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Melissa Shaw

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in college I waited tables and there is this one. That was very very memorable for me before good-looking guys came into the restaurant and they sat in my section in college I was really busy I was working full time and going to school full-time so sitting down and eating healthy flowy wasn't really a luxurious that I had so I had gotten to work before my shift and eating some macaroni and cheese boy got to take These Fine gentlemen order and I feel a sneeze you know when you have to sneeze in front of hot guys you don't want to do like you know a crazy sneeze so I try to do like a really cute little puppy using like cover my mouth you know covered more than that because a piece of macaroni and cheese flew out of my nose aren't you in the middle of the table when something like this you aren't really sure what to do if you're kind of in shock for a minute like I need to get that off the table but do I touch it or do I leave and go get a rag like you're just don't even know what to do so I ended up taking my hand grabbing and pulling it off the table leaving this snotty cheesy streak please this is not my best moment but this is how do I start my class every single year and you are mine for the next few minutes so I thought I would keep with my routines my next turn is my rule and the number one rule that I have in my classroom is it I care more about who you are than what you know and today I want to all of you but with a spin who you are is more important then what you teach I think teacher or sometimes get caught up we get caught up in our Randa evaluation we get caught up and test scores be caught up in the millions of things on our to-do list every single day and I know school just ended but I would like to bring us back together back to who we are as a teacher and who we are as a person Kennedy is a really complex issue I'm not going to get too into psychology or philosophy about your identity is that I'm going to talk about that who you are as a person relates to your classroom Anna is your own educational experience give and also your growth your education is really powerful to actually what kind of teacher you become and it's important identity that you have as a teacher in second grade my teacher told me that I was stupid this is something that no child should ever hear and that no adults should ever say and it's not something that somebody forgot I was going through a really tough time I actually have repeated second grade and then skipped third grade and it was my first time in public school and I went into 4th grade my reading was about as bad as my style at that age if you can tell here I am in the one in the bum shirt that really baggy shorts with Shaquille O'Neal shoes with Uber cool at the time and my awesome little shaved part of my head luckily in fourth grade I had the best teacher on the planet mrs. furphy etching differentiated for me without making me feel different she was very kind and very sweet and at this time you know it was really hard because my pay I just went through divorce and so I grew up actually in Alaska and I moved to Colorado and a group and its really a special town in Alaska called Talkeetna and the model of the town is that is a drinking town when they climbing problem because all of the climbers from all over the world come to tell Hina to climb Denali and it also something very unique about this place is that it's mayor is a cat name is stubs and he's a great mayor he cares a lot about the community and his approval ratings are actually better than most politicians so students have gas in their home life often times they also have gaps in their education and I think most of us know this a little bit too well because these are the students that a lot of us Beach mrs. Furby was awesome she also helped me just the cultural nuances of the lower 48 like wear pants when it's snowing every fourth grade sings really good start to look up for me I would still behind but I had a new person grants for Education that I didn't have before couragement lasted throughout time who you are is more important than what you keep my middle school I was a straight-A student and I was working really really hard to to be a straight A student and in 7th grade I had a really big year and seventh grade I was able to go to Nepal and Thailand for a month and I did not back the same person everyday things like clean running water and warm showers and electricity were magical and as a thirteen-year-old this trip completely changed my view School of Education it made me realize how much I took my education for granted and what kind of opportunities that I had while trekking in the Himalayas I met many children who have little access to any education at all and there was a little girl in particular that I will never forget her name was rashna and rational walk to school 3 miles each way with no shoes on only stay at school for a couple hours before she had to come back and help her family farm another event in 7th grade that happened was I had another great teacher his name was Mr Weston we don't forget the names of the teachers that changed our Lives who you are is more important than what you teach mr. Watson let me teach the class for a day which I asked him if I could and so this was start of my teaching career and ever since that day I knew I wanted to be a teacher he let me teach on the food chain until I brought in this hungry snake and I had to eat this Cricket the whole class discussion and took notes and we had a quiz the principal at the time of my of my school came in and watched my lesson and hands of writing my mom a letter saying watching me teach with a highlight of his career who you are is more important then what you teach now ironically enough I teach 7th grade which is the grade so incredibly influential in my own life I focused largely on literacy which is something I struggled with growing up and then I take Pagosa Springs High School students on International trips every year which is something that changed my own life literacy is so incredibly important and it's a passion that I have cuz of what I've struggled with and I have increased my literacy in my classroom largely because of the common assignment system that they get together with other teachers and plan these units that's helped me so much LDC training that many of you guys have taken and as you know it's extremely impactful I also teaching after school reading tutoring program that's grant-funded and I have the opportunity to Pilot Implement and support new reading Intervention Program for Pagosa Springs Middle School taking students on International trips is a huge passion of mine as a matter of fact next week I leave for Italy and Greece with aloe students from Pagosa Springs High School the cyclical nature of Education Educators can really have to do with your experience and education what teachers