• HyperDocs Admin
• 20 Mar,2022
• BLOG

What is My Teaching Legacy?

I work with new teachers in TK-12th grade, and I encourage each teacher to find their own voice as an educator. But sometimes with the overwhelm of lesson planning, assessing learners, entering grades, completing report cards, responding to emails, and such we often lose our own sense of self. This is such a great time of year to pause and wonder how to spend the rest of the school calendar. With the final trimester or quarter upon us, I urge you to hit PAUSE and think about yourself and your teaching legacy. 

CONSIDER for yourself: 

• What will my legacy be? What do I want to be known for? 
• What will my students say about you years from now? 
• What will my impact be? 

CONSIDER for your lesson design: 

• What concepts or lessons will you slow down to accentuate? 
• What will you zoom past?
• What HyperDocs can I create to highlight the most important concepts? 

As the creators of HyperDocs, here are a few of our own hopes for a lasting legacy in the education world: 

• We want to be known for lessons that spark curiosity.
• We want to be known for designing meaningful lessons that reach every child - however needed.
• We want to be known for staying true to good teaching. Pedagogy first!
• We want to be known for inspiring teachers! We have built an incredible community of educators who are excited to share their creations with others, solicit feedback, and reflect on their teaching craft.

I work with Kristi LaDuca, a high school photography and digital art teacher, who works tirelessly to create lessons that  tap into her students’ creativity. While discussing the central idea of an upcoming lesson, we hit pause. I asked, “What do you want to be known for?” Kristi explained that she truly wants to promote a sense of creative self and freedom. Here are notes from our discussion:

I loved listening to Kristi articulate her hopes and wishes in such a clear way. We decided to share these goals directly with her students and post that question “WHAT IF?” at the front of her class website! This helps her make lesson planning decisions moving forward. Do her assignments reinforce and support this notion of “What If?” Kristi hopes that her students will remember these words in their future creative lives! By pausing to consider her legacy as a teacher, she was able to quickly recenter her lesson design. 

Below you will find three HyperDocs that we want to share with you that represent who we are, in part, as lesson designers. We hope these HyperDocs promote thought-provoking moments for you and your students. *Once you FILE>MAKE A COPY, please remember to always check the lesson for age-appropriateness, links, etc. We encourage you to remix these lessons and adapt to your own classroom needs. 

Sarah’s Legacy: COMMUNITY MATTERS. I whole-heartedly believe in promoting a strong sense of community within each classroom environment. But I also feel strongly that students learn to embrace their own community, as well as those that are different from their own. I believe this is one way for the world to feel connected … within and beyond our own communities. A teacher can develop a student’s sense of self, and simultaneously develop a sense of ‘other.’ This high school community hyperdoc was created when I stumbled upon this incredible photo essay titled, 65 Block Parties, 5 Boroughs by the New York Times. The essential concepts in this lesson are: be your authentic self, find a community to belong to, and study other communities to learn and grow as an individual! 

Kelly's Legacy: BE A COLLABORATOR! Kelly believes in bringing students and teachers together to build great ideas together. One HyperDoc that showcases her passion and legacy for collaboration is this one, titled Cultivate Craft, Celebrate Creativity. This lesson encourages teachers to share out their creative strengths to enhance team building! 

Lisa's Legacy: LAYERS. One of Lisa's greatest gifts to education is allowing the teacher to design a HyperDoc with layers in mind. Allow the students to gradually peel back the intentional layers! This Manifesto HyperDoc will highlight the many ways to enhance learning with just one single lesson. 

What are some of the ways that YOU are reinforcing your own legacy? How do you hope students will remember YOU?! students and sparking reflection in your classrooms? Comment below or share in this FORM.