Sunday, September 1, 2019

Introducing My Classroom Observer - and Guest Blogger - My Son

My son, David, has decided to follow in my footsteps and become a teacher. I am beyond thrilled!

Me with my awesome sons, Jared and David.
David is the one in red.
In order to give him a realistic view of teacher life, and a window into brain-friendly teaching, I invited him into my classroom as an assistant and observer.  He plans to continue to do so as he works his way through online college. He has made some very astute and profound observations in the short time he has been in my class. I thought it would be a fantastic exercise for him to blog some of his reflections, and he agreed.

David and his brother love to poke fun at each other, so David decided it would be awesome to make his blog name: The Favorite Son. Therefore, when you see a post from The Favorite Son...that would be David. Sigh. What's a mother to do? In case you're wondering...they both know I don't play favorites!

I'm putting the ornery guy's initial post below, but in the future, he will post under the name: The Favorite Son. Please enjoy his (our) journey, and feel free to offer feedback, comments, and/or advice.

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As you can tell by my username, I'm the "favorite" son of Diane Dahl, and must always remind my brother of it no matter the platform I'm using. As the favorite, Mrs. Dahl asked me to come and observe her class with hopes that being around people who live to learn and love their jobs would motivate me to go back to school. I'm incredibly proud to say that it has! So, this is my journey and observations of my wild and wacky mother's class.

My goals for this blog are quite simple. I must work on my writing, as it's my weakest area of knowledge, and track the lessons I'm learning in the classroom. Mom's teaching and genuine love for her students have completely changed the trajectory of my life, and I hope this blog shows you why.

Week 1:
It's the first day of school, and full engagement versus chaos is the battle of the day. The kids walk in with intense energy and voices barely under control. "It's like herding cats," mom says with a big excited smile on her face. Immediately this eases my anxiety and lets me know that within the all-consuming energy, she is the master.

The word enthusiasm just isn't a strong enough a word to describe her teaching. I've never seen anything like it. She was up dancing on a table at one point. At another point, she ran screaming out of the classroom. These kids just have no idea what they are in for.

Enthusiasm became a keyword, and one she would repeat to me almost every day during the first week. Her enthusiasm is so infectious that it didn't just spread to me, but also to her students. Toward the end of class every day I hear her students talking about what they are working on... with excitement! That love of learning is spread through the conduit of her enthusiasm.

The first week taught me that relationships with the students are key. "They don't care about what you know unless they know that you care." She said that to me on the first day and I've seen the effect of it though out the week. 





4 comments:

  1. Amazed and proud! This is awesome writing and I look forward to reading more. Love you!

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    1. I'm not sure who you are, but thank you and I love you too!

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  2. I have have hundreds of mentors to my classroom over the years, all of them but one has been so excited about my room, my style, my teaching and my advice. Hope your time with mom goes really well David.

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    1. Thank you so much for the comment. I truly think everyone should spend a little time in a classroom like yours and my moms. It is so inspiring and has giving me a whole new perspective on the impact teachers have on our lives.

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