Day 7 of my 30-Day Blogging Challenge for teachers from teachthought.com

Day 7 of my 30-Day Blogging Challenge for teachers from teachthought.com

Here is the link to the site with the 30-day challenge. 
http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/reflective-teaching-30-day-blogging-challenge-teachers/

Day 7. Explain: Who was/is your most inspirational colleague. 


After already throwing Joe Taylor @joe_edtech into my post yesterday, I do not want to get redundant and ramble on. This is a lesson learned, as I probably should have looked at all the questions before I starting writing. Still, I don't know if I can name my most inspirational colleague (aside from Joe of course). 

I don't feel that I ever had a TRUE mentor when I first started teaching. There were obviously those whom I worked very closely with, and in some ways, I guess we inspired each other. 

My initial days working at Buffalo Grove High School were interesting. I came in as a former college football player, Sergeant in the Army Reserves and.....well....also an English major (Although you might not be able to tell from my blogs). I don't think some of the teachers in the English Department knew how to take me. In fact, most of them probably thought that I was a coach first and a teacher second. One my my very good friends in the department has even admitted that she rolled her eyes when the department head said that she had just hired a football coach who was in the military. 

As the year began I became very good friends with another new teacher, Jeff Grybash @jeffgrybash. He seemed to fit the, "English Teacher" mold better than I did. Still, we were both asked to teach classes that: 

1. We had never taught before
2. They were not planning on continuing the next year 
3. Were new, so NO ONE had materials to share. 

Needless to say, our first year was a whirlwind. We had to meet every morning at 6:15 just to plan out the day and barely scrape by. As the years went on, we obviously learned how to work smarter, not harder and have really continued our trend of working together knocking out tests, materials and daily plans collaboratively. We even were lucky enough to have one of his good high school friends get hired @matthewbranham who works just as hard and tirelessly as we do. 

That being said, I feel that by my last year of working in the English Department, there were some whom I collaborated with more than others, but every single person in that department changed me and helped me grow into the teacher and tech-coach that I am today. Does that sound a little cliche? Yes, but I always felt that cliches were overstated phrases for a reason. So that't my story and I'm sticking to it.