Please forgive the sentimentality, but it is my birthday.
Today, I have decided to share 55 reasons that fuel my passion for teaching and fill my heart with gratitude. Please forgive the sentimentality, but it is my birthday.
- Lifelong Learning: The joy of learning never ends, and education keeps me young.
- Inspiring Students: Watching students grow and achieve their goals is incredibly fulfilling.
- Ignatian Principles: The values of cura personalis and Magis guide me in all I do.
- Faith in Action: Seeing students live out their faith through service and kindness.
- Community: The strong sense of community in most of the Catholic schools I have served is unparalleled.
- Colleagues: Collaborating with dedicated and passionate educators. I am more grateful for this than I can easily express.
- Mentorship: I have had wonderful mentors for which I am thankful, and I admit now that I have become a mentor to others.
- Innovation: Embracing new teaching methods and technologies keeps education dynamic. I cannot wait to get back to the classroom. Teaching a course is one of my highest goals for next year.
- Tradition: I do not want to be completely bound to tradition like Tevye, but I do value it. Deeply.
- Former Student Success: Celebrating the achievements of former students as they navigate their careers, some of whom I have been blessed to work with, side-by-side.
- Parent Partnerships: Working with parents to support students’ growth.
- Faith Formation: Watching students and colleagues grow in their spiritual journeys.
- Creativity: Encouraging creativity in the classroom.
- Critical Thinking: Helping students think deeply and critically.
- Service: Instilling the importance of service to others.
- Reflection: The role of reflection in both personal growth and education.
- My Wife. My Wife. My Wife.
- Music: Playing my guitar has been a significant part of my career, and a gift.
- Joyful Moments: The laughter and joy shared with students and colleagues.
- Literature: Sharing my love of literature and writing and storytelling.
- History: Teaching the lessons of history and their relevance today, especially for the years I got to team teach a history/literature course with my wife!
- Faith and Reason: Exploring the harmony between faith and reason. It is there and worth the conversation to find.
- Problem Solving: I love digging into an issue with colleagues.
- Resilience: Witnessing and fostering resilience in students.
- Innovation in Curriculum: Creating and implementing innovative curricula.
- Bishop McNamara High School: Where the journey started.
- Family Support: The unwavering support of my family in my educational journey.
- Student Voices: Hearing and valuing the voices of my students.
- Leadership: I am humbled to have had multiple opportunities to lead and influence educational practices.
- Professional Development: I have been to some great professional development and have led some, too (there have been other kinds of PD, both attended and led, but this a list of what I am grateful for!).
- Retreats: The spiritual refreshment of school retreats and the ways in which they change lives, both of students and of the adults who team them.
- Student Engagement: Finding new ways to engage students in their learning remains a goal.
- Technology: There is some really cool stuff out there. Some of it we ought to be using!
- Jim Broderick King: He must know why.
- The Facultones: I guess I can never say enough about them.
- School Events: I have had a lot of fun at a lot of school events!
- Gratitude: For the gratitude expressed by students and parents and colleagues, I say a humble “thank you.”
- New Challenges: Tackling new challenges that come with each school year, and each new school. There was a time I thought I would stay at Regis Jesuit High School for my entire career. I am glad I did not!
- Professional Networks: I have been a part of many professional networks and have learned something from each of them.
- Mindfulness: Practicing and teaching mindfulness – something I have learned from my wife.
- Prayer: The role of prayer in school life, and in my own.
- Academic Excellence: Striving for and achieving academic excellence is a cornerstone of what I want schools I serve to do.
- Art and Music: “… poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
- Sports: I. Love. High. School. Sports.
- Decorating Classrooms and Offices: My space is so very important to me.
- Michael McGuire. He must know why.
- Early Mornings: I love the time before anyone else is in the building. This is my favorite time of the school day.
- Humor: Central to who I am.
- Resilience in Crisis: I have seen so many communities stand strong and come back from seeming disasters.
- Seminars in Ignatian Leadership: What a gift to have been a part of these as a student and as a leader.
- Collaboration: Not as quick. Not as easy. Very much my preferred style of leadership.
- Literature Itself: I have read so many wonderful works I never would have had I not been required to teach them.
- Graduations: The pride and joy of graduation ceremonies.
- Family: I come from a family of teachers and am grateful to continue the line.
- Love for Teaching: Ultimately, my deep love for teaching and the profound impact it has on my life.
Here’s to many more years of learning, teaching, and growing together. Happy birthday, dear me. Happy birthday, dear me.
