Joan Moser
I love working with young, brilliant educators and find myself gravitating toward them as I savor their energy and find their refreshing attitudes contagious. So it came as no surprise when I recently jumped at the opportunity to spend some time with Sarah and Nick Bond, two young and amazingly talented teachers from School District 51 in the Boundary, BC. Amidst loving on their darling two-year-old and catching up with the latest activities in their lives, the course of the conversation turned, as always, to education.
I sat and listened with awe and admiration as they talked with unbridled enthusiasm about things they were learning and trying out with students and colleagues. I marveled as I heard everything they spoke about regarding instruction, and decisions they make that always have their students at the forefront. They know there is not just one way to meet the needs of all students or a single recipe for success. I felt joyful, hearing them talk about the messiness of teaching and how fortunate they are to work with wonderful colleagues and leaders who embrace this messiness and the successes that follow.
After I left Nick and Sarah, I continued to think about them, as well as the colleagues, schools and leaders they work with, admire and respect. What was it about them all that had such a grasp on my thinking? I think I might be able to be sum it up with one sentence Nick said during our conversation, one that is now written in my journal and will be my beacon of focus for my work with students and teachers:
We want to attract teachers who aren’t recipe followers, but rather those who are willing to take a chance with a room full of kids.
Thank you Nick and Sarah for the refreshing reminder that each day we want to be constantly learning, supportive of each other, and smart as we veer from a recipe that doesn’t know the individual needs of the students in our care, and that we want to be willing to take a chance with a room full of kids, all on behalf of our students!
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*Available to members