Teacher Appreciation Week & National Charter School Week

In this episode, we are celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week and National Charter School Week by showing our gratitude for the teachers and parents that make an impact on their child's education using the T.E.A.C.H.E.R. framework.

Click Here: TEACHER Framework Infographic PDF

T- time
E- encouragement and empathy
A- adaptability
C- creativity
H- heart
E- enthusiasm and expertise
R- relationships

Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.

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Transcript

0:15

Well, thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Sage Studio Podcast. I'm Tiffiny Webster, and this week we are so fortunate because we have two amazing things happening. It's Teacher Appreciation Week and it's National Charter School week, and we are just so grateful that we have amazing teachers here at Sage Oak that our parents that are at home working with their kids are doing an amazing job. I want this podcast to be all about you and to let you know about the impact that you are making your impact is really heartfelt and the students are excited about the impression that you're making on them. So I just wanted to make sure that you know that and you know how grateful we all are for the work you're doing as both the Sage Oak teachers and our parents at home. We've created a fun way to give you a little appreciation. In today's episode, we're going to be going through a framework using the letters for the word teacher as our acronym for spelling out all the ways that we are grateful for the things that you do. So today we'll be talking about the T, the E, the A, the C, the H, the E, and the R that make you as a teacher so special. All right, let's dive into it. T stands for time. We are so grateful for the time commitment made by our teachers and our parents. We know that you work tirelessly to make sure that your students are receiving an excellent education in all ways. We know that you are putting in some long days, some long nights. We know that you are also taking the time to help your student discover what they are interested in, discover the things that they're good at. and ways that you can even further incorporate that into the learning that they are doing. So we really appreciate all the time and effort that you are putting into each and every one of them. We also know that with this model, it also requires a lot of flexibility and change and shifting around. And we appreciate all of the willingness. For you to shift your schedules around so that you can attend some of our social events or some of the online classes or maybe some of the field trips. So again, your time is much appreciated and well noted. All right, the E for teacher stands for empathy, emotional support, and encouragement. There's no way these kids would be where they are at without the encouragement of those around them. So again, at home and with their Sage Oak teacher, that encouragement is everything to kids. It's the little things that they remember. It's the smiley face that gets put on their paper or just the high five and the excitement when their teacher can share in something that they are learning or an obstacle that they have overcome. And so that encouragement is everything. And the empathy of helping students work through challenges when things get a little hard and they are striving to learn something new or to practice something or improve or really even stretch their growth mindset to do something beyond what they thought they could do. Your ability to meet them where they are, truly understand and empathize with the challenge they're facing and then provide that little bit of encouragement so that they can get on to the next step is everything. So we appreciate all of the encouragement and the empathy and that emotional support that you are providing to our students. The A stands for adaptability. This model is fantastic because it really allows for a lot of adaptation within the school structure. So, when you are working with your students, you know that you can adapt things as you go along. You can kind of increase the difficulty and challenge of certain subjects if your students are ready for that. You can also make shifts. If one curriculum isn't working, you need to switch to another. You can also adapt your curriculum once you start to see that your student is really excelling in a certain area or developing a passion in an area, you can use that to inform decisions that you're making about the curriculum choices or the learning materials or the community providers that you might want to tap into some of the classes you might want to attend and the Desire and willingness to ebb and flow and adapt and change as your student is also learning and growing is really amazing and something that we really appreciate your willingness to do. The more that you're willing to flex and adapt, the more your student benefits. So, we are grateful that in this charter school model, we're able to offer all of that different personalization and the ability to be student centered. But it really wouldn't be what it is if you didn't take advantage of that. So we really appreciate that you do take advantage of that model and that you're willing to make those adaptations and changes along the way. All right, the C stands for creativity. We know that there's so much creativity that goes into each and every lesson. We know that you are always creating new ways to foster student engagement, new ways to make students connect with what it is that they're learning, new environments that you're creating so that they can be inspired and be motivated, and we know that sometimes you get out into the world and you go and you experience things firsthand and you go to theater experiences or art museums or zoos or places where students can really see what they are learning in a hands on way out in the real world where they can touch it, they can listen to it, they can learn more about it, they can observe it in its natural environments. All of those different ways are creating an amazing learning experience and we know that our students wouldn't be able to have those experiences if it weren't for your willingness to do that. So your creativity plays a huge part in their ability to think and to think critically and to make those connections to the world around them. We are constantly seeing how things are changing, evolving, shifting, and we are always creating new ways to bring learning opportunities to the students. So we really appreciate your feedback in helping us create those new systems, those new models, those new programs, our new way of thinking and learning and connecting. H stands for heart. We know that the teachers are the heartbeat of our school and that our school would not be the same without the teachers and the role that they play in connecting with the students and connecting with the families and really caring about each and every one of their students on a very personal level. We also know that it takes a lot of heart from our parents to put the effort into this type of model and the time to put into this model and the care to see their students succeed. We know that it takes a lot of heart as parents to put yourself in a place where maybe you aren't the expert in a certain subject