I find my inspiration for this blog from a little Led Zeppelin…………..

When I heard that the river we were going down on my first rafting trip EVER was a dammed river, Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks” started going through my head.  Originally written about the Great Mississippi Flood of ’27, I couldn’t help to think that that may be my fate on the river that day.  I know that sounds silly, but let me tell you why.

See, I don’t swim.  It’s not for a lack of trying, I just can’t.  I started taking lessons in 3rd grade because for some odd reason my elementary school thought all 3rd graders needed to be taken to the local YMCA to be thrown in a pool.  Imagine doing that now!!!  But anyway, long story short, I fell, got a concussion and a fractured skull on a slippery spot beside the pool, and the rest is history.

I’m not afraid of water.  Let’s get that straight.  I love water.  I love the beach, water parks, boats, etc.  It’s not a fear of water.  I even married a certified lifeguard (and no, she hasn’t been able to teach me to swim either, and again, not for a lack of trying) to make things even worse!!!  I’m not afraid of water.  I’m afraid of drowning, more importantly, not knowing what to do if I ever am in the situation of being in the water where I can’t stand or float.  It’s a fear of looking really stupid (and dying) when I should know better.

I guess to interject the topic of the blog, “my NCCAT highlight” into my rant, like many other people it was the whitewater rafting trip.  I freely admit, as my raftmates (WHO WERE FANTASTIC!!!) can tell you, I was really nervous and scared.  In fact, Joanie made sure to tell Tanner, our guide, that “I didn’t want to die.”  Haha.  Thanks Joanie.  But it really wasn’t about the dying or drowning part, it was about the fact that I was about to do something that I had never done before in front of a whole bunch of people that I didn’t want to look stupid in front of.  And as I successfully completed my rafting adventure I started to think, how many students in my class fall into the same category?  Not wanting to ask questions or demonstrate techniques or concepts out of fear of looking stupid?

I try to teach my students everyday that it is ok to ask questions.  It is ok to be nervous, because nervous keeps us on our toes.  It is ok to be scared, because we can learn from our fears (except spiders…..Jayne knows what I’m talking about) and that it is ok to fail the first time, or the ninth time that we attempt something because there is always another chance to get it right.  I really wanted to do the jumping rock on the river, but I didn’t, because I didn’t want to look stupid floating down past the rafts if I had done something wrong.  Now I regret it.  But at least it’s an excuse for me to go up there again!!! It just goes to show, no matter how old we are, we are all students at some point in our lives.

I love to relay life experiences into my teaching because it lets the students know that I am human.  I will now add my rafting adventure, which I had a BLAST ON,  to my list of teachable moments that I use in class.  I hope it will be an inspiration to my students to ask that question, try something new, or at least, make themselves feel a little better about being scared.  What are you scared of, and can you use it to better yourselves and your students’ education?  As always, feel free to sound off!!!

By the way, am I the only one who thinks they should really change the word “recovery” to “rescue” in the raft training video before we set off????

Our Fellowship!!!

A line from a song worked well for a start last time, so the Beatles provided me a little inspiration this time!

About my fellowship.  The topic of this blog.  This one is an easy one.  I could spend my time talking about Home Base, and the fact that a select group of individuals are working with NCDPI to collect resources to “tag”, so that they can go into the OER Repository inside Home Base.  But, hopefully, our “show” at NCCAT provided that information.  I would like to talk briefly about the people that I am sharing this project with, the heart of our “fellowship”.

The ladies, as I am the only guy (no complaints) that I am sharing my Home Base project with are some of the most qualified, intelligent, and hard working, passionate people that I have worked with in my career.  In the two weeks that we were “confined”, (haha) with each other, we each figured out that we were there for a purpose.  We were there to represent all of the subjects that the students in our school NEEDED, not just the ones that they had to have due to graduation requirements.  We were the representatives of the subjects that taught students to speak and understand in the different, but glorious ways that music, art, world languages, agriculture and the elementary school mind let them.  We were the connectors of the outside to the inside, and hopefully speaking for my other teammates, we couldn’t be more proud.

I envision that our Fellowship project is the beginning of something big for our state.  As we take drastic steps backwards in teacher pay, benefits, and school structure, I can see Home Base taking us in a forward direction.  It could be a tool to start unifying curriculums in not only the core subjects, but all of the classes that our students take.  The well rounded student is not the student that takes all kinds of classes, but understands them, and uses all the different types of education and knowledge to make the world a better place.  “With a little help from my friends”, I think we are off to a great start to producing those kinds of students.   Feel free to sound off in the comments section!  Until next time!

As I was driving to NCCAT, the “Humpty Dance” came across my iphone playing in my truck, and it hit me that that line could be a cool title for my first blog.  More importantly, it gave me a starting point, which is just what I needed!

Expectations.  That’s what I’m writing about.  What do I expect from the Kenan Fellowship?  I think I’m going to address this is, “what do I expect out of myself with this fellowship?”  That is a way easier question to answer.

I am a very good teacher. I am good at what I do.  My results show it.  Music is my passion and the kids see it and respond well.  I’ve been doing it for 16 years, and most years have been great.   One of my primary goals in my classes is to challenge the students to be best they can be.  I expect to have a great band and orchestra.  I expect to win competitions, and pass a love of music and learning to all my students.  I expect that my students will  work hard and give me their best.  I expect that I will have some kind of impact on my students (positive or negative). I also expect my students to be better people than they are right now. To challenge themselves, not just as musicians, but as people, to be better than good, better than great.  Then it hit me around the first part of this year……I WASN’T DOING WHAT I AM ASKING OF MY KIDS!!!!!  Then the email came.  The one with the chance to apply for a Kenan Fellowship, and the rest is self explanatory.

I expect to work hard in this fellowship.  I expect to prove to myself and others that I am more than just a music teacher, that I am a viable part of the educational community.  I expect to have my voice heard and respected, as I will do with all my fellow Fellows.  I expect to learn how the other side of education works (DPI), and I expect to put that knowledge to good use at my local level.  I expect to challenge myself with new ambitions, new goals, and a new outlook on life.  I expect to do new things (whitewater rafting was just a start!!!!!), and I expect good things to come from this fellowship.  Not a new job (although I am always looking for a bigger paycheck, but who isn’t) but new ways to teach, new ways to be effective, new ways to help people, and new relationships that will enrich my life.  The members of my Home Base Fellowship are already friends in my book, and it saddens me to be leaving them after just two weeks, but I am happy to know I will be working with them all year.  I expect to become the person I tell my students to be.

I don’t really know who will be reading this, but anyway, I leave you with this:  Are you doing what you are asking your students to do?  Are you willing to change as much as your students?  I challenge you to do this.  “Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t work anymore!  It hasn’t for a long time.  I expect that all the Fellows will adopt the same mentality as myself, and challenge the system for the better.

In conclusion, please, let me introduce myself.  My name is Michael Sutton.  I am a Teacher, Musician, Husband, Father, and a 2013-14 Kenan Fellow.

Hello all.  Just seeing if this is working.  I look forward to blogging.