We are models, whether we know it or not #SAVMP

Saturday morning I started my day like I normally do.  I went on Tweetdeck and began to participate in #satchat.  I live in Wisconsin and 6:30 comes pretty early on a Saturday, but I do my best to not miss the engaging conversation.  I was able to watch the live feed from #edscape, follow the tweets, and add to the comments about being a connected educator.
Because #satchat was broadcasted from #edscape, I thought I would follow the hashtag and found that there was a link to George Couros' keynote so I just had to watch.  It was a great keynote, and one thing jumped out at me- We are models for learning for our students and each other.  George shared the following picture in his keynote.

Image from 929thebull.com
I was checking my emails from time to time during the keynote (Don't we all do that?).  I have to provide a little background before I share an email I received.  I was surprised by the staff on Wednesday for Boss' Day and received a running shirt and gift certificate.  Because I almost always wear a shirt and tie, I knew the staff wouldn't be able to see me wearing my shirt so I decided to have a "Workout Clothes Day" on Friday.  Many of the staff dressed in comfortable clothes for the day and I wore jeans and the shirt I received.  Here is the email I referenced before from Janine Stolpa, one of the great teachers I work with in Merton.
"Hi Jay,

I have to share...At the end of the day, someone in my class told me they liked my tennis shoes and asked why Mr. Posick was dressed in cool clothes.  Alex said that you "kind of scared him"  because you looked so cool!  Then he said, "I'm not going to lie, his shoes were awesome!".  I realized again, that we are observed not only in our teaching, but our attire!  Thanks for a "cool clothes" day!

Happy weekend,

Janine"

The second to last line- "I realized again, that we are observed not only in our teaching, but our attire!"- made me really think about how our daily interactions with students model the behaviors that we hope they will acquire.  I know that I need to do a better job of modeling behaviors, like participating appropriately in class, in the halls, in the cafeteria, and in the gym each and every moment of each and every day.  They see how I interact with students and staff and learn the value I place on respecting people.  They see the clothes I wear every day.  They see what I eat and what I drink at lunch.  They see how I use technology to share great things about our school.  They know I run every day.  I am a role model and it doesn't scare me.  Does it scare you?