PLC and Back to School

Last week I went to the district PLC meeting for middle school LA teachers. In a large group (6th, 7th, and 8th grade) we discussed what PLC meant and not too many people were sure. One person said that she didn't know what it meant until she went to a PLC conference. We also discussed the pre-tests that the district has decided the students need to take. After far too long (almost everyone was complaining), we split up into our grade level PLC groups. There was some drama as a teacher from my school was supposed to be a co-leader of the group but another teacher decided that she was going to take complete control leaving our colleague disgruntled. Drama knows no bounds.
I'm still not sure about PLC but I do know that meeting with some sort of team is essential. It's like the tribes we have for seminars. Large groups are formed by schools, and then there are teams by grade level with different subjects. There are also "PLC" groups that are same grade and same subject. When we met with our school's PLC we discussed the district expectations and how we were going to meet them.
One thing I do understand is the "C" in PLC. Community means interaction outside of school. The Principal had a dinner party at his house for staff and families. There I saw how the teachers relaxed with each other and maybe there is a sense of professionalism that they share. I know that I felt I still needed to be professional.

The first day was a half day and it didn't seem like school had started yet. I could barely sleep the night before and I think I'll be running on little ammounts of sleep a lot for the next....twenty years. I'm trying to do as much as I can becasue I'm done observing. I did 90 hours of observations in a semester. This experience is about teaching and I want to do as much of that as I can. Like right now...

Inspirations and Legacy

Like many teachers I was inspired to follow this career path by an educator that I truly enjoyed. Unfortunately, he passed away my freshman year at Coe so he will never know that I have almost succeeded in following in his footsteps, nor will he know that it was his footsteps I began following in the first place. However, the inspiration he instilled in me is still there coupled now with a motivation to inspire the young students I will be teaching. I want to teach because I want to make a difference in at least one student's life (if it is only one student I hope I make a BIG difference). I want to pass on the knowledge and love that I have for my subject to the students especially because Language Arts is considered, by some, a dying subject.

This is the legacy I want to live behind. I want the students to like me enough that they listen to what I have to say and absorb it. I used to hope that I would be the teacher that everyone will remember, but now I just want them to remember the lessons I teach, whether they are related to my subject or life lessons in general. i want to leave behind a legacy of students that make something of themselves. I want to teach because I am the teacher.