changed confirmed the way I view my career in education. As I’ve read other bloggers (too numerous to begin to name) share their stories, the conclusions are all the same – it has reignited their passion as a teacher, it’s the best professional development ever (Really, it is! I wasn’t ready to leave), and it’s nearly impossible to explain. But, I’m all about giving it a shot, so here goes!
The Academy began like any other professional development with a normal sign-in process, and the normalcy ended there. Once they opened the gates in extravagant Willy Wonka fashion, students were lining the sidewalk of the entrance shaking our hands. Before I entered the door, I was impressed. An 8th grade boy saw my name tag, shook my hand, and said, “Casey, I’m so glad you’re here! Thank you for visiting us.” My jaw dropped and hit the ground. As I continued to gather myself, I pushed forward to the doors where THE Ron Clark was standing there (well, more dancing…), and he shook my hand. This was amazing in itself, but not the craziest thing. The red carpet was rolled out, students lined the carpet, music was BLARING, and everyone was dancing as they cheered the teachers on as we entered the building. Wow! What a special feeling!

We were herded gathered into a gorgeous, state-of-the-art gym where students were gathered around to speak with us. I’m a fairly shy person, and I CERTAINLY don’t walk up to a group of people to start a conversation with them. Michael, an 8th grade student, walked up to me and another shocked educator, shook our hands, and carried on a conversation with us. He listened to hear – like really cared to hear what we had to say. He never once looked for an exit (like I already was several times in my discomfort). He was completely present, and I was already learning from this incredible, young man. We chatted with the students for several minutes while they gathered everyone in, and the conference started.
Each workshop was a whirlwind of information leaving me dying to take more from these amazing teachers. I’ll share my most profound takeaways because there were SO MANY – Seriously, you need to go…From Pamela Haskins, she suggested we find out what the next 2 grade levels expect and teach to that. Rigor isn’t more work (such as writing a 5 paragraph paper instead of 3), it’s taking that work to the next level. Junior Bernadette and Kyle Wolcott pushed the old adage, “If you build it, they will come” and pushed us to be runners and accept that behind every “No”, there may be a “Yes” lurking somewhere. From Adam Dovico, we were taught a mnemonic (I never thought I liked mnemonics, but this guy proved me WAY WRONG because I can still recall it over a week later with ease) to aide in our first 7 seconds of meeting someone – SPECIAL:

Shake hands
Posture
Eye Contact
Charm
Introduce yourself
Ask a question
Lean in & Listen.
CJ Wallace and Corey Collins are both new teachers this year at RCA, and they shared that we must seek a No Fear moment and make it happen. Daniel Thompson shared about maintaining student intrigue through whatever (legal, of course) means necessary. Kim Bearden asked us a profound question, “If you were stuck in a school and had to choose a classroom you wanted to sit in, would you choose your classroom?” If I’m being completely honest, there are more days than I care to share (or confess to myself, even) that the answer is a resounding NO (That changed on May 18th).
Each student in the school is placed randomly (via a spinning wheel) into houses (very much Hogwarts-style). Each house competes with one another and lifts one another up. Most importantly, though, they lift other houses up, as well. Imagine (you don’t have to close your eyes) you’re a 5th grader brand new to the school. Everyone chants your name while you run up to the wheel. You anxiously spin this wheel knowing that where it stops is your family for the next 4 years. You run up the stairs to the slide and dive down wondering what awaits you at the bottom. By the time you hit the bottom of the slide, the wheel has stopped. You hear an eruption of cheers as you hit the bottom, and you’re instantly lifted up and celebrated by your new family. WOW! If I could bottle this up and bring it into my high school, what a difference that would make in these children’s lives.
Everything we saw would obviously work great in a middle school, and elementary schools would also easily incorporate the song and chant into their buildings. But, I left wondering how high school students would adapt to some of these teachings. I mean, they’re a little set in their ways. So…Nervously, I shared some of my experience with them, and the resounding response was, “Why didn’t you go to this place earlier in the year! We want this!”
My main takeaways (But, really, there are so many) which I will use in the future were:
- The magic and excitement are imperative to school, but it can’t work with clearly defined rules with follow-through.
- Students MUST be taught and expected to utilize their soft skills.
- Teachers should have a stage so that they can be higher than the students to aide in their focus of the teacher.
- When teaching, tell a story – it’s much more interesting.
- Students should stand when they need to say something.
- Teachers shouldn’t be concerned about embarrassing themselves – students truly do like that.
- No amount of discipline will work if the students don’t believe you care about them.
- Keep in constant communication with the parents about the good. When you have to say something bad, the parent knows you love their child.
- Frequently, make eye contact with EACH student in the classroom.
- Be a teacher who will jump on the tables every now and then. These kids need to know we’re a little crazy.