Afternoon Pages

“What Will You Make?”

This badge and all the badges help me keep in touch with that student side. Every teacher comes from that place and yet the longer we sit with the title of teachers the more we find ourselves distancing ourselves from the child we were when we were a student, complaining about the things we now are doing as a teacher. It opens new doors for all of us to step into a different role than just teacher. A teacher that speaks up in hopes for a better future for their students and for their fellow educators. A teacher that is connected in what really matters to her students so that she can built a community in hopes they will find a joy in education again. This for me all goes back to the feeling of wobbling in front of your students and why I feel that that is such a strong tool. By using these badges in class I am showing my students morals. A moral of listening to what everyone has to say, and even though you may not believe in it you can still respect them for trying to change something in the world. A moral of taking what others cherish and include it with what you cherish. Finding something that you both have in common and taking it a step further to applying it to something that you may not have that passion for. The students will learn these things and take them out into their world, just as we have by taking the lessons we have learned from these badges. The students will take this to their parents, to their friends who may not be in you class, to their siblings or other family members, changing and implying what you taught them, what we have been taught from these badges.