Imagine If - you were surrounded by people who shared the same passion for teaching as you?

Imagine If...

...you were surrounded by people who shared the same passion for teaching as you?

In 2016, my colleagues and I were fortunate enough to receive 2 hours of training each week on PBL (Project-Based Learning). It was an exciting process where it slowly dawned on me that this was the teaching approach I had been waiting for. It ignited my inner fire and gave me the desire and courage to think about teaching completely differently, making it meaningful for my students and finding the common thread in interdisciplinary and authentic issues. I was very determined to jump into it and make a huge effort for my students to experience a school that was both fun, educational, and meaningful.

However, I was worried if it was possible to find colleagues who shared the same passion as myself. I knew that in order for my dreams to come true, I needed colleagues around me who wanted the same thing. I also knew that for me to succeed as a teacher, I depended on a team I could trust and who were prepared to experiment, make mistakes, and act in chaos during the process of change.

I found my perfect team, and August 2017 was the year that marked the start of our very first PBL project. I was really looking forward to getting started. I was excited, filled with energy, and had high expectations for myself, my team, and my first-grade students. My team and I had really put in a lot of effort to design the coolest projects for our students. We had gone through a long process, spent many hours finding the right starting point. Together, we had been frustrated, disagreed, enthusiastic, crazy, funny, and had pushed each other's boundaries and challenged our mindsets, big time!

"We called ourselves the DreamTeam, and with good reason. We did it so well and went all-in on everything we did. Sure, not everyone thought it was necessary to make so much out of it, 'turn down the ambition a bit,' 'your colleagues are stressed about how much time you're spending.' I remember we were really provoked by that. We were so passionate, and we did it well! Why should we limit ourselves when we were so dedicated to making a difference for our students, the core! The fact that we also had fun and were high on experiences was a huge gift.

We isolated ourselves in our basement room.

Only let good energy in.

Believed in our mission and completed it.

The students had light in their eyes and beamed with pride!

I vividly remember the feeling we had in our bodies after our first very successful project. We were high on experiences and so proud of our students and ourselves. It was certainly a tough and time-consuming process we had been through, but it didn't matter. The feeling of satisfaction we all had in our bodies overshadowed everything else - we did it, and we did it together.

It is the best team experience I have ever had. When the days can sometimes seem overwhelming, and the resistance presses, I evoke the feeling I had back then and regain the courage to be defiant and fight for what I believe in.