(Special Note: For this week's feature changemaker interview, Blue Roads welcomes our first guest blogger, Dr. Betty Dore, interviewing changemaker/educator, Mr. Cole Wilder. )
Cole was interviewed using the Blue Roads Changemaker Framework: Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World. I first met Cole when he began his Middle School Teacher Preparation Program at Radford University in Fall 2006. He graduated in Spring, 2010, after successfully doing his blocking and student teaching in Pulaski Middle School teaching seventh grade English. As the Coordinator of the Middle School Teacher Preparation Program at Radford University, I served as his Professor, Advisor, and Supervisor. His teaching was child-centered and he provided all his students the opportunity to become life-long learners. Cole attended Graduate School at Radford University from 2011-2014. He is now enrolled in the Educational Leadership Program at Radford to become a school administrator.
HOMEGROWN COLE
Cole was born on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, but moved with his family to Giles County at a young age and then moved again to settle in Wytheville