Edu-grateful: Part One

I love November. It is my favorite. I love fall. I love Daylight Savings Time. I love Thanksgiving because I can eat all the mashed potatoes with no judgement. Thanksgiving and gratitude is something that we should carrying with us all year long but occasionally we seem to forget all about it and only remember it in November. I am thankful for so many things: my faith in Christ, my church, family, friends, my cat, Netflix, coffee, Diet Coke, Oreo blast ice cream, and my job. I love my job. In case you can't tell. I really really really love my job. My path to becoming the teacher that I am today has been marked by countless educators that have poured into me and invested so much time into my teaching. To write a blog series dedicated to each one would take 365 days. So trying to narrow it down to only four to each feature each week, talk about difficult.

This week is dedicated to Dr. Casey Gerber. Dr. Gerber was my undergraduate music education professor and he still is a resource and mentor. Just yesterday he was conducting some of my students as a part of our district honor choir. Not only did Dr. G teach me how to teach, how to plan effective lessons, how to find the best resources and music for children, but he taught me how to take pride in what I do. His passion and joy for teaching is so clear in everything that he does. It is clear to me that I would not be the teacher that I am today, if I did not have Dr. Gerber mentoring me and training me. The lessons, activity, games, and warm ups that I learned in his methods are still some of my most favorite things ever. And they are my students favorites! He is still a go to resource when I have a question about lessons or curriculum. He told me to start my Kodaly levels, so I did and I'm so thankful for that and what it is doing for my teaching. Plus he is a folk song singing, circle dancing, plays bass in a rock band, cool guy. It's awesome. He's awesome.

Dr. Gerber,

Thank you for encouraging me and making a teacher. Thank you for believing in me. Thanks for just being cool. Thanks for telling me to not suck. I try everyday.