Graduation

Hello again! It's nearly 24 hours later and I have my speech written, printed and delivered.  The graduation ceremony went very well and I even had three or four parents come up to me and say that my speach was nicely done. That felt good. Here's my speech for those of you interested and I've included some pictures. Normally pictures are not allowed and I am only posting one of the kids for this reason. The room that is decorated is normally the dining room.

Good Afternoon!

I will start by saying how proud I am of these three students and what they have learned this year.  They learned not only how to ask questions, use their own ideas and but they learned how to adapt to change.  They also built upon their knowledge of what respect is and where it gets you.

I now refer to the dictionary-what would a Miss Stepp speech be without one?! (pause)

Respect: the dictionary defines respect as esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability

It has been the number one rule class all year long.  It is also a rule of life.  You have to have and show respect to be successful.  You respect yourself, those around you and you respect learning.

Learning goes both ways.  If I as a teacher had not bothered to learn, then the students would not have bothered to learn either.  Let me share with you what I have learned this year.  I learned that despite the challenges I faced learning about a different culture and getting to know a group of students humor always eases the tension in the classroom.  These students love to laugh.  One of their favorite things to do this year was to get me to laugh-especially in the middle of a lesson. I've learned that each of these students has a curiosity that drives them to ask questions and that they don't want only themselves to succeed, but they will do anything to help someone else be successful.  I've learned they are always ready to share their opinions, whether I ask for it or not. I've learned that they do care about what they learn and who is teaching them.

The students have learned as well.  I've seen through their behaviors and increased abilities.  This year, they learned about Pi. Oh what a glorious number but it was a bit puzzling why we used a picture to write Pi rather than writing out the number.  They also learned how to find the volume, diameter and circumference of a pie.  the students learned that it's hard to learn sometimes.  There were plenty of frustrations when I said, "no, try it on your own," and "you can do it-trust that you can." That's the most important thing.  Trust that you have the ability to do something so that you can teach it to someone else and keep learning about why. Why do things happen? Why do you do that differently? Why. Keep asking it.

Last, here is one bit of knowledge to take with you.

Never regard study as a duty, but as the enviable opportunity to learn to know the liberating influence of beauty in the realm of the spirit for your own personal joy and to the profit of the community to which your later work belongs."
(Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-Swiss-American mathematical physicist, famous for his theories of relativity.)

Don't learn just because someone tells you, you must; learn because you are curious.

Oh yes, and one more thing:

Hyperpolysyllabicomania is a fondness for big words."

Hyper-poly-syllabic-co-mania

 This is the podium and the south side of the dining room.

 Still facing south-a look at the whole room.

These are the first through seventh graders who sang the three songs at gradation-including humming Pomp and Circumstance.