By: ZaDarius Webber
Breakthrough Houston Teaching Fellow at GLEC, Summer 2019
Celebrate Good Times, Come-on!
Pre-Celebration
Two weeks before we received our students, Ms. JoAnna announced what elective each teaching fellow would be teaching. This was followed by Ms. Obi letting us know that every elective class had to come up with something to perform for celebration. It was at that moment that all elective teachers went with their respective co-teachers and diligently began planning the elective curricula. Every day during electives we taught our students things that would help them not only learn the subject but encourage their creativity, as well. For example, I co-taught Latin American Studies, and throughout the summer, myself and my co-teacher taught our students as much as we could about the region. By the time celebration came around, our students wanted to make a pinata and discuss the historical relevance of this widely-known tradition.
Why Celebrate?
Celebration is a time when we as a Breakthrough family get to celebrate all of the wonderful things that have happened over the six-week program. It’s also a time for students to showcase all of their hard work, not only to the parents but also to the other teachers and students that are not in their class. It provides a time to highlight the students’ work and allows the parents to witness the bonding and relationships all the teachers have cultivated with the students. It also reminds the teachers why they did what they did to impact these students. It allows us to see that our hard work has paid off. We get to see the smiles on the students’ faces, as well as on the parents’.
Don’t cry because it’s over, but cry because it happened.
Celebration ends with a final bridge and affirmation. During this time emotions are high among teachers, administration, and students. Students are crying because they do not want the summer to end, nor do they want their teachers to leave. We, teachers, cry because we have gained an attachment to our students and have watched them grow over the summer. The summer is filled with a lot of fun memories for everyone involved
Celebration is a time to celebrate, and we did just that, by celebrating all of the hard work of our students. At the end, we celebrate everyone for staying true to the purpose of being present. Part of the Breakthrough affirmation says, “We commit ourselves to hard work, dedication, respect and, above all, excellence and learning. We were all dedicated. We worked hard, showed respect to one another, and helped the students achieve excellence in learning.
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Thanks so much for supporting our mission of success for every student. We look forward to continued growth and future partnerships.