Carole Colburn
MACUL Outstanding Teacher of the Year
Highlander Way Middle School, Howell, Michigan
Grades 6-8, Technology Literacy

My teaching philosophy
I am a lifelong learner! I actually knew that about myself long before the 21st century, long before the “Innovative Teaching: A Look into the Future” report was written after the first ever Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum was held in July 2005, where over 100 educators from around the world discussed the shifting paradigms for learning! I believe the role of the teacher has gone through numerous changes over the last several decades. We used to be known as the “Sage on the Stage,” pushing information out to the students. We later became the “Guide on the Side,” serving more as a facilitator of information, but still seen as the “all-knowing” person with the answers. Today, the lines between teacher and student have blurred. We are all members of a community of learners. As such, we must all be willing to “learn, unlearn and relearn”. (as Alvin Toffler said) as society continues to change with a blink of an eye. It is this desire to become a lifelong learner that I model for my students and hope to instill in their young minds and hearts. My personal mission in life is to make a positive difference in the lives of everyone I meet. My mission as an educator is to provide collaborative, integrated technology lessons that incorporate making community and real world connections as well as authentic assessment opportunities for the students.

My philosophy in action
As an educator, I believe it is my responsibility to help students realize their potential! To do this I need to listen to students to find out what interests them, to know how to proceed as far as advising, coaching or directing them in their own quest for knowledge and growth. I also believe that this goal is better accomplished through collaboration and real-world experience.

To that end, through projects like SHARC, SHED, HOUSE, SKILL, SERVE and HELP (which can be viewed at www.colburnscorner.com), students learn about working together, about connecting with their local community as well as the world at large and about themselves as students and as people. Our students have lived through the aftermath of 9/11 and hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. They have seen “up close and personal” through technology, the devastation that can occur in the blink of an eye. They have witnessed the greatness that can happen when collectively, a group of people decide to help. What I strive for is to create opportunities on a daily basis for students to find ways to serve their community. We have helped the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, local senior citizens, as well as local veterans, and the people of Darfur. I have found that projects like these not only inspire the students, but their work and dedication to making a difference has inspired me to continue to create such projects…constantly looking for a way to do more!

Brazilian educator and activist Paulo Freire wrote, “No one educates anyone else. Nor do we educate ourselves. We educate one another, in the communion, in the context of living in this world.” I believe in the power of collective knowledge and collaboration! I believe that one person can make a difference and be good, but that collectively, we are greater and more effective than one. I love my job! I love teaching! I love students! I set high expectations for myself, as well as the students entrusted in my care, and work consistently and diligently to meet those expectations so that everyone will succeed!

My greatest teaching accomplishment
I had two main influences as a young person that directly impacted my decision to become a teacher –Mrs. Alison Edwards, my high school Speech teacher, and my parents. I believe that my greatest accomplishments in education relate directly to these two influences. First, Mrs. Edwards helped me to see my gifts and strengths. I believe that my greatest contribution to education is my ability to see the gifts and strengths of my students and more importantly, to help my students see these qualities in themselves. My students are constantly learning, unlearning and relearning through reflection and revision and collaboration. In this capacity, they are able to see for themselves what they have learned, and where their strengths and weaknesses lie. There is nothing more meaningful to me, as an educator, than to have a student come to my class and be excited and happy to be there and eager to learn something new each day!

Secondly, because of my parents’ modeling of the importance of giving and serving, in my classroom I have stressed the idea of making a connection between what we learn in the classroom and applying that to the real-world through community service and involvement. projects like SHARC (Students Helping the American Red Cross), SHED (Student Helping to Eliminate Diseases), HOUSE (Helping Out Underprivileged Students Everywhere), SERVE (Students Everywhere Respecting Veteran’s Everyday), SKILL (Student Knowledge Inspiring Lifelong Learning) and HELP (Helping Everyone Living with Problems) are designed to instill a sense of the importance of community awareness and service. Students write in reflective essays, “I learned how to help people in my own community, and how just time or a little money can help save a family in my town, not have to live on the streets!” and that they felt proud because “you’re getting the message out there so that we can help the people who need it.” The results of these projects and the ensuing enthusiasm on the part of the students participating in them (like those above) are my greatest accomplishments. Reading final reflection papers by students and knowing from their words and their actions that I have made a difference in how these students see their responsibility in this world are what I consider my greatest accomplishments!

