“I solved the JFK assassination…”  Seriously?  Words like that in most classes and I’d be somewhat interested and that is what separates the boys from the men, the educator for the teacher, yet, in this case, I’d rather be the boy.  Let me explain…

You may or may not be familiar with the way I differentiate the term teacher and educator now at this point but yeah, there is a huge difference and after roughly 16 years in the education field, you only can see this difference by living, creating, and performing the difference.  In the case of the phrase “This separates the boys from the men…” in the case of being fascinated with classes, I am grateful to be surrounded by teachers that raise the boyhood fascination in students with their classes, tune into their interests, avoid paperwork when human interaction can peak interest, and spend energy on the personalities of their students rather than their own interests.  I witnessed this in observing once class where the above quote was spoken, four tips concerning how to rate conspiracy theory websites were given – 1) How did it start?   2) How did it evolve?  3) What do people believe today?  and why?    then the example that Free Masons rule the world was a cool way to intro into one possible conspiracy theory analysis, and then boom, every student was off to the races.

However, this intrigue did not stop here, with the advent and implementation and evaluation involving students on a Decades Project where students had to create posters from a specific decade, then create a presentation that could be accessed from the QR code on the poster, then evaluating several of the projects using the QR  code as the final, wow.  Let me say this….this was one of the best, most interactive, and refreshing finals I saw the student take and they left with smiles on their faces when done correctly, plenty of time to create and plan plenty of time to post the poster, plenty of time to evaluate, and setting strict deadlines and expectations ahead of time – and the students LOVED – L O V E D this final, and it also involved some interaction to take their minds, just for  a little, away from their other finals.  They had fun.  They used technology in the Media Center, and used technology in itself in the form of a QR code to achieve a historical goal, and on top of all this, I think they’ll remember this longer than a final they took looking back.  LOVE.  Separating an educator from a teacher, AND let’s talk about that separating the boys from the men…

Someone said today to me, “He acts like SUCH a BOY…” and they did not mean it as a compliment yet, let me say this.  The person stating this always acts like a grown up, disapproves of others that are critical, and looks down on the fact that youthfulness is present most of the time, um BORING.  B O R I N G.  The very teacher that this was aimed at is in the thick of things with the students, motivates them, directs them, and involves them to a VERY high degree – VERY. In saying this as what was meant as a criticism, it’s funny how it came right back on that person and did the exact opposite of the person it was directed at and the person saying it funny how that works – yet, I admire the educators around me that are willing to take a stand for the students and give so much of themselves to others around them, the investment inside is amazing and no one can, even though they try, put just the right words on such a feat, yet, in the long run, a healthy perspective, attitude, and effect is given back to both parties, students and teachers as a result.  Am I lucky to be surrounded by such people in the educational field?  ARE YA NUTS?  OF COURSE!  It helps get past the people that are in a rut and remain there….:)  Life is good when you notice the good things, considered sometimes the small things, around you.  🙂  Kudos to the amazing teachers that are returning, that are leaving, but that have given so much of themselves to further other around them!  🙂