We Make A Difference

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Teachers all should have golden halos above their heads!!! We all appreciate their enthusiasm, their genuine love for teaching and the difference they make in each of our children’s lives! We also know that there are just some teachers out there who are “extraordinary” and seldom get the recognition. Well, this week we have Sherayne Flowers, a Fabulous First Grade teacher here in Orlando, Florida at Sunrise Elementary School, who also happens to be my daughter’s teacher this year. She is amazing, loving, vivacious, and definitely passionate in her calling as an educator.

I know this may be a biased interview, but I am only sharing the experience I had when I volunteer in her classroom. For 60 whole minutes, Sheryane’s energy scale did not dip once!!! She engaged the children, encouraged their spirits, challenged their thinking, and incorporated humor in her lessons that morning… Imagine how wonderful the children feel after an entire school day of that! Once I saw that, I just HAD to have her on this show to share with all of you how teachers do make a DAILY difference in our children’s lives!

Sherayne Flowers has been an elementary school teacher for over 7 years and knew within the first nine weeks of college in Boston that she was meant to teach. It was also there that she experienced prejudice for the first time. She knew then that it was her mission” to teach the beauty of each individual.” She also talks to us about the first time in Boston that a family felt “uncomfortable” with her due to her ethnicity. But, rather than be defensive or upset, Sherayne used it as an excellent opportunity to share her love for the children and being an educator with this family. By the end of the year, the family learned that being of a different culture/ethnic background does not matter. It still amazes me that with all that we have accomplished in today’s society this still exists?!

She continues to share with us her “Ms. Flower-isms” such as the certain cheers and phrases her students use to praise their own efforts while learning. She is a hands on teacher who encourages the children to also express their own individuality and uses it to learn. Her “fun-loving style” shows her students that learning is FUN! Even when the subjects are boring, she puts a unique twist on it. She truly celebrates each child’s successes and gently encourages if success is not achieved in the first try.

Sherayne discusses how she greets and says good-bye to her students with a huge hug and why that is such an important gesture in her classroom. Eloquently, she ends our conversation with saying that the student-teacher relationship is really a student-family relationship where it is “a team effort just like a sport. (We have to) communicate with each other….” How true is that! We sometimes forget that it IS a team effort…

This show shares with you only one extraordinary teacher in the sea of millions of extraordinary teachers. I hope that after listening, you may want to incorporate some of her “Ms. Flower-isms” with your own children to celebrate how wonderful they are! I have and the children love it!

If you have any other teachers you’d like to share with us, please let me know! I’d be honored to share his/her story! Email me at sboyette@parentseverywhere.com or comment on this week’s blog. Teachers chose to become the change agents in education and we need to give kudos to those who continue to make a difference in the hearts of our children…Thanks so much!

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