Capturing DC

Wow! I cannot believe that last week I was in Washington DC at the Smithsonian and preparing to meet Dr. Jill Biden! What an incredible week it was! This was the second conference of the State Teachers of the Year and it was so incredible! Though we all just met for the first time in January (Dallas, Texas) we have formed friendships that will last a lifetime! We have laughed together, cried together and supported each other since January! From texts that are sent at just the right time to Facebook posts that make us laugh, we are truly a bonded group of passionate, inspiring and dedicated teachers. We all talked about how underserving we each felt to have this honor and how truly amazing the teachers we work with every day are to us and to our communities. If you ever doubted that great teachers exist in the U.S., please email me and I will give you more amazing classroom teachers to visit than you could possibly get to see in a few years! Yes, public education has its problems. What organization does not? But do not ever doubt that that life-changing, passionate, dedicated and professional educators fill classrooms across our nation!


We had the opportunity to participate in so many things and to meet so many people, including President Obama! I think it may be easier to blog about each day separately. So if you are interested, feel free to follow the crazy week in day-by-day blog posts!

Overall Reflections:

1. Teachers are special people. They are dedicated to changing the world one child at a time. We love our jobs! We love our students and in stand in awe of each other and our colleagues at school! One thing I think we all have in common is that we entered teaching with an unbridled passion to change the world and we still believe we can!

2. You can say "If I could meet the President, I would tell him..." all you want. The reality is you may well find yourself star-struck and speechless! (Y'all know me well enough to know that my name and speechless do not go in the same sentence. Yes, I talked to President Obama!)

3. Dr. Jill Biden's speech to the 2011 State Teachers of the Year was just what I needed to hear. I was so impressed by how real she is! You can check in out on youtube!

4. When I heard some of my fellow TOYs speak at the U.S. Department of Education, I was so inspired! If you passion for teaching is dying, listen to some of my colleagues and your flame will be rekindled!

5. Regardless of the age, the socio-economic status or the ability level of our students, or the subject we teach, educators are inspired to collaborate with each other to help make our students better thinkers and overall better people.

6. Even though we are teachers with a few years of experience under our belts, we long for quality professional development so that we can continue to grow as professionals. Teachers, especially great teachers, are reflective practitioners who are willing to share their strengths and equally willing to admit areas that need improvement We want to be great because we expect our students to be great!