Shelly Fryer Reflection
Not much is more impressive than an innovative, spirited educator giving their body and soul into inspiring the next generation of students. Shelly Fryer, a 3rd Grade teacher at Casady School (www.casady.org/page) in OKC, manages to go above and beyond this. Shelly is one of the nation's leading educators in the modern age, holding several honors from PBS and other organizations from around the United States. Throughout her 20 years of service to the education world, she has shown the world her deck of pedagogical methods and ideologies, the culmination of which have been highly effective.
When you first enter Shelly's website (www.shellyfryer.com/), it is very apparent her passion for her students is indeed burning bright. In the latest article published on her homepage, Shelly compares her experience at Positive Tomorrows (www.positivetomorrows.org/) with her new situation at Casady. Despite both schools being highly different situations, she has noticed that the student groups are not so different. For example, following Maslow's hierarchy of needs (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs), Shelly realizes children must have a sense of belonging in their lives. This is especially true for students who are preparing to move into a middle school setting, when hormones wreck their emotional stability. Shelly promotes a welcoming atmosphere in her room by doing the "little things" for her students - creating flexible seating spaces and strengthening classroom community are just two examples of this.
As you progress through her homepage, Shelly's desire to connect with her students manifests itself in what seems like nearly every sentence she writes. In the post "Helping My Students Love Learning," Shelly explains that she wants her assignments to be authentic rather than boring, pre-built "canned prompts" that barely or don't connect with her students. She continues to describe her love for her students in her post "The First Weeks of School," describing how she makes sure her students know she genuinely cares about them.
One of my favorite things about Shelly is that she loves to share her students' projects and work. My favorite example of this is when she posted her students' Black History Month biographies, which were all in video format. To do this, Shelly tasked her student to use the Book Creator and iMovie apps on the iPad - and wow, some students made fantastic videos! I was especially impressed with the student who created a biographical movie trailer (www.youtube.com/watch?v=cysFnG0L0bc&list=PLMV4wUUUOSYLtrub0nlJaDD38KqPoXpYh&index=1) over Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the few short days I've known of Shelly Fryer's work, I've been blown away by the sheer fire she has for education. Shelly takes pride in being a teacher, and boy does it show. She does all that she can to ensure her students have the best academic environment, both regarding the physical classroom and in her teaching methods. By embracing technology in the classroom, Shelly further enhances her teaching success while promoting new and efficient programs to her fellow teachers around the nation.
Mrs. Fryer, you have touched many lives in this country - some of which you have never had as students in a classroom. In a way, prospective teachers like myself are students of education pioneers such as yourself. I commend you for being such an awesome educator for your students. I hope I can be as inspirational as you have one day.
When you first enter Shelly's website (www.shellyfryer.com/), it is very apparent her passion for her students is indeed burning bright. In the latest article published on her homepage, Shelly compares her experience at Positive Tomorrows (www.positivetomorrows.org/) with her new situation at Casady. Despite both schools being highly different situations, she has noticed that the student groups are not so different. For example, following Maslow's hierarchy of needs (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs), Shelly realizes children must have a sense of belonging in their lives. This is especially true for students who are preparing to move into a middle school setting, when hormones wreck their emotional stability. Shelly promotes a welcoming atmosphere in her room by doing the "little things" for her students - creating flexible seating spaces and strengthening classroom community are just two examples of this.
As you progress through her homepage, Shelly's desire to connect with her students manifests itself in what seems like nearly every sentence she writes. In the post "Helping My Students Love Learning," Shelly explains that she wants her assignments to be authentic rather than boring, pre-built "canned prompts" that barely or don't connect with her students. She continues to describe her love for her students in her post "The First Weeks of School," describing how she makes sure her students know she genuinely cares about them.
One of my favorite things about Shelly is that she loves to share her students' projects and work. My favorite example of this is when she posted her students' Black History Month biographies, which were all in video format. To do this, Shelly tasked her student to use the Book Creator and iMovie apps on the iPad - and wow, some students made fantastic videos! I was especially impressed with the student who created a biographical movie trailer (www.youtube.com/watch?v=cysFnG0L0bc&list=PLMV4wUUUOSYLtrub0nlJaDD38KqPoXpYh&index=1) over Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the few short days I've known of Shelly Fryer's work, I've been blown away by the sheer fire she has for education. Shelly takes pride in being a teacher, and boy does it show. She does all that she can to ensure her students have the best academic environment, both regarding the physical classroom and in her teaching methods. By embracing technology in the classroom, Shelly further enhances her teaching success while promoting new and efficient programs to her fellow teachers around the nation.
Mrs. Fryer, you have touched many lives in this country - some of which you have never had as students in a classroom. In a way, prospective teachers like myself are students of education pioneers such as yourself. I commend you for being such an awesome educator for your students. I hope I can be as inspirational as you have one day.