’ve had, I will share with you some of the highlights. My adventures began in the Boston airport. I was anxiously sitting at the gate, hoping that my husband wouldn’t “misplace” any of our children over the next week. A woman approached me asking, “Excuse me, are you Jessica Waters?”  Hesitantly, I said “yes”; she introduced herself as Kathy the Massachusetts TOY. It felt so good to finally meet another TOY. I curiously asked how she knew who I was. She chuckled, “You have all of your papers’ in that manila folder with a neat binder clip. You had to be a teacher.” Several times throughout the conference speakers referred to teachers as being part of a “tribe”. Even though we came from different districts, content areas, and grade levels and backgrounds, we are part of the 3.7 million teacher “tribe” that is dedicated to educating our students. Though there were only 54 teachers at the conference, we represent millions of educators that share the same beliefs.  Our tribe is strong in numbers and will stop at nothing to improve public elementary and secondary education in the United States. At the conference we had training on dealing with the media as well as tips on how to write effective speeches. We also worked on finding our platform and how to use our voices to advocate for our passion.  We listened to guest speakers from The Council of Chief State School Officers, Target, ING, and previous National Teachers of the Year. Every speech and workshop confirmed what I have always known—we should be proud of our public education system, and should continuously strive to enhance it. I look forward to the upcoming trip to Washington DC with renewed zeal.  

The Sarah from Teaching Channel!

They fed us like royalty

TOY CA

TOY MI

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Friends for a lifetime

Arizona is beautiful!

Botanical gardens

Mashed potato bar!