From the President
Post 9/11, My Search for ‘More’ Led to the Classroom Kelli De Guire
“We’re all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?” — Doctor Who, Season 5, Episode 13
A By sharing our own ‘who’ and then learning our students’ ‘who,’ we can create a community that works together to create authentic learning experiences.
6 PAGE ONE
s the new PAGE president (and science fiction nerd), I’d like to share with you my story of what drew me to teaching. If I’ve learned anything from my amazing mentors, it is that personal stories are where community begins. In 2002, while still struggling with the aftermath of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, I felt a call to do something important, something substantial — something “more.” I was a technical writer in Atlanta who, by this point in my career, had worked for several lucrative Fortune 500 companies — even completing a brief contract with the Centers for Disease Control — but I was not happy. Like many others after 9/11, I felt that I needed to somehow find my passion and use it to change the world for the better. I was searching for my “more.” About this time, my brother Chris embarked on a new career as a teacher through Georgia’s Teaching Alternative Preparation Program. At first, I could not fathom what would possess a rational adult to leave a lucrative career in physical therapy to head into the scary world of seventhgrade science. However, the more
I marveled at his description of the middle school, the story of my “more” began to emerge. Teaching is the ultimate “more.” There is no job more important than teaching and nurturing children. After tremendous thought and soul searching, I finally understood what my heart had known for quite a while. My story — my “more” — was teaching. As part of the PAGE High School Redesign Initiative at Sonoraville High School, we learned to create community through student story — the “more.” One of the design qualities that we practiced daily was “Knowing Our Who.” It was more than a motto for us; it was a core value. The Schlechty Center taught us that one of the best ways for teachers to design engaging work is by first getting to know our students’ likes, dislikes and values. By sharing our own “who” and then learning our students’ “who,” we can create a community that works together to create authentic learning experiences. Each of us in the teaching profession has been called to the work. We each have a “more,” and that story needs to be told. Telling our personal stories creates community and authenticity. I hope that by my sharing my own story, you, as a member of the vast teaching family at PAGE, feel like part of my community. What is your “more?” Share it! n
August/September 2017