I have won numerous awards since making those first few speeches in Mrs. Edwards’s class all those years ago. Each award has given me a thrill and has been fun for me to receive. Nothing, however, will ever compare to the thrill (and chill) I feel inside when I look into a student’s eyes and know, through his or her actions, that I have made a positive difference in that student’s life and a difference that will last forever!

The most critical issues facing educators today
There are many critical issues facing educators today, from meeting the stringent standards of No Child Left Behind, to the inequitable and variant ways we fund education in the United States (every state funds differently) to school safety and security issues (Columbine, Virginia Tech, etc) to finding ways to inspire and retain new teachers as well as finding solutions for helping the increasing number of “at-risk” students in our schools. All of these issues are important and deserve thought and time to find solutions

Ultimately, I believe that successful education begins with creative, motivated, innovative teachers, who really set the bar for helping to develop successful students and the adults they will become. This can’t and won’t happen if we keep losing teachers at the astonishingly high rate we are doing so. According to the 2002 Symposium of The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF), ‘“Almost a third of America’s teachers leave the field sometime during their first three years of teaching, and almost half leave after five years. In many low-income communities and rural areas, the rates of attrition are even higher.” Even more important, and alarming, to me are the reasons cited for leaving: teachers report that they feel they are not adequately prepared once they get into the classroom and that once they are in the classroom, there is no support, hence, they feel isolated and alone.

Ways to resolve these issues
One possible cause for this is the fact that colleges and universities have not kept pace with the rapidly increasing changes in education. As most of us know, the wheels of bureaucracy move kind of slowly and it takes years to establish programs. It seems that as much as they may try to keep pace, the world is changing so quickly that it is difficult for these schools to manage – especially in a time when budgets are being cut and costs are rising! In Michigan, there has been a movement to increase the number of hours pre-service teachers spend in the classroom during their student teaching experience (going from one semester to a full year) and this has helped some. Students at many schools are now required to spend one full year of internship, teaching alongside a veteran teacher. This may be a good start, but not all schools have made this shift and alone, it has not diverted teachers from leaving the profession once they have been hired and are in classrooms of their own. I also believe that by the time a student is ready to begin student teaching, they have so much time and money invested in their own schooling that even if they don’t feel prepared, they go ahead with it anyway, only to discover down the road that teaching was not for them! In addition, there is often a “disconnect” between the instructional theory taught at education institutions and what really occurs in the classroom. Colleges and universities need to provide more field experience for pre-service teachers, and much earlier in their studies. Students who think they may want to enter the teaching profession should have the opportunity to work with and talk with veteran teachers (and novice teachers just beginning their work) to more adequately determine if teaching is really for them.

Once getting hired for that first time, having a mentor is important for the novice teacher and can help him or her to survive at times, but today, having just one mentor is not enough. In addition to mentoring, we must build a community of learners between these novice teachers, veteran teachers, administrators and support staff. The novice teacher cannot and must not be left as a “stand alone” teacher in the classroom. He or she must be encouraged and shown ways to look outside of their own classroom and beyond their one mentor for support. We must show new teachers where and how to access additional support. Online communities are a fairly new way for novice teachers to participate in dialogue that can help them to strengthen their own expertise and knowledge base as well as enhance their sense of belonging to a true community of learners.

While at the Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum, we heard a keynote address from Thomas G. Carroll, President of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future. Mr. Carroll drew comparisons between teachers (working alone in their classrooms) to the days when we would go to just one doctor to treat our illness. Today, we have “teams” of doctors helping us and we should have teams of teachers working together to learn and teach. This analogy struck a deep chord within me and reinforced my belief that novice teachers should have the support of many veteran teachers. It cannot be left to one mentor or even to the principal alone, to help ensure that the novice teacher succeeds! This quest must be taken up by all veteran teachers on staff who must foster an environment of support and create a culture of collective knowledge to help eliminate the novice teacher’s feelings of isolation.

One thought to inspire teachers to succeed
A favorite quote of mine is: "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." (Henry B. Adams) Always remember that you are planting seeds with each and every lesson you teach. You may never know which seeds take hold and grow and when the growth may take sprout.

One lesson every student should learn
We live in a world that is changing as we blink. It is important to learn how to learn…and get used to having to learn, unlearn and relearn. (Alvin Toffler)

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