should be Saint isn't how your experiences you're going to relate to the classroom what we all should be focused on its having as many educational experiences as we possibly can because they will translate to the classroom I would argue that this is inevitable if you are being Who You Are because why it's our students are education becomes part of Who We Are next I would like to talk to you about another part of us as teachers that's part of all of us and it has to do with how we give each and every one of us to every day give so much car solve this is both what makes teaching hard and this is also what makes teaching really really wonderful in the movie A League of Their Own Tom Hanks his character is talking to Geena Davis is and she's about to put the baseball team and he says baseball is what gets inside of you in like you up you cannot deny that baseball is supposed to be hard if it were easy everybody would do it it is the hard that makes it great teaching is hard teaching is freaking hard teaching what gets inside of you and it lights you up and you can't deny that so there's two kinds of teachers teachers in category 1 and teachers and Cat sorry to teachers in category 1 have a hole in the bottom of their cup their passion and energy is constantly being drained from them we all know what this is my first year as a teacher I felt like these 7th graders were stealing all of my passion and energy and so you know what this is like a car that has an oil leak it's not going to last very long kids will take everything you have to give even if you don't give it freely the next group of teachers are in Category 2 category two teachers are teachers that Focus so much on filling their cup with their passion and their energy that it overflows into every person's life around them I think it is really obvious which teachers have half live more sustainable career and give more freely the last thing that we are going to talk about is how you're gross both both professionally and personally can impact the classroom sometimes our growth professionally and personally I really interchangeable when I'm growing as a teacher I also feel like I'm growing as a person and as a person. you see professionally teachers are like water and we need the right conditions in order to expand and at -4 degrees Celsius it's when water starts to freeze and expand this is called ice wedging and the interesting thing is the expansion of water is nearly Unstoppable with the right conditions this happens at normal atmospheric pressure If there is actually too little pressure or too much pressure the ice turns into some kind of different ice and it doesn't expand creating a climate our teachers can grow is extremely important I've been lucky enough to work under her singer who I feel like has mastered this Arts among many other teachers need this climate and if they have it teachers are unstoppable we need teachers that are unstoppable we need teachers that will never quit that will never give up on students that will only take a student's very best we need teachers that will live with courage and persevere as you grow professionally it's also important not to forget who you are personally and your own personal growth important than what you teach in 2005 I have the opportunity to climb Denali and in this opportunity that you know I wanted to ever since I was a really small child growing up in Talkeetna and 23 days in these conditions was not easy but I use this experience actually in my classroom to teach timelines so I have a timeline on my wall and I call it history mountain and if you can see on the far right I have these two little time-traveling Mountaineers travel throughout time depending on what time. We are talking about in my class this is an example of who you are impacting your student learning nothing quite attention of 7th graders like talking about the story you carried around your own frozen poo for 23 days your ID as a teacher can and should be formed by your growth as a person your power comes from your story I hope that you can be open enough in your classroom to let your students see who you are and tell your story share your story encourage students in a way that you were encouraged or in my case encouraged in a way that you were never encouraged give students the very best of who you are so many educational opportunities for yourself that it inspires students to do the same 3 years ago I had a tumor the size of a cantaloupe removed from my right hip and there's about a 24-hour. Where we didn't know if it was benign or malignant and in those 24 hours you think about a lot of things you think about what was you think about what is and you think about what could be but you don't need a tumor reflect on your life and that way and I would like you guys to do that for a second what was how did your life unfold to where you are sitting here right now being a professional educator what is how is your life how is your how are things going and what could be what is something that you always dreamed of doing haven't done yet we figure out who we really are when we're faced with something tragic There's Something Beautiful in those 24 hours that I do not regret at all because it made me reflect on my life and to be honest up until that point I've done everything in my life I set out to accomplish I travel to 18 different countries I climb the highest peaks in North and South America I lived and taught overseas I have a beautiful family and awesome husband beautiful 5 year old son classroom with my very own full full amazing students have you done everything in your life up until now that you have wanted to is your destiny as a person to actually reach your destiny teaching through narrative teaching to your own personal story really powerful who you are is more important than what you teach people important how can we encourage students to reach their potential and follow their dreams if we nothing of it and I'm not saying you should climb Denali you really shouldn't climb Denali it's very cold and I was going to take before you have to carry on your own so don't do that but you need to find a way to challenge yourself in America and comfort is our drug actually takes real authentic actual courage to grow who you are is more important than what you teach if this is true AR is more important than what we're teaching and don't get me wrong what you are teaching is extremely important then we owe it to ourselves to live a life of Courage we owe it to ourselves to be scared we owe it to ourselves to take risk and dare I say reach your own potential it is teachers who will actually do this that came true we encourage students to do the same who you are is more important than what to teach you this I actually got the feeling a lot of you in this room already know this never underestimate the power of your educational experiences the Overflow of your giving and the impact of your growth thank you

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