My name is Brianna Amoscato, and I am continuously learning more every day about my vocation as a teacher. Though I've spent much of my time in the third grade classroom, I equally enjoy teaching Middle School students through extra curricular activities and small groups. Through TEDx, OneDayPGH and poetry, I am constantly inspired by the stories and voices that thread together to create tapestries of inspired change. The greatest gift you can give to a child is allowing them to discover their voice.
Education is a journey filled with beautiful students, unique challenges, unchartered waters, dreams and whimsy. As Bob Goff says, whimsy is “The do part of faith along with something worth doing.” Education is worth doing. Creating a classroom of global and empathetic citizens is worth doing. Creating an atmosphere of learning and love that channels equity for all students is most certainly worth doing.
About ten years ago, when I decided I would embark upon this journey as a teacher, I remember ponding why I had a yearning to pursue this particular vocation over another. I explained it like this: if you ever have been part of an ensemble, you know the magic that occurs when every individual is playing their own melody. But that melody no longer becomes their own when the response becomes a collective action. A classroom has the capabilities and the wonders to be a place for all musicians and dreamers and thinkers. To create positive change and push past boundaries and roadblocks along the way. Learning to listen past our own melody and realizing how much more powerful that melody can become when it unites with others is the beauty of life and the beauty of education.
Every student deserves to sing their melody to their fullest potential. Beyond standardized test scores. Beyond the parameters society sets for them. Beyond the multiple-choice bubbles. Beyond the rigid standards that expect all students to learn a certain way and feel a certain way. This is not learning.
What is education? Learning about the world around you so that you can find what inspires your soul. Asking the critical questions. Finding real-world examples of learning that force visible thinking routines. Talking about the uncomfortable. Remaining vulnerable. Valuing diverse perspectives. Making mistakes. Becoming so exciting about changing the world that your heart aches in anticipation of this. Becoming confident in who you are as a person. Pushing yourself to new heights. Understanding the value of hard work but also when to ask for help. Actively listening to others. Learning to collaborate and communicate with all different people. Instilling hope in another. Entering the door with a fresh perspective every day you walk into your classroom.
To feel supported and loved. To dream the biggest of dreams. To make mistakes, to pocket wonderment, to sprinkle soul into everything we do. That is education.
To read more about my experiences, view my resume. I can be reached at [email protected].
