Reflective Teaching - A 30 Day Challenge Day 4

Love. Today's post is all about love. And, not surprisingly, it's a toughie. Which, I guess, is kind of the point. Being reflective and all. Because really, I could list a million things I love about teaching but to narrow it down to one most? Now that's tough.

Something you should know about me - I am not a favourites person. It's not that I don't love stuff, it's just that I love so much stuff that I can't ever narrow it down to just one favourite. So asking me for the one thing I love the most about teaching is basically like asking me to pick a favourite. Hard. Really hard. But, in the spirit of things, here goes. I can't promise there won't be a list of runners-up at the bottom though.

These pictures, these quotes, this is what I love about teaching. I love collaborating with teachers, students, admin, parents, etc, etc, to go far. I believe, deep, deep down, that we can go so much farther working together and I love that my role has shifted in the past few years to be one primarily of collaboration. I learn so much every single day working with all of the fabulous people that I get to work with, at my school, at the district, on committees. Collaboration allows us to be so much more creative, so much more interesting, so much more powerful as teachers and in turn allows kids to be more creative, more interesting and more powerful as learners. Collaboration is everything.

Just because I really can't resist breaking the rules and I really hate to choose just one thing...
I love the light in kids' eyes when they get it, finally.
I love watching a struggling student realize they aren't dumb, they just needed to learn it differently.
I love trying out new things, especially new strategies for teaching literacy.
I love understanding why kids struggle in math, because I didn't get it either.
I love fighting the status quo, knowing there are better ways to help kids understand.
I love books and I love getting kids to love books.
I love this wild, crazy and frequently beautiful job.