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Teachers Who Challenge


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Challenged as a Student

When I think of my favorite teacher, I think of Professor Jones (named changed for confidentiality) from California State University of Long Beach.  I have to ask myself, why is he my favorite teacher?  Why does he stand out in my mind from all of the rest?  As I go over all of the reasons why I valued my time in his class, there is one reason that sticks out among the rest: he challenged me day in and day out.

 I was lucky to take both a literature course and a composition course from him as I was completing my bachelor's in English Education.  I remember turning in my first draft of a writing assignment for his Applied Composition for Teachers course thinking, I totally aced that first draft. Several days later I received his page of direct feedback notating that the draft I submitted would receive a below average mark if turned in as is for the final paper. I remember feeling shocked and stunned as I stared at his comments; I was in my last year of college.  Why had all of my previous professors given me high marks without challenging me and requiring real growth?  

 Ultimately instead of feeling defeated or upset, I decided to accept the challenge presented in front of me and look at my situation as a learning opportunity.  I was choosing to have a growth mindset before I knew what growth/fixed mindsets were.  Along this journey Professor Jones was there with me pushing and challenging me to the next level.  At the conclusion of this course I reflected back on my growth and recognized that I had developed more as a writer than every before.  I understood that my other teachers weren't bad teachers; they were great teachers as well.  There was one common difference...Professor Jones was the first educator to challenge me and push me as a learner.  

Challenging as a Teacher

I, like Professor Jones, am lucky to be able to identify as an educator. My goal is to provide the necessary opportunities for my students to feel challenged and grow as learners and thinkers. Presently, my students are taking charge of their learning through their 20% Time Projects in my Design Thinking Elective.  Along the way I continue to challenge them to expand their thinking and choices that they make.  The choice and challenge aspects have allowed my students to accomplish such things as organizing and holding a story time focused on being active for young kids at a local public library and learning how to create a stop motion film.  

 Another student group created a Design Thinking Event for students at our middle school, so they too could experience the "amazingness" of the Design Thinking process. I couldn't help but jump up and down with glee as I read this student group's following post: 
"We are doing very good this week. We were able to get a lot more in! My partner and I have gotten a lot of feedback lately from our teacher, and… We aren't able to do the Girl Scouts idea. My partner asked her troop leader and she didn't have an available meeting for us to manage, so we decided to go back to our club-like idea. By talking to our teacher, we agreed that it would be great to tweak our plan just slightly so that we could make an after-school, one day event in the cafeteria. So, I emailed the principal to request some of his feedback. He replied by saying that our idea was… a YES! He reserved the cafeteria on the date that we had asked for and I can’t be happier! Now all we have to do is work on accessing the materials for the different challenges that we will run at the Design Thinking Event, plan out how everything will work out, and hope that all goes well! Our Design Thinking teacher said that she would be able to supervise the event and help us along the way, and I am excited to see how this will all work out!" -7th Grade Design Thinking Student

It is apparent that this student is overcoming challenges that she is presented with along the way and recognizing her success from her hard work and the choices that she makes. Just as a side note, the event was held a few weeks ago and was a success due to my students' hard work!  They had a bigger turn out than expected and the other students who attended ask them to start a Design Thinking Club at our school.  Only time will tell what the outcome is, but I was blessed to see that when students are challenged and empowered...great things will happen. 



I am continuing to look for more opportunities to challenge my students in positive ways that will help prepare them for their futures both academically and personally. I hope that the opportunities for growth that I present with will have the same impact on them that Professor Jones' challenges had on me as a student. 


Dedicated to teachers who challenge for topic #3 of the @YourEDUstory blog challenge 2015! 

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