#YourEdustory Week 3: Where's the Beef?

I had many favorite teachers as I worked my way up the proverbial K12 escalator we know as education.  Although my K-5 teachers are somewhat foggy to me, I do remember benchmarks/memories of certain things I learned that I have taken into my profession/teaching style today.  For instance, I clearly remember my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Falk, exposing our class to the Space Shuttle Challenger launch.  We did a whole month long project/unit on NASA, robotics, and engineering and how math applied to this field.  She was ahead of her time as far as STEAM goes today.  At any rate, I really enjoyed the hands-on activities and approach that she took leading up to the day of the Challenger launch.  We all eagerly anticipated that day and watched in class on an old 32" Zenith tube TV.  Obviously a day of tragedy and tears to say the least, but I remember the way that Mrs. Falk handled the situation.  As the Challenger exploded I remember her stating that there had been a malfunction with the shuttle and the plan didn't go as they thought.  As I sat in my seat, I remember being really confused and didn't exactly know what was going on.  I did notice some girls crying and asking, "Is the teacher on the shuttle ok?" over and over.  However, for some reason I remember the calmness that Mrs. Falk displayed while many other teachers excused themselves to hide their emotions from the rest of the 9 year-olds in the room.  Mrs. Falk I am sure was doing all she could to keep her own emotions under control, but she led her 4th graders in the midst of unexpected tragedy with leadership that as I look back on now as someone that proved to be a hero in her own right.

Now, you are probably wondering, what does that have to do with my title: "Where's the Beef?" Well, my 6th math teacher at Castillero Middle School was always one of favorite teachers and really caused me to engage in math in a way I hadn't  before.  I remember on the first day of class she wanted to get to know her students and make them feel comfortable by asking each one what she would like to call them.  When she came to me, I had somehow been given the nickname Beef  in the 5th grade.  To this day, I don't even remember who or why I got that nickname, but it stuck back then (By the way...I am no longer called that today).  The only thing I can think of were those Wendy's commercials and motto was "Where's the Beef?" showcasing that old lady in the drive-thru asking "Where's the Beef?"  Anyways, Mrs. Burke honored my nickname and always referred to me as Beef from that day forward.  Why do I share that with this blog post you ask?

Well, as much as I respected her for that and the way she led her math instruction, I remember that she never would get up from her seat to move around and monitor the classroom,  As a teacher today, I am constantly monitoring my classroom and am very active around the room.  In fact, I don't even have a desk in my class anymore!  I always recall Mrs. Burke's math class as an enjoyable class, but I also remember there being quite a bit of rowdy and unruly behavior in there partly because of the fact that she was always in the front and never would walk around to see what students were actually doing. So I credit Mrs. Burke as being a favorite teacher of mine and calling me by a nickname that was kind of cool, but more-so someone who I learned as an educator to not always be in one spot.  I think being in the center of the room causes students to see that the teacher is the one always guiding the learning, as opposed to the students owning their education.  Now obviously I need to instruct and guide, but I don't want to always have that front of the room presence.  So, as I learn from my previous teachers, especially my favorite ones, I know there is always a different approach that is more effective for a group of students from year-to-year.