Back after a long time away!

I’ve been very lax in posting for a while! In the past 5-6 years, I completed my specialist degree in K-8 Mathematics from UGA, began working as the Elementary Mathematics Program Specialist at the GaDOE, and had two kids graduate from high school. 

This post, which has been sitting in my drafts for 3.5 years, is the beginning of the next phase. I have just recently retired from the GaDOE and am now working independently to deepen everyone’s (students, parents, teachers, schools, and districts) understanding of what it means to teach and learn mathematics. So, many more posts and resources are on the way! 

Two Back-to-Back Events

I’ve been a teacher/coach/mathematics specialist for 30+ years and sometimes we never really know the impact we have.  Sometimes we hear from current even former students and they thank us. Sometimes we get emails from parents thanking us for our work and dedication with their children.  Sometimes we even get nominated and/or chosen for a teaching award.  All of these are amazing and I think they keep us going. They help us get through some of the negativity that, unfortunately, can be a part of teaching.

I’ve received the thank-yous from students (current and former), which are always appreciated.  I’ve received the emails from parents – often even more appreciated. I’ve even been nominated for teacher of the year a few times which was humbling in itself, but also appreciated, for sure. But that’s not why I feel humbled.  Sometimes there’s more in the bigger picture of your teaching career that you didn’t know was there – something that is bigger than you could imagine.  Sometimes you don’t realize the impact you have.  And sometimes it hits you in the face all at once (or at least it seems like it’s all at once)!

As I mentioned, I finished my degree and graduated in December 2019. The night before graduation we had a dinner reception on campus. This was a time when all graduates from multiple programs could bring their families and show them where they’ve been spending the last two years of their lives working on the degree they’d receive the following day. After the meal, a professor from each program would say a few words about each graduate. Dr. Robyn Ovrick @RobynOvrick  is our amazing professor at UGA Griffin and her words about me as a student and a teacher were enough to almost bring me to tears. I learned during her words that she had heard of me before I knew her, which I still find unbelievable. I don’t have her exact words to share but I will never forget their impact on me. When someone you respect and admire, as I do Robyn, reflects that back to you… out loud… in front of everyone, it’s very difficult to not be humbled!  I barely held it together.  

The next happened at graduation. But first a little back story. One of my classmates in our degree program was actually one of my former students. I taught Heather Kelley @heathermjkelley as a fifth grade student a long time ago. She has become an amazing teacher, friend, and colleague. Heather’s organizational skills helped me stay on track through all the research and weekly assignments in this program. It’s safe to say that, without her help, I might still be writing my literature review!

Prior to graduation, we were asked to nominate someone as a student speaker. Heather nominated me, but I threw it back to her. I’ve spoken a lot at conferences and workshops over the years and it was time for someone else’s voice to be heard. I had no idea that her speech would contain thoughts about her former fifth grade teacher. I was super humbled by her message! I still get choked up thinking about the wonderful things she said. Things that I had not even considered might have made a difference in her life.

My wife and father-in-law who were able to attend in person along with my parents and siblings who were able to tune in on-line, were surprised and overjoyed to hear this young woman include me in her speech. The video of her speech is below, if you’d like to hear it. And if you need someone to speak at an event, Heather would be a great choice.

At the dinner the night before, Heather joked that she was going to hand her speech to me to give. That would have been interesting, for sure! 

It’s true that sometimes we never know the impact we may have, but sometimes – usually when we need to hear it – we have the pleasure to hear that we have made a positive impact in the lives of those around us.

The takeaway here, I think, is that no matter what you do in life, it all boils down to what Heather said in her speech (I’m paraphrasing here): “Find someone who nudges you out of your comfort zone, challenges you to be better, and encourages you to be the best person you can be in life. Better yet, be the one who encourages others to do their best and share it with the world!”