President's Message
by Randy Huth (randy.huth@mpsd.ca)
I hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing summer and I would like to wish everyone a wonderful and successful school year.
Fired Up! Fired Up! Fired Up! President Obama tells a great story about how one person from a very small town changed his attitude and encouraged him to stay motivated to help people do the right thing and make their community a better place. During his long and tiring presidential election campaign, Obama tells the story of how he made a promise to a local politician to visit her small community. The meeting was very early in the morning and Obama had to drive almost two hours in pouring rain to reach her small town in the middle of nowhere. At the town meeting, Obama was doing his usual handshakes and trying to put on a brave smile even though he was feeling tired and miserable.
Then he heard this chant going on behind him. Fired up! Fired up! Fired up! At first he thought this was annoying and he wondered who was making such a noise. This tiny elderly lady with a big brim hat kept repeating the phrase, Fired up! Fired up! Fired up! President Obama was told that this person was known for repeating phrases of encouragement at town meetings. The phrases were short and she would keep shouting them like a broken record. After a little while, the elderly lady started to chant let’s get going! Let’s get going! Let’s get going! After hearing these phrases repeated over and over again, Obama said he started to feel better; in fact, he started to feel energized and ready to go. The phrases caught on and everybody in the room started to chant, fired up! Fired up! Let’s get going, let’s get going! On this dreary overcast morning Obama realized how one person’s attitude changed an entire room into a place of inspiration and hope.
I believe in our province on a daily basis, teachers, administrators and district staff continually encourage children to get fired up in their classrooms. Educators face many issues each day that can take them away from their focus on improving student learning. However, despite these challenges such as funding cutbacks and limited resources, we continue to improve instruction in the classroom and build strong, caring relationships with our students.
I am very proud to be a member of BCASCD and work alongside a great group of educators who want to make a difference for students in our province. This year we have planned for three excellent professional development opportunities. On the Provincial Professional Development day, Friday October 23rd, we are hosting a one day workshop on “Differentiating instruction across the Curriculum”, presented by Carolyn Chapman, an international educational consultant, author and teacher. In February 2010, we will be hosting along with the Coquitlam Teachers’ Association, another dinner meeting and the conversation will centre on the subject of Art and Technology. Later in April 2009, we will host our third event, a second dinner meeting on how we support the vulnerable children in our schools. I hope you can join us in one of these excellent educational opportunities (please see our website for more details) and help support BCASCD in making a difference in our province.
Fired Up! Fired up! Fired Up! Let’s get going! Let’s get going! Let’s get going!
|
