It’s hard to believe, but the school year is more than halfway gone! So much has happened since the first bells rang in August and September.

With all those class periods and lesson plans in the books, we invited the T2T community to share takeaways from the first semester. The responses that came back were funny, thoughtful, passionate – and too good not to share!

Here are a handful of the lessons your fellow lifelong learners shared over email and social media:

• “I learned that ownership for student learning must be put in the hands of the students. Then they need to be given space and encouragement to grow!” —Teacher Sharon Clark
• “I learned I am more likely to get my pen or marker returned by students if I hand it over without the cap.” —Teacher Sergio Cisneros
• “We need to give our students the greatest opportunities to succeed. Allowing them time to process is one way to do exactly that!” —Teacher Debbie Urquhart
• “Last semester I learned that I don’t need to have the answers. I just have to be able to guide the ship.” —Teacher Samantha Neill
• “One thing that I learned from my first semester of teaching is that each student has their own way of communicating. It’s up to us to be in tune with the way they try to communicate with us.” —Teacher Miguel Sanchez
• “Never, ever give up on a child. Sometimes what you say takes time to sink in!” —Teacher Tom Hewson
• “I learned that building relationships with my students first makes rituals and routines go a lot smoother.” —Teacher Jenn Thurman

Psst! You can join the conversation by signing up to receive email updates from the Teacher2Teacher community here!