Snowflake Teachers

I know. I know. Nobody wants to hear about snowflakes, particularly after so many Snow Days and especially on this first day of Spring. But, English teachers do like their irony.

Teachers are like snowflakes. Each is unique. Each has his/her own area of expertise. Once, an older teacher told me, "Remember, you aren't the first English teacher your students had and you won't be the last. Stop worrying so much. They'll get from you certain skills and gain other skills in other classes."

What a relief, really. For example, I'm the poetry teacher. Slam poetry. Sonnets. Rap and hip-hop. Blank verse. Free verse. Gimme verse. My dear teacher friend is the queen of non-fiction. (yuck and really?) It isn't until this advanced age that I now appreciate the love of non-fiction (and ironically, after writing creative non-fiction in blogs for years now: ha).  However, we both love nothing more than teaching a good, old-fashioned Shakespeare play and we adore novels.

One teacher I know teaches Philosophy as well as English. I could teach (and have taught) Art History and Creative Writing in addition to my vast experience as a "traditional" English teacher. I was so intimidated by the teacher I'm substituting for these days who is the Queen of Digital Technology. When I wailed to my husband, "I don't know all of these I-Movies, Powtoons, Movie Maker, Prezi stuff!" he reminded me, "Honey, that's HER comfort zone. You float in what YOU are good at."

And how grateful I am to have "stepped into her shoes" for the past several weeks. I have learned SO much about the wonderful uses of technology in the classroom. The incredible, inventive methods for transforming a personal narrative into a Digital Narrative. Researching Famous American Authors and presenting them digitally replete with background music and voice-overs. Reducing an incredibly intensive Argumentative Research Paper into a thirty-to-sixty second Public Service Announcement. Such an amazing gift to receive as I transition back into the classroom.

*Snowflake image credited to Professor Michael Peres. He has a love/hate relationship with snow, but takes the time to magnify and photograph the beauty of individual snowflakes regardless. Again with the irony.