C23: A Time for Giving Thanks

by Lu Gerlach

​​Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family and friends.  For many Canadians and Americans around the world, today is a special day we celebrate to honor our past and reflect on our many blessings.  Canadians celebrate their holiday on the 2nd Monday in October and Americans on the last Thursday in November.  I would be remiss on this particular Thanksgiving to take a moment to share my gratitude for my relationships, health, employment, and plentiful opportunities to grow. 

With this in mind, I’d like to extend my gratitude to you. Thank you to all of the educators around the world who…

• Work tirelessly to provide the best education possible for their students regardless of the setting.  You are bringing value to our learners more than you know and are often appreciated for during these times.  You will be remembered along with our first responders for making a difference in 2020 and beyond. 

 

• Challenge themselves to learn more during this pandemic. You’ve learned in a minimal span of time how to pivot to a virtual learning world.  This is not easy for many of us who are not digital natives.  You handled all of the challenges with such grace.  

 

• Support each other to grow.  I’ve seen more teacher networks pop up during the pandemic with the sole mission to help each other get through this trying time.  My heart is full when I think of how so many are helping each other.  This is what it means to be an educator. 

I’d like to extend my gratitude to the International Baccalaureate (IB) for creating amazing programs: Primary Years Programme, Middle Years Programme, Diploma Programme, and Career-Related Programme.  These programs stretch our learners in ways they wouldn’t in a traditional learning model and I’m so proud to be a part of it. 

I’ve been asked numerous times why I love the PYP so much.  It’s simple, it's a program that looks at all children with endless potential to create meaning from their learning and to make connections to the outside world.  Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? 

I’m grateful that my PYP journey has not been easy.  I went through a huge learning curve like many of you as I learned the new terms and ways of teaching that were different than what was being prescribed by my state curriculum.  I had to read, research, test strategies, reflect, and modify while dealing with the uncertainty of if I was doing it right.  This process helped me to develop a resilience to major obstacles that have come my way.

At times, my over exuberance for the PYP has not been well received by fellow teammates, school leadership, and parents.  The one thing that helped me to move forward was the smiling faces of my students.  My greatest saving grace was I found different ways to share my passion with the world that were outside of my immediate situation. 

I began by becoming an IB educator who led workshops (face to face and online) and as a site team member to visit schools seeking authorization and evaluation.  As I became proficient in these roles, I craved more opportunity to grow.  I took on the role of PYP Coordinator which helped me to look at the program differently.  Now, I share my ideas through this podcast, blog posts, videos, content creation, presentations, and more.  

I’m grateful that we are beings who are able to create, connect, and share with each other.  If you are like me, find the way you are most passionate about sharing your voice about the PYP or inquiry-based learning if you are not at a PYP school.  It will greatly help you to find your center again.  This podcast has helped me to dig deep to make new connections to ideas I had not considered before.  It has made me a better educator and I know it will help you too. 

Thank you for listening to my confessions about the PYP and taking them into your lives.  May you have a blessed day and see you soon. 

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