Nothing but Mountains!

The clip above is from the movie "Alive." It's a story about a plane that crashes in the Andes Mountains with a group of soccer players.  The story is well known because a lot of them had to resort to cannibalism to survive.  That was the one thing people always talked about with this movie, but I've always remembered this scene.  I probably saw this movie in 6th grade, far too young for an R rated film.  I think of this clip most often when I'm hiking or camping and I get to see the rolling hills of the Rockies.  When I saw this scene I thought how awful they must've felt to have finally made it to the mountain top to see where they might find a place to get help, but then only discovered more mountains. 

It's been a while since I last wrote, but a lot has happened over the last year or so of teaching.  I often compare my last year of teaching to this scene in the movie.  Last year I was able to accomplish a lot and I recognize that a lot of it wasn't necessarily deserved. I did it though, I made it to the mountain top...kind of.  Let me run down a list of some of the accomplishments from last year: won teacher of the year for my elementary school, was featured in the local newspaper several times, was featured on ABC 4 News and Fox 13 for my work in establishing a theater/video club for my school, won some international awards for some of the videos we made (Scotties Trees Rock Finalist, White House Film Festival Finalist, and Grand Prize Winner of several other competitions), and was able to get some major funds for the club through grants.

When I started teaching I set off to be the best teacher in the world.  Heck, I've even declared such a thing at the top of this blog.  Last year seemed to be a good push in that direction.  I actually hadn't planned on getting this much attention this far into my career.  I thought it would take me several more years to be recognized for anything I've done in the classroom.  When all is said and done after this last year, all I see is more mountains.  I've made it to the top of one peak and I could've quit and found another job thinking I had accomplished everything I set out to do, but there is still a lot more I need to accomplish before I feel satisfied with ending my career as a teacher.  To be completely honest the stuff I've been recognized for has been great, but I've also felt a bit empty.

I've been a bit selfish and some of this stuff I've wanted to do for myself, to make me look good.  I've climbed many peaks in my life, but most of my students have never felt that type of success before.  A teacher's journey to the top of the mountain is a wasted journey if they leave their students behind.  That's why I've made it a point to put the children in the spotlight from now on. The kids enjoyed watching and making the movies we created, but the happiest I ever saw them was when they were creating stuff they had done all by themselves.  This year I'm trying to change the way I do things by putting students in control.  After all, did I get into teaching to help others succeed, or myself?

The great thing about being a teacher is the fact that there are so many mountain peaks you can climb.  You'll never get bored with this job because each year brings with it a new set of students which means a new set of learning behaviors and styles.  I get to climb a new mountain every year with my students and I get to show them the other mountain peaks at the top.  It's up to them to decide which peak they want to travel to next.  This journey is long and slow, but the reward comes in looking back and seeing where both yourself and your students have come from.  I usually don't see that until the start of the next year when I have to teach and train my students on the most simple of things that I take for granted with my students from the previous year. The new year has just begun and I'm excited for what challenges this year's mountain brings me because I know at the end of my journey I won't be at the top alone.