Skip to main content

American Education Week : Celebrate an Educator




Mark your calendars for American Education Week, scheduled for Nov. 17-21, 2014. The weeklong celebration presents opportunities to celebrate public education and honor the teachers who make a difference in the lives of children in classrooms across America. 


Fun fact: The first observance of American Education Week took place in Dec. 1921.   





Flourishing In Education By: Alecia Gardner
Who do you consider an educator? I have studied, researched, and my ideas have evolved throughout the years in trying to answer this question. I have even written a book on the subject of the difference in a teacher and an educator. However, one of the best definitions I have found came from Sr. Geralyn Schmidt, "An educator coaches individuals to become what is essential — to develop into human beings who are fully alive." 


Education has been deemed a thankless career field, with consistently low pay. However, there is no greater payment in the world than seeing students succeed.  True educators see the thanks in the smiles, hugs, and shouts of excitement. We embrace the joy that comes when a child "gets it," for the first time. We celebrate the small victories, and look at failure as a chance to grow. Educators do not give up even when a student has thrown in the towel.  Instead we research, design, plan and come up with another way to make a connection. 




I know from personal experience, an educator can change your life forever. Mrs. Frederick, my first grade teacher, taught me about what it means to be an educator during a terrible time in my life.  (Read more about The Moment I became an Educator). When I had thrown in the towel she was there to show me how to get back in the game. She taught me that education means more than just lesson planning, instructional strategies and assessments. Education is about developing relationships, and creating opportunities for students to become who God intended them to be. 




I know at Cardinal Community School District we embrace Schmidt's definition of an educator. We have a wonderful community of learners and educators within our district.  



So, this week as we celebrate National Education Week, we will have activities, thank you cards/letters and goodies for parents, support staff, teachers, paraeducators, secretaries, bus drivers, janitors, and substitutes to enjoy. We will celebrate their dedication and commitment to our students and to each other. 


 I extend a challenge to all who read this blog post to share it, comment with the name(s) of your favorite educator(s), and contact an educator in your life to thank him or her for helping you become "fully alive." Let's see how many educators we can impact this week with a simple act of kindness for the countless hours they have dedicated to developing "human beings who are fully alive." 


Monday :Kick Off Day
Tuesday: Parent Day
Wednesday: Support Staff Day
Thursday: Educators Day
Friday:Substitute Educator Day

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Buella (cancer) Has Spread

Buella was entirely removed along with five lymph nodes and all the breast tissue they could remove on both sides. The tissues and tumor were sent for pathological testing. The report came back and was not what we hoped for.  Buella has spread to the lymphovascular system, lymph nodes, and tissue around the nodes. Buella was also less than 1 mm away from the chest wall, so cancer cells are likely in the chest wall too. The tumor grade was thought to be a Grade 1 before surgery (not aggressive), and has now been determined to be a Grade 3 (most aggressive and has the highest recurrence rate).  The news was hard to receive as I was praying for it to be all contained in the single tumor, and that would mean just surgeries and careful watching for a bit. However, this is not the story of my journey. I will need radiation, and we are waiting for the Oncotype test to come back to determine the need and type of chemotherapy. This will take 4 weeks, and we cannot start any treatment u...

Well, Poo: Update on Cancer Treatment

The radiation oncologist entered our room in a medical halo, looking very uncomfortable and much like an image of Frankenstein. He was healing after suffering an injury to his neck in a swimming pool two weeks ago. "How are you doing?" he asked with genuine care and concern.  "Well, obviously, better than you at this point," I replied as I internally scolded myself for complaining about the rough nights sleeping in a recliner the past 6 weeks.  He smiled and said, "Yeah, maybe so." Then we got down to business. He reminded me that before surgery, we had discussed the possibility of doing radiation. He had laid out some clear signs that it would be necessary.  Buella (the cancer) had spread to the nodes (CHECK)  Tumor is greater than 2 cm (CHECK) There are cancer cells in the Lymphovascular system (CHECK) There are unclean or close margins from tumor edges to chest wall (<1 mm CHECK) You are premenopausal (CHECK) Each component increases the odds of lo...

Eviction Notice: Buella (Cancer), You Have Been Served!

Dear Buella, This is your notice that you are being permanently evicted from the premises, also known as my body, effective July 1. You have exceeded the number of recommended days to be in residence by more than 30 days; therefore, you will forcibly be removed so you can no longer wreak havoc upon the landscape of our lives. - Management / Allie Dear Family and Friends, On July 1st, I will have a double mastectomy and begin reconstructive surgery. Buella, the name I gave my tumor, has been served her eviction notice after 70+ days since detection, and we are grateful to have a date scheduled.  However, I do keep trying to convince Gavin that traveling to the Amalfi Coast for pasta and coffee would do wonders for healing cancer instead. If you have a study that supports my hypothesis, please share it with me, as I have read at least 50 research articles and a few books about cancer in the past month and have yet to find a correlation or causation study about the benefits of authent...