After hearing Jason Aldean's hit song "1994" almost daily for these first three weeks of school, I had to ask " Who in the heck is Joe Diffie?!" There isn't a day that goes by where my students don't teach me something new- so why should this time be different? Apparently Joe Diffie was a hit country artist in the early '90s with songs like "John Deere Green" and "Pickup Man". He also was a, in the words of a student, "mullet master". I am not a country music fan but my kids are getting me there. And I have to admit, I did have to go home and listen to some Diffie. Now, thanks to my kids, I feel like somewhat of an expert, well maybe not expert, but definitely not a novice, on Joe Diffie. I feel like I could confidently offer an opinion on his music...and hair.
My point is that my kids are always teaching me just as much as I am teaching them. They are experts on topics I never dreamed of thinking about (like Joe Diffie). They have experiences I have never lived (like my students, who are already here and gone, who have a parent that works on the pipeline and travel to different schools every few months). They offer me insight that I don't see and a viewpoint of the world I haven't held since I was a middle school tween. They don't know it but I learn just as much, if not more from them than they do from me. They are great teachers already. I have to say that they are making me a better teacher, a more well-rounded person and, in the words of a student "way more cooler than I would be without them". There isn't a day that goes by when I am thankful that I get to do what I do and that I get to work with this age group of kids.
I asked my husband the other night if I was, indeed, cooler now that I teach middle school- apparently I have some room to grow, but at least I can jam to some Joe Diffie now.....
"...he wrote Billy Bob loves Charlene....in John Deere greeeeeennnnn!"
My point is that my kids are always teaching me just as much as I am teaching them. They are experts on topics I never dreamed of thinking about (like Joe Diffie). They have experiences I have never lived (like my students, who are already here and gone, who have a parent that works on the pipeline and travel to different schools every few months). They offer me insight that I don't see and a viewpoint of the world I haven't held since I was a middle school tween. They don't know it but I learn just as much, if not more from them than they do from me. They are great teachers already. I have to say that they are making me a better teacher, a more well-rounded person and, in the words of a student "way more cooler than I would be without them". There isn't a day that goes by when I am thankful that I get to do what I do and that I get to work with this age group of kids.
I asked my husband the other night if I was, indeed, cooler now that I teach middle school- apparently I have some room to grow, but at least I can jam to some Joe Diffie now.....
"...he wrote Billy Bob loves Charlene....in John Deere greeeeeennnnn!"