(1) acts as a strong and positive ambassador for EPS
(2) attends school events and student performances (i.e. arts, athletics, social)
(3) participates visibly in the daily life of the school
(4) recognizes and supports diversity in all its forms
Belonging is a critical component of life for me – if I don’t have a place to call my own, I feel adrift and lost. I’ve learned this over the entire course of my life: in middle school I had good friend group and connections; in high school I did not; in college I made life-long friends; and at EPS I found even more people with whom I share values and experiences. High school is clearly the stand out, and I attribute the difference to the fact that I didn’t belong in any one group. I was welcomed into many but never connected wholly with any single one and, as such, belong to none of them. At EPS, I belong wholly to many: MS, English, advisory teams, GLC, PDP cohort is most recent.
As I think about my role in this community through the lens of each of the indicators in this category, I realize just how important this community of learners is to my personal and professional growth.
(1) acts as a strong and positive ambassador for EPS
At the core of being a strong and positive ambassador for EPS is a deep understanding of and belief in the school’s culture and philosophies. As a founding employee of the school, I have a unique and long-time perspective of such culture and philosophies. The school was built upon the core belief that anyone can learn – regardless of learning style or differences – when provided with resources and opportunities to prosper. Such resources and opportunities look different for each student, which is central to the school’s tenet of putting the student at the center of their learning. Armed with this perspective of the type of student-centered learning we espouse, I have been able to apply my knowledge to a variety of “ambassador” roles over the years.
Starting at the beginning (Jan 2003), some of my visible ambassador roles have included:
- Administrative assistant and main office contact
- Admissions Director for a single illustrious year (2005-2006)
- Open house mini-lesson teacher and 6th- and 5th-grade English representative
- Host for potential students in Lit classes for several years
- Teacher of mini-lessons for potential students during visit days
- Panelist at the newly accepted family dinners
- Co-creator and presenter of the New Parent Series
- Presenter at NWAIS (2018)
(2) attends school events and student performances (i.e. arts, athletics, social)
Attending school events and student performances is always worth the effort because of the perspective it affords me of my students, their families, and my colleagues outside of the day-to-day school experience. Watching a MS basketball game, I can see the athletic abilities of an student who I would otherwise only see in my Lit classroom. Listening to a music performance (such as during a recent MS Lit Teahouse, see left), I can hear the results of hard work a student has put in to learning a new instrument. Talking with parents at a parent coffee, I gain details about what relationships and expectations exist at home. Cheering at a Mariner’s game alongside fellow teachers, I get to meet partners, laugh with colleagues, and talk about personal lives. Attending such events requires dedicated personal time away from my family and other personal commitments; it is not always the easiest choice to make. However, each new piece of information about a student, their parents, or my colleagues builds a more complete picture of each person, which in turn builds a more complete picture of the real makeup of the EPS community.
(3) participates visibly in the daily life of the school
One major way that I participate in the daily life of the school is as Grade-Level Coordinator (GLC) for the 6th grade. As GLC, students see me in front of them at most class meetings, providing information and guidance or leading activities. Behind the scenes, I set agendas, organize activities, and communicate needs/ideas for each class and advisory meetings to my team of 6th-grade advisors each week. Colleagues outside of our 6th-grade team rely on me to disseminate information to the team or to students.
GLC responsibilities have grown and changed over the six years that we have been developing the role, allowing me to grow and change along with it. I have gained confidence in presenting to large groups of students, as when I help “set the tone” of the school year at opening assemblies. Colleagues trust me to be the “voice” of the 6th-grade team of advisors, teachers, and students when new program ideas are introduced and discussed. Each year, I have advisors on my team who are new to our school, affording me the chance to coach colleagues, to share my ideas, methodologies, and philosophies with them so that they can better understand, integrate into, and belong to our EPS culture. New peers on my team also gives us all new perspectives, new ways of supporting the needs of our students. This last aspect of the GLC role has helped me understand how much I value belonging and inclusion, how much I want each member of my community to feel as though they can make an impact. The GLC position has given me the opportunity to mentor others – and I find tremendous value in that.
(4) recognizes and supports diversity in all its forms
Diversity in our community is what makes our school interesting and unique, and I strive to recognize and support it in a multitude of ways. Way back in my days as the school’s librarian, I celebrated Banned Books Week with buttons, posters, and displays of books that showed up on each year’s list of banned or challenged titles. I also tried to stock the shelves with books that represented different learning abilities, races, religions, and sexual and gender orientations. As a classroom teacher, I work with our learning support team to provide resources and accommodations for students with learning differences. One of the easiest ways that I celebrate diversity in the classroom is with the daily Attendance Question; it affords each student the opportunity to share their ideas, values, and desires. Our 6th-grade SEL program includes diversity awareness in the form of lessons about boundaries, identity, and individual strengths, all aimed at raising students’ awareness of themselves and others. Every voice in our community is unique and deserves to be heard, and I strive to make sure that can happen.
As I contemplate my membership in this EPS community, I recognize how much I have gained over seventeen-plus years, as well as how much I have to give in the coming years. My core value in the importance of belonging underlies my day-to-day experience as a teacher, advisor, leader, colleague, and mentor; I want all with whom I come into contact to feel welcome, to feel as though they belong, matter, and have an impact on those around them. As I look toward becoming a mentor teacher, belonging will remain as a central tenet upon which I hope to build other strong believers of the value of our EPS community.