Imitation is the Best Form of Flattery

This year my oldest son Noah had the most incredible dynamic duo as teachers! Mrs. Susan Kenny and Mrs. April Gordon created a truly magical 3 year old preschool learning environment, as so many of the teachers do at the preschool my children attend! Not only were they talented teachers, but they were passionate about their job as educators and extremely loving toward the children.  As a parent, who is also an educator, it was a blessing for me to see education at its finest! It was so special for me to see my son thrilled to go to school each day. Moreover, I was exuberant to see time and time again the level of excellence displayed by his teachers. They were truly inspirational and have influenced me as a parent and as a teacher.

Young learners are great at imitating others! For example, my youngest son, Zach (1 1/2), is quickly trying to do all of the things his four year old brother is doing!

 In college while seeking my degree in education, we spent a lot of time in class talking about "modeling" expectations for our students. But, honestly, I do not remember a big emphasis in school on finding exceptional models as educators to imitate! It was surely implied, of course, especially during student teaching. However, I think it is good to talk about it! Teachers learn from teachers!

As I return to the classroom after two years at home with my children, I am excited to have exceptional educators to imitate! I began my career in 1st grade in 2004. Then, moved to second grade in 2007 until    deciding to stay at home with our children in 2011.

 In my second grade classrooms, I sent home a weekly newsletter with homework, spelling words and a short paragraph of current classroom events and news. I am working to develop my weekly newsletter template for next year but am thrilled to have Mrs. Kenny's as a guide! As a parent this year, I was so impressed with the creativity through Arts and Crafts that Mrs. Kenny and Mrs. April did with the children! I kept many of the crafts that came home with Noah to hopefully use with my own classroom next year.

Above: Planning for Next Year! Be sure to visit Kim Adsit's store and Cara Carroll of The First Grade Parade Teacher's Pay Teacher's Store. Cara has incredible Agenda pieces for FREE! Kim has a lot of great activities for free, as well.


As I begin to prepare to go back into the classroom, I am thankful for model teachers who have laid some ground work for me to imitate! As an educator, I am thankful for other educators who are willing to collaborate and teach others for the good of all teachers and all children.

This Spring, after I committed to going back to the classroom, we had a training seminar that was done by the incredibly talented Kim Adsit of KinderGals. Kindergarten oozes out of her!  Noah's teacher, Mrs. Kenny, followed Kim's KinderGals blog and implemented many of Kim's teaching techniques in her own classroom. Those techniques impacted my son's learning which has influenced my planning as an educator...which I hope will soon impact the learning of my students. Thank you Kim for being a model teacher!

Much in the same way, I hope to continue to share my own ideas and inspiration through this blog and Teachers Pay Teachers. All this to say, we have so much to offer each other and we have so much to learn from one another.

Feeling inspired,