The Making of an Educator

I'm still new to this blogging idea but I wanted to continue my theme from my 1st blog post which was on paying tribute to other educators that inspire me to be the educator I have become.

We all can agree that teaching is a team effort. I literally takes a village to raise a teacher. Even with all the good ideas that we have, we are always open to what our fellow educators have to offer. Throughout my 15 year career I have surrounded myself with some of the most outstanding individuals. Below is my journey and a few of the ones that have had an impact on me.

It all started back in the spring of 1999 when I began my student teaching in College Station, TX. I was placed in a 5th grade classroom with my cooperating teacher, Naveen Cunha @astrojack. While attending education classes in college taught me how to develop lesson plans and how to go about finding the right materials to match with my curriculum, the nuts and bolts on how to run a class was taught to me by Mr. Cunha. The valuable lessons that I leaned from Mr. Cunha were more about building relationships, holding the kids accountable, and allowing the kids to set their sights high and allowing them to achieve those goals even if they fail. He would say if the kids aren't failing then they aren't learning. Mr. Cunha prepared me so much for my career in education and allowed me to land the job that I have currently held for nearly 15 years.

Now I am close to graduation so it was time to start looking for a job. When I was interviewing for jobs back in the Spring of '99 I was at a teacher job fair in Arlington, TX. I was just one of hundreds of excited new teachers just looking for a chance. While I was having quick meet and greets with many principals at their respective booths I came across one principal that just had this aura about her that made me go up to her. At the time I had never heard of this particular school district. It was this wonderful lady named Sarah Jane Wright that just had this inviting nature to her that brought me in like a tractor beam. To this day I remember we didn't talk to much about where I went to college or what experience I had. She was trying to establish a relationship with me off the bat that made me feel comfortable. I'll never forget the first thing she asked me. She said, "Are you a loyal person?" That small question at the time was a set up to so much more. Ms. Wright was the type of administrator that had my back no matter what. She wanted to make sure would I do the same for her. And the fact is I always did and still do. The love she showed me, her staff, and more importantly our kids for the 5 years I worked with her instilled in me a sense of servitude that I have carried with me every year I have been in education.

Then in 2000 I met who I consider one of my biggest mentors to date, Lance Mangham. He joined our campus and we have been teaching together ever since. Lance is an excellent source for getting kids to buy into a system in his class that promotes trust, compassion and love. Lance is an innovator when it comes to PBL and always has a helping hand to lend. He wears many hats in our building but being my friend is my favorite.

This now leads me to who I am expecting to have a similar impact on me. We have gone through some changes on my campus and we hired a new principal, Mike Wyrick @mikewyrick. I've only known him for about two months but he came highly recommended. Since it's summer time I've only talked with him a couple of times but then on our staff retreat yesterday I got to see him interacting with our staff as well as me. And needless to say I was impressed. We had great conversations on and off again for almost two hours. And during these conversations we talked about anything and everything that wasn't education. You see those important educational talks will come soon enough but he was doing the same thing Sarah Jane Wright did with me 15 years ago. He was building relationships.

I can't express enough how fortunate I have been during my career. I owe so much of who I am to the wonderful educators I've come in contact with and I will continue to do my best to make myself and them proud.


Chris Underwood
@mrunderwoodmath

Rethinking Everything (Well mostly everything)

Well here goes nothing or maybe it will be something. Only time will tell. 

This is my first post for my professional blog.I have wanted to create a blog for sometime to chronicle my journey through education but when I sit down and stare at the frightening blank screen I begin to second guess myself. I think, What do I really have to say that could be of some value to others who would be reading my blog? I have been hesitant also because I don't like to put myself "out there" for fear of judgement. 

Heck for a while I couldn't even get past what I wanted to title my blog. After sharing this block with my wife, she mentioned that I should share an email that I sent last night to a fellow teacher that has inspired me to shake things up in my classroom and how I go about my career life as an educator. She said that would be a great blog post. It is unfiltered and has great value in it. So here it is. Below is what I wrote to Todd Nesloney. @techninjatodd

Good evening,
I saw your post and just like @MrP_tchr I would love your "You Matter" cards if you don't mind sharing. 

On a personal note. I've wanted to write you for awhile but have gotten distracted. I attended your Ninja session just by chance at CAMT back in July and then attended your second one on the last day. While I was sitting in that large room I felt that you were talking to me. I am sure you get this all the time but your words of inspiration have done wonders for me. You mentioned how dare us as teachers expect our kids to learn and take chances, when we as teachers at times will not do that. I took that to heart. I have been an educator since 1999. In the last few years however I have become very comfortable. To my kids each year the information they are learning has been fun, beneficial and rewarding. What they don't know is that I have been using the same delivery for years. It wasn't stale to them but to me it was. But I was comfortable. I fell into a routine. One of my goals this year thanks to you is to do things that make me uncomfortable but that benefit my students. For instance I've actively thought, researched and created classroom learning spaces that are flexible and are purposeful. 

You also mentioned that you surrounded yourself with the best educators but you were limited to your buildings walls. And then twitter came into your life and you were able to surround yourself with the best educators from around the world. Twitter in your words, "Leveled the playing field." Since CAMT I have been actively following different people and have learned a lot in the past three weeks. Thank you for that. 

I still have to get "Flipped" certified and plan on incorporating that into my lessons more. Just like twitter in the past I tried flipping my class but when it didn't work I gave up. You have pushed me to continue to work through the problem areas and find a solution. PBL seems like a daunting task but through the Buck institute and Edutopia I have discovered valuable information on how to ease my way into it. 

Basically I just want to say Thank You. Since CAMT anyone I have come into contact with I have shared that my ongoing transformation is in part to you. I appreciate what you have done for me and look forward to not only continuing to learn from you but hopefully meeting you sometime. 

Thank again. 

Chris Underwood
@mrunderwoodmath

So there you have it. Who knows if this was the right topic or format but at least it's a start.  I am excited and scared at the same time about the new journey I am embarking on. Now another hard part. I have to hit "PUBLISH". Here goes nothing or maybe it's something!!!