September 2023
Patti Forster, NBCT, MCELA President
This year's conference theme, Ignite Joy–Tending the Spaces Between, is focused on allowing space for contemplating, planning, connecting, and exploring. After years of focusing on being resilient, now is a time to acknowledge our need to rekindle joy in our practice, our classrooms, and our community.
How do we ignite joy in learning? By tending the spaces between our purpose and ourselves, between ourselves and our students, between our students and their learning, between their learning and their motivation, between their motivation and their creativity, between their creativity and their inspiration, between their inspiration and their individuality. There is much we need to tend to if we want to ignite joy in learning.
Our conference theme was inspired by a poem called “Fire” by Judy Brown, from Leading from Within: Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Lead (2007), edited by Sam M. Intrator & Megan Scribner.
Excerpt from “Fire”
What makes a fire burn
is space between the logs,
a breathing space.
…
So building fires
requires attention
to the spaces in between,
as much as to the wood.
Read the whole poem here
So if we think of joy as a fire, something we want to ignite in our learners, we need to think of more than just the wood, more than just the curriculum. We must think of the spaces “between the logs,” the spaces that allow for contemplating, exploring, connecting, planning, and reflecting for our students and ourselves.
Looking forward to finding space to learn together this year,
Patti Forster, MCELA President
maine.ela@gmail.com
How do we ignite joy in learning? By tending the spaces between our purpose and ourselves, between ourselves and our students, between our students and their learning, between their learning and their motivation, between their motivation and their creativity, between their creativity and their inspiration, between their inspiration and their individuality. There is much we need to tend to if we want to ignite joy in learning.
Our conference theme was inspired by a poem called “Fire” by Judy Brown, from Leading from Within: Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Lead (2007), edited by Sam M. Intrator & Megan Scribner.
Excerpt from “Fire”
What makes a fire burn
is space between the logs,
a breathing space.
…
So building fires
requires attention
to the spaces in between,
as much as to the wood.
Read the whole poem here
So if we think of joy as a fire, something we want to ignite in our learners, we need to think of more than just the wood, more than just the curriculum. We must think of the spaces “between the logs,” the spaces that allow for contemplating, exploring, connecting, planning, and reflecting for our students and ourselves.
Looking forward to finding space to learn together this year,
Patti Forster, MCELA President
maine.ela@gmail.com
August 2022
Patti Forster, NBCT, MCELA President
At the beginning of the pandemic, all of us were suddenly novice teachers because we had never been through anything like that and didn’t know what we were doing; we were learning how to teach all over again. Maine educators rose to the occasion and reached out to each other at their schools and across the state. In this strange remote and hybrid education world, we dropped our armor of being guarded experts and became generous learners, helping each other and growing together.
My hope as we move forward this year and in the future is that we can continue these connections, leaving our expert armor where we dropped it and continuing to learn and grow together, continuing to share ideas and ask questions, continuing to support and help educators in our buildings and throughout Maine.
For myself, I like to keep goals simple, so each year I choose one word as my focus. For many years my word was BALANCE because it took me forever to find it. Last year my goal was VALUES because I felt I needed to reset mine to focus on what mattered most for me after focusing so much on serving others during the pandemic.
I am blessed to serve on the board of MCELA and realize that it provides me the opportunity to connect with incredible ELA educators statewide, so I’ve decided that my 2022-23 goal word is CONNECTION. This will work on many levels. Connecting with my students is more important than ever with the social-emotional skills lost during the distancing of the pandemic. Helping students make connections with themselves and others in the world is always a priority. Making connections with colleagues I don’t know as well and connecting with new colleagues at our school will be essential. Finally, as the incoming MCELA president, connecting with educators at all levels and with education organizations throughout the state will be my focus to support ELA educators and literacy education.
Connection is what matters most for me this year. What matters most for you? What matters most for your students?
Take some time before school starts to slow down and reflect. Write about it. Talk about it.
Maybe even create something as a reminder for yourself to post on your wall (I used Canva to create mine).
Determining what matters most for you and your students will help start a path for your school year.
My hope as we move forward this year and in the future is that we can continue these connections, leaving our expert armor where we dropped it and continuing to learn and grow together, continuing to share ideas and ask questions, continuing to support and help educators in our buildings and throughout Maine.
For myself, I like to keep goals simple, so each year I choose one word as my focus. For many years my word was BALANCE because it took me forever to find it. Last year my goal was VALUES because I felt I needed to reset mine to focus on what mattered most for me after focusing so much on serving others during the pandemic.
I am blessed to serve on the board of MCELA and realize that it provides me the opportunity to connect with incredible ELA educators statewide, so I’ve decided that my 2022-23 goal word is CONNECTION. This will work on many levels. Connecting with my students is more important than ever with the social-emotional skills lost during the distancing of the pandemic. Helping students make connections with themselves and others in the world is always a priority. Making connections with colleagues I don’t know as well and connecting with new colleagues at our school will be essential. Finally, as the incoming MCELA president, connecting with educators at all levels and with education organizations throughout the state will be my focus to support ELA educators and literacy education.
Connection is what matters most for me this year. What matters most for you? What matters most for your students?
Take some time before school starts to slow down and reflect. Write about it. Talk about it.
Maybe even create something as a reminder for yourself to post on your wall (I used Canva to create mine).
Determining what matters most for you and your students will help start a path for your school year.
