Search For Me With Your Heart
By Amber Ricketts
As a teacher what I am learning is that my number one priority is to empower the whole child. Often in the classroom setting students are given what they need academically, in terms of the common core. However, what lacks is the emotional and mental connection that many teachers miss in creating with their students. The "I didn't get enough sleep because we lost our house," or "My brother is on dialysis and I act out because I'm frustrated" connection. Though often ignored, those authentic connections are just as important as the academic stimulation. The closer I travel towards the completion of my Master's Degree in Education, the louder the voices of my children ring in my ear. Sometimes those voices say, “help me, “love me, “ or “leave me alone because I’m mad, but please don’t leave me forever.” It is those voices that influence my teaching every day, and the quiet moments created which allow for me to hear those voices ever so loudly.
Throughout the many courses I have taken throughout my graduate track I have focused on literacy and what that means for my students and for myself. I am learning to communicate with my students through words. At least once a week I sit down with each child, talk with them about their writing, and openly converse with them about one area of growth I want them to work on until the next time we conference together. In doing this, literacy for them is individualized and differentiated to meet the needs of each one of my students. That differentiation within literacy helps me to see the different needs they each have at various different times of the day. Their words help me to see what they were thinking, creating a picture for me, like a conglomerate of colors coming together to make a beautiful work of art. Their words show me their inner voices, and those voices help for me to listen to my own.
As I near the completion of my Master of Arts program in Education I find myself asking the question "what next?" This journey that I have taken, though at times rough, rocky, crooked, straight, and yet undefined at times is leading me to want more. Like a hunger, a thirst for something, needing to be quenched, yet not knowing what it is which will leave me in a state of satiation. I always thought that my career would be some sequential course, like a stepping stone from one level to the next, from elementary school teacher to administration in some aspect. However, what I am learning most in completing my degree while teaching is that in life we can set ourselves upon a course which will help us to achieve our goals, but we have to listen to what happens around us, and take heed to that inner voice.
Currently, my inner voice has woven together two goals, which I would like to achieve. The first is expanding my thinking and knowledge in my career field. I have been thinking that eventually, once I gain many more years of experience at the elementary setting that I want to teach collegiately. I want to dare minds to think outside of the box, allow for them to critically question and make meaning, and to teach them the skills that will help them become more efficient leaders.
The second goal is in writing and research. In one of my graduate courses we talked about the power of writing, and how that power can be liberating if we use it wisely. Though I have been prone to writing under the genres of personal narratives, poetry, and fantasy, I really want to delve into informational writing and children’s picture books. Research is vital for our survival, and though not everything read should be taken as the only truth, research is one way that I can sort out MY TRUTH, and thus allow for others to seek out their own. This journey has taught me that everyone has important things to say and those still small voices, or those loud boisterous voices need to be heard.
