Submitted by Sierra Emilson
May 2015
On April 22, 2015 I attended a presentation at Ball State University featuring the 2014 National Teacher of the Year, Sean McComb. McComb is a high school English teacher in Maryland and also works with pre service teachers at a local university. About 97% of the students McComb works with in his high school go on to earn admission at a 4 year college. In his presentation, McComb spoke about the importance of instilling hope in students in the classroom and the benefits of simply having a positive attitude. I learned many things through this presentation and believe that his words could be beneficial to all teachers.
During his presentation McComb said that the sense of hope that can be found in a student is a better predictor of a student’s future success than actual test scores. He believes that there are more to answers than just being “right or wrong.” With enough support from teachers or others in their lives, students have the chance to succeed despite any adversities that may be placed in their way. McComb believes that teachers have the ability to see things in students that might not be there yet; they have the ability to see potential. The biggest influence on a student’s achievement is their teacher’s expectations of him or her, and McComb says that since the world is not going to lower it’s expectations of people, teachers should never lower their expectations of students.
McComb also spoke about the importance of having a classroom with a positive learning culture during his presentation. He stated that positivity causes 31% more productivity. He also said it is important to realize how much your words mean to children. In his classroom, McComb he writes positive notes to his students using Post-it’s. McComb stated that as teachers, the opportunity we have to make a difference in students’ lives is priceless. He says that public education is an investment in “our kids” and that we are all in this together.
In his presentation, McComb also touched on the subject of testing. When it comes to testing, McComb said that we should not sacrifice curiosity and innovativeness that exists in children for test scores. McComb then broke down our countries results of the PISA test based on socioeconomic status. Students in our country who are not in poverty are outscoring other countries on the PISA. McComb said that a majority of students in America come from low income homes and that as a nation we need to be asking the question, “What are we doing for the least of these?” McComb also made the point that 1 in 5 children in our country are on food stamps, and 1 in 30 children are homeless. He said that as a nation, we need to work on creating the childhood and schools that our kids deserve.
Personally, I very much enjoyed Sean McComb’s presentation. I agreed with just about everything he said and I think he was an incredibly inspiring teacher to have the opportunity to learn from. I believe it is very important to create positive learning environments and to always support your students. I think that McComb’s words and values are important for all teachers to think about using in their own classrooms for the benefit of their students.
