It has been a pleasure learning and growing alongside my students throughout this school year.  Over the course of the year, I have witnessed students engaging in critical thinking in all of the core content areas.  What has surprised me the most is when they share thoughts on a subject that takes the conversation in an entirely different direction than I was expecting.  Though this might sometimes lead the class “off the rails,” it often led to the best conversations of the entire school year.  Allowing students to follow and investigate their trains of thought is helping them learn an important skill and enabling them to analyze the world around them

My students have also become more adept at expressing themselves creatively as the year wore on.  I really enjoyed watching them open up and share their senses of humor and passions with me through midday meeting responses, discussion questions, research projects, and more.  They have consistently challenged me to see the world through their eyes by portraying their thoughts in original and sophisticated fashions.  The best thing about creativity is that it is a collaborative process; I saw my students building off of each other’s art, jokes, and writings in order to craft something entirely new.  I was also lucky enough to engage in this process myself as I incorporated student interests and student created resources into my lesson planning.  I will never forget the creative skills my students taught me!

As they grow, my students will fully realize the importance of being able to advocate for one’s self.  Self-advocacy is an important quality that my students will use to navigate the world around them and create lasting change that benefits themselves, their loved ones, and their communities.  One of the reasons that I wanted to become a teacher was because so many educators in my life were the ones who helped me find a voice, and I want to pay it forward by giving that gift to my students.  My students are thoughtful but strong-willed, and since they know they have the power to share their ideas and support their thoughts with evidence, there’s no telling what they can accomplish!