JEROMESVILLE — Gerry Brooks knows the exact date, time and moment he wanted to become an educator, he told a crowd of around 400 teachers at Hillsdale Local Schools Friday.
Brooks, an elementary school principal in Lexington, Kentucky, has amassed over 500,000 followers on social media. He posts humorous education content and travels across the country speaking to educational groups.
Brooks told Ashland County educators he participated in a Christmas gift exchange in the third grade. He went into the gift exchange planning to try and pick out his own present — a set of squirt guns.
But on the bus, he talked to a friend of his, who brought a nondescript white mug for the exchange. The teacher promised to wrap the gift. Brooks knew if one of his other classmates got the mug, they wouldn’t be kind about it. He didn’t want his friend to be teased.
The gift exchange went awry, though, and somebody else picked the wrapping that contained the mug. When they opened it, the mug had been filled with different colored Sharpies and a king-sized Snicker bar.
Brooks said his teacher told their class it was the best gift ever, because all the students in the class would sign the mug.
That was the moment that showed him just how powerful the job of a teacher is.
“No matter what you do in your district, no matter what group of kids you work with, no matter how many years you’ve been there, every single one of you at some point each year will have a kid standing in front of you with a nondescript coffee cup waiting for someone to love them, respect them, and encourage them, and allow them to walk away from your peers and their peers with dignity because of the love and respect you show to them on a daily basis,” Brooks said.
Brooks served as the keynote speaker for an educator empowerment summit for Ashland County teachers Friday. The day brought educators together with breakout sessions, a keynote speech on artificial intelligence and Brooks’ speech.
The event, hosted at Hillsdale Local Schools this year, is in its fourth year, according to Hillsdale curriculum director Allyson Baker.
It brings together teachers from Ashland City Schools, Hillsdale Local Schools, Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village Schools and Mapleton Local Schools. Baker said more than 400 teachers attended the event this year.
Creating culture
The rest of Brooks’ keynote focused on teachers’ role in creating the climate in their buildings.
He talked about how their participation in school events and activities, willingness to go out of the way to help their colleagues and treating each other well can set the tone for the school.
His hope was for teachers to take away more acceptance for each other, and ideas to bring back and discuss with their fellow educators.
Brooks also said he hoped teachers would leave with an understanding of how important their jobs are. Their choices to offer students dignity — or not — can last lifetimes.
Brooks’ speech put a cap on the day. Teachers who attended participated in two sessions each, received lunch and listened to a morning keynote from Charles Piscitello and Dave Grimes of Ashland University. Piscitello and Grimes spoke about the role of artificial intelligence in K-12 education.
Breakout sessions included choices like enhancing student accountability, culture of wellness, biology of the brain and incorporating podcasts.
Carly Black, a ninth grade English teacher at Hillsdale, led the session on incorporating podcasts. She shared about how she uses podcasts to engage students in her classroom.
“We start class with a podcast and listen,” Black said. “Then, students pick their own to listen to.”
Eventually, the goal is for students to make and produce their own podcast based on books they’re reading in the classroom.
Getting inspired
Teachers left the day feeling inspired. Jillian Beun, an AU student and intern helping teach English at Ashland High School, said experiences like the summit have offered her a chance to learn more about teaching. They’ve also given her new ideas.
For example, she said she appreciated a breakout session on enhancing student accountability Friday. That session looked at how teachers can use data to help engage students and foster their growth. Alexandria Paulino, a teacher at Edison Elementary School, led the session.
Beun said she learned how students today seem to struggle with motivation in school. So, teachers are tackling not only academic success for students. They’re also helping them with other aspects of life.
The session equipped her with seven habits she said she’ll introduce to her students to help with their motivation, coming from the book “The Leader in Me.”
While she’s had some opportunities to apply the lessons professional development experiences have offered her in her role as an intern, Beun said most of the information she gathered Friday went into a notebook.
She plans to revisit it when she has her own classroom someday. She hopes to teach high school English.