Ever been around "that teacher", Ya know the one with a piss-poor attitude? In my past teacher life, I was THAT teacher. I used Bad Teacher as my teacher PD...no joke. I made it a point to watch it as my mourning of summer vacation, motivational video to jump start the school year. Kinda like a TED Talk. Don't judge.
From the years of 2013 until about 2017 I was THAT teacher. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed being around my students but, my heart just wasn't in the profession.
In 2015 I remember being asked to join a book study on some pirate guy and his Teach Like a Pirate book. Unfortunately, for my students, co-workers, and myself, I still had that piss-poor attitude. I was working around the loss of my father, adjusting to having two young children, & just trying to life. I joined the book study, didn't understand the Twitter chat because we were all in the same room & I didn't know why we just couldn't talk about the book with each other. (I kinda wish I would have realized the power of #EDUTwitter at this moment in time, but in reality, I wasn't ready for the experience) Sorry, Dave, don't hate me for maybe rolling my eyes and thinking, this guy is freaking insane, at your mega enthusiasm when you Skyped in. In reality, his book is bomb & will change your teaching life for the better.
UPDATE: I had the opportunity to see the LIVE version of TLAP. Check out my recap here.
During the year of 2017 I applied, interviewed, and was offered a job with a major publishing company. Fortunately, I was going to have to relocate & this was not the company I had my heart set on at the time.
Two events came into major play for me during the next few years. An open position at the high school, where the main focus was helping students transition from high school to post secondary life, & being asked to join a district wide Twitter Chat.
Ahhhhhh, the things I learned in High School the second time... This will most defiantly be a #laterpost. High School was where I am meant to be. But, here is the thing. The transition wouldn't have been as meaningful if I hadn't experienced everything I experienced prior to arriving at this destination. You really have to experience the things you experience to be where you need to be at the moment you are meant to be there.
It was here where I was given the opportunity to witness a group of students graduate high school that I had taught in the elementary school as well as in middle school. Talk about impactful & witnessing the full circle of the influence that the profession can make on humans.
Twitter aka the defibrillator to my teaching life. This is the initial fuel that re lit the spark that always lived inside me. It all started with starting a new Twitter because I forgot my password to the previous Twitter I used the first time around for a pirate book chat. Just to answer the question you are thinking...yes I tried to recover & reset a new password with no luck.
With the new Twitter came the re-discovery of the PIRATE BOOKS. This time I was ready to absorb all the inspo. Like my students, I had to be ready for the teacher to learn.
It started with a book study on Run Like a Pirate by Adam Welcome. I mean, who doesn't want to run like a pirate?
It has soooo much more to do about finding the motivation within yourself to do the things you need to do. I could relate to Adam on so many levels with some of the struggles & victories that he had went through, from losing his father, all the healthy living stuff, & trying to balance it all.
Then came the Release of Empower Our Girls by Adam & Lynmara Colón. Another great read that really left me thinking about how to apply this new knowledge in my mom life & teaching life. This book led me to discover book reviews. When you say how impactful a book is &
people start messaging you about it, it kinda fuels a fire. What is even more awesome is when an author of a book that you are obsessed with interacts with you on social media. Oh, & then there was that time when Adam just so happened to swing into my school.
Let's be clear for a sec, that I've never truly been a reader & I had never read a forward to a book in my life until I discovered these books. Don't judge again...this is a strategy I adopted during my early reading life in elementary school when I was "forced" into fake reading during book club time.
Once I realized that I was on this ship & not ready to walk the plank anytime soon, I literally spent my whole summer working on my summer glow, reading & writing in pirate books, & discovering how mind blowing being a connected educator on Twitter can be.
After reading & talking about Adam's amazing books, I contacted him to see if he could sign my books for me. Not only did he sign my books, he sent me #kidsdeserveit bracelets, stickers, & an EXTRA SIGNED copy of Empower Our Girls for a give-a-way on my Instagram page. Mind FREAKING BLOWN! & more gasoline on that fire that was starting to blaze.
My summer of poolside Pirate books & connecting with most amazing edu-community, that wouldn't be what it is without these amazing educators sharing & supporting each other, has done more for me & my students than what I could have EVER imagined.
To my fellow educators who feel like you have lost your spark, you have not. You just need to re-fuel your fire & remember why you started in the first place. It's still there. We all go through the teacher slump. Find you people & get connected. Sometimes you have to move around a bit to find your niche. It's okay if you have many destinations with a few stops along the way. It's those stops that help drive us to be who we are meant to be.
Heck, grab yourself a pirate book while you are at it. You can take my word for it but why not experience the trip yourself. Keep me posted on which one you choose because I really don't have any hangups geeking out about pirate passion....ARRRR.
xoxo,
Lisa
PS. Pirate Books are really books published by Dave Burgess Consulting Inc. You will not be disappointed. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them are FREAKING AMAZING!
PSS. Shout out to Kenny Chesney for providing the theme song to my pirate summer of 2019
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