Teaching Thoughts Week 34

Spring is finally here! A few weeks ago, I saw my first robin, but spring really wasn’t here as we had several inches of snow since then, but last weekend was glorious! I hope you were able to get outside and enjoy the best day of the year so far.

It’s with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to one of our very best teachers, Erika Kahlhammer, who passed away last week. If you ever doubt your impact or if you ever need to rekindle your passion for this amazing profession, just think of Erika. If a student had her class, they could not be drawn in by her engaging teaching style (she would crank the tunes and jam out in the mornings before class). Then they would be kept on the edge of their seat by her incredible passion for science and the workings of the human body. I recall walking by her class and seeing her squirting kids in her class with a giant replica of the human eye as she sought to illustrate how the eye keeps itself from drying out. Best of all, though, students were gifted to have one of the brightest minds I’ve ever worked with in 22 years at LHS. She knew her curriculum so well, I was in awe whenever we discussed our lesson plans. She will be missed. Simply put – Erika was the best of us. She was the very epitome of a Prowler.

Inside this week’s Teaching Thoughts you’ll find  -

The World is a Fine Place – While watching the One World: Together at Home event, I saw the incredible story of this woman: Ana del Valle survived not only the Spanish Flu but now the Coronavirus! That’s amazing and worth celebrating!

Book of the Week – Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment. Kawasaki, a former software evangelist for apple, is now a venture-capitalist and professional speaker. This book is so full of gold that it impacts my teaching life almost every day. Don’t pass the chance to read this.

Teaching Thoughts – several of the thoughts from this week are examples of magical moments that have happened to me in the classroom. This one is one of my favorites –

Heidi C.

I never actually had Heidi as a student, but she was in my group for the 2018 choir trip to San Francisco. We instantly hit it off and spent most of the 14 days together. Sadly, Heidi was seriously in a car accident just before Christmas break. The next day her parents chose to donated Heidi’s organs to others in need when she was taken off life support. It rocked the school, our students, and me. Though Heidi never qualified for my College in the High School classes, she always stopped by to just talk. She knew I cared, and I knew she needed someone to listen. Today I received a random text from her mother. It read “This is Heidi’s mom. She truly enjoyed hanging out with you” and then she attached a letter she had received from a 38-year-old woman who had received a kidney and pancreas from Heidi. As my students struggled with their sources for their research papers, I turned my chair around and wept.

Teaching is magic. Pure and simple. Teaching is the type of magic that is rooted in any myth or legend: simple and wonderful. And profound.

Podcast of the Week – Akimbo by Seth Godin. In this particular episode, called “Don’t Go,” Godin tackles one of the most insidious things in all of the world of work: meetings. Godin makes a great point, if the meeting you are in doesn’t have a purpose or leave you with something useful, then look around at all of the workers there and just imagine how much that single meeting is costing your company right now! Genius.

Video of the Week – This one Mr. Zutz shared with my College Comp II class last week during a Zoom meeting. The idea behind the video, “You Always Keep Your Value,” is so powerful that I’m stealing it and using it on the first day of all of my classes from now on.

Thoughts from Twitter –Vala Afshar Tweets: “How companies treat employees during this pandemic will define your brand for decades –" Now jus substitute “teachers” or “administrators” for ‘companies’ and substitute “students” or “teachers” for employees. Let that sink in.

Tech Tool of the Week – Loom. I somehow stumbled upon this application and have been blown away by it. At its basic it’s a screen capturing tool, but it’s so much more. I’ve been using Quicktime to create tutorials for my students, but Loom has totally converted me. And the pro subscription is now free to teachers and students. Can’t beat that.

Have a great week. Enjoy the weather. Please keep Erika’s family in your thoughts and prayers. And remember: you have so much to be thankful for. Rejoice.