A STAR is born

A STAR is born
If you know, or have had the priviledge of seeing, a STAR teacher you know they are just different.  It makes me wonder whether STARs are born or if they can be taught to be STARS.  I am more inclined to believe, in my experience, that STAR teachers are born with qualities that set them apart, as Haberman mentions.  They are self driven, reflective, knowledge seeking, student centered individuals who motivate students to succeed because of them and not in spite of them, which is an unfortunate reality too.
I have had the priviledge of knowing 2 outstanding STAR teachers, the Dr. Shaw that I talked about in my posts, and my husband.  I worked with "my Dr. Shaw" in the affluent white school setting where she was the first black teacher to be hired at that school.  That was really her driving force for applying in the first place because others had told her that this school would never hire a black teacher.  They were wrong.  She possesses all of the qualities of Dr. Shaw, and many times while reading that chapter of our book I could have just slipped her name in there and kept reading it was that similar.  She also meets all the criteria for STAR teacher status - she loved the students and was always in her classroom, rarely mixing with other staff, did not attend meetings, nor take on leadership roles; yet she was a remarkable educators.  Students thrived in her classroom and we would often talk about the success of certain students who managed very nicely in our classrooms but failed miserably in other classrooms in the school.  I learned a great deal from my Dr. Shaw.

While I wait for my volunteer experience to begin this week with Rolling Readers of Space Coast to read to students in a title 1 school in Brevard County I have been back in contact with my colleague.  She is sharing her doctoral thesis with me on the marginalization of African American boys in education.  We have discussed meritocracy, color blindness, hiring practices, life experiences, road blocks, and more.  This week she talked about being a black woman when it comes to Black History Month and the fact that even though she is in a diverse suburban school, she is still called to run Black History month because she is black.  I can hear the frustration in her emails.  She sent me some art work that her students completed that I would like to share with you.  I look forward to continuing my conversations with her and learning first hand through her educational journey.