the one where i met my teaching hero

Have you read The End of Molasses Classes? I read it two summers ago when it came out. If you haven't read it, you must put it on your list to read read it right now! You will not be sorry. I'm going to read it again this summer. I might even reread his first two books. 

I am even such a nerd that I preordered the book and waited impatiently until I could read it. 

I found out at the last minute that Ron Clark would be speaking near me and there were still tickets. Several years ago he came and spoke to all of the teachers in my district in a large stadium. This time the venue, while impressive, was quite a bit smaller.

And I was going to get to go!

I called my friend, Alana, to see if she wanted to go with me. Oddly enough, she had just gotten tickets and was about to call me to see if I wanted to go. 

Perfect!

We got there right when the doors opened because I wanted a good seat. We snagged seats in the second row!

This man is full of energy - which made getting a good picture a little bit of a challenge. He never stopped moving. He engaged the audience from the very beginning of his presentation.

He walked around the auditorium and even climbed on chairs. If you know anything about him, you already know he likes to climb on the desks in his classroom while teaching. At one point he stood on the arm rests of the empty seat right in front of me and spoke for a while.

Right in front of me.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a little bit worried about whether or not he would fall.

Afterwards, Alana and I got our books signed and we got to meet him.

He did not sit behind a table and smile fake pleasantries as he signed our books. Instead he used a stool and small table to sign the books, but not before he got up and gave me a big hug when I walked up ~ like he'd been waiting for me to finally get to the front of the line. He genuinely asked about what grade I teach and followed up with a few more questions based on the answers I gave. He paid attention and gave value to what I said ~ just like we need to remember to do for our students.

And we got a picture! Awesome!

Yeah, we were pretty much star-struck by the whole deal.

Alana and I have decided that we are going to print this picture to hang it up in our class to remind us all year of the kind of teachers we are supposed to be.

All the groupie talk aside, hearing him speak was a fabulous inspirational boost that every teacher needs mid-summer when the ambivalent feelings of affecting little lives by teaching versus wishing summers would last forever creep into our thoughts. Even though I'm nowhere near done with summer yet, I know this next school year is gonna be something great, something worth watching!