matter, but you care deeply about your child's ability to learn it in an environment and in a way that works best for them. We know that. That love and that drive is really behind your decision to enroll your student in an independent learning model where you can really be part of their experiences, part of their education on a daily basis. So we appreciate the heart that you are putting in to your student. And to this program to help make our charter school something that is really special and really sets itself apart from other places where maybe parents aren't able to put in that same amount of connection. So we appreciate the heart that you bring to the program as well. We know that when it comes to our Sage Oak community, that there's a lot of heart in there. We know that our families love our Sage Oak school. They love being part of a charter school community. They love connecting with other parents and other students and teachers both online or in person at some of our events. And it is that community that really helps Sage Oak to thrive and to be a charter school that brings such impact to our students and to the people involved. It's because of that heart that everyone is so dedicated. And it's because that dedication that our students really benefit and are able to grow in such unique and personalized ways. So it wouldn't be the same without you and the heart that you bring. So now let's get down to letter E, which is. Enthusiasm and expertise. Now we know our Sage Oak teachers, they are experts in their fields. And one of the things that I really love about the way that we have reorganized things is by creating grade level bands for our teachers so that our teachers can really showcase their expertise in a certain grade range, such as K through five, six through eight. Or high school and that expertise is really seen in their ability to speak to curriculum options and learning materials and teaching strategies and subject matter, project ideas.... they really bring their expertise to the educational plan that they are putting together for your student. And parents, you bring so much expertise to the table too. I love it when I get a chance to hear students saying, wow, I never knew that my mom knew so much about XYZ or wow, my dad is really great at XYZ and they're learning all these different things that their parents are great at. And that is a lot of fun. So your expertise is much appreciated and you bring a very unique layer to the educational plan by serving as only as both the parent and as an expert in your field. So we appreciate that. We also know that you are bringing a lot of enthusiasm to your child's learning experience. We love to see parents excited about what their students are learning and feel excited when their students hit certain milestones. We love to see how you share that with teachers at learning period meetings so that they too can share their enthusiasm and their excitement as students are growing and learning and hitting those milestones. We know that that enthusiasm can really carry kids across the finish line and propel them to the next level and really impact their self esteem and how they look at themselves and what they can accomplish. So, that enthusiasm, that encouragement is something that's really special. And that leads us to R, which stands for relationships. We know that everything that makes this model successful has to do with the relationships. The relationships between the students and the teachers, the relationships between the parents and the teachers, the relationships between the parent and the student. We know that all of those relationships is where the magic is. That's what makes the ability for our students to connect to the people that they're working with as well as the subject matter that they're learning or the places that they're visiting. It all comes down to the relationships and sharing their amazing journey of learning with the people that matter most and the people that care about them the most. So we can never say enough about the relationship aspect and how grateful we are that our teachers can bring such close relationships to our students. To our parents, and we love seeing parents connecting with their kids through learning as well. So just to recap for you, we have T is for time, all the time that you put in to your students. E is for empathy, emotional support, and encouragement. A is for adaptability and the way that you personalize things for your kids. C is for creativity and all of the exciting ways that you make learning happen. H is for heart, all the effort that you put into developing your students academically, emotionally, and socially. E is for enthusiasm and expertise, all that love that you bring to support and cheer on students. R is for relationships. So teachers, I hope that this week you are feeling really appreciated and you know that with immense gratitude, immense gratitude, we thank you for the job that you do for our students. We thank you for the relationships that you have with our parents. And parents, we thank you for all you do to support your students in this independent learning model. So before we go, I wanted to share some of the words of appreciation that came in from our Sage Oak families for our Sage Oak teachers. So some of our parents say we're looking forward to another school year. We can't wait. You're all be so helpful and so caring. Another one said that we are super happy with Sage Oak. This is our third year here, and we love all of the support that we received from our teacher. Another one says you've definitely made learning fun, encouraging, and supportive. You are bringing the creativity. We love meeting with you during our LPs. Thank you so much for always being so positive. Another one says thank you for always informing us, having a great attitude, and making high school a smooth transition. We want to also say thank you for working with us and we're so grateful for all you do for Sage Oak and for making this journey such a positive experience. Another one says you've made learning fun and creative. Another one says, thanks for your help all year long. We appreciate it. And another says, thank you for being so kind, patient, smart, encouraging, supportive, and understanding. I could go on and on sharing all of the ways that our parents are appreciating our Sage Oak teachers, but that's just a little taste. All of that just to say, thank you so much for all you do. We appreciate you Sage Oak teachers, our parents appreciate you and our students appreciate you. You're making a big difference in this world and we appreciate it. We hope that everyone has a wonderful teacher appreciation week. You also have a wonderful national charter school week. I hope you walk away feeling grateful for the relationships that you have here and for the charter school that you're a part of. And most importantly, for the community that you are the heart of. And just so you remember how much we appreciate you, I created you a little infographic with the acronym for TEACHER and all the ways that we appreciate all that you give. So, I hope you enjoy that infographic, that you look at it often, and that you feel appreciated every time you do. You can find the link to the infographic in the show notes or in the description below this video. Have a great week, everybody. Take care.