It's Time to Write

Oh my! I have forgotten how challenging, tough, revealing, hard, puzzling, exciting, frustrating, time consuming, powerful, insightful, what other adjectives can I come up with... writing is. I am so happy to be honored as one of the TNTP Fishman Prize Winners and am so happy to share this experience. Part of winning the Fishman Prize is writing an essay about how I achieve extraordinary results in my classroom. Let me just say I have not had to write a substantial document for years and am thoroughly enjoying this experience!

Now deciding what to write about is definitely the hard part. What is it that sets my classroom apart? What makes what I do different? Thinking about what you do everyday and what makes it different... you wouldn't think it would be so difficult.  So what have I done? Talk and talk and talk... talking it out is the best thing for me. I'm talking to myself, my dogs, Travis, my mom, dad, Chris from TNTP anybody who will listen really. I'm sure they are dreading the phone calls at this point, but talking about my classroom, my amazing students, and all the intricacies has made a huge difference in my life already.

Teaching is what I do. It is what I do everyday. It has never been a job for me. It has only been an incredibly rewarding career. I hope that I can share some insight into the lives and experiences for my students and do them justice.

I've gotten through my first draft and will be reading it to the other winners on our trip to Palo Alto... wish me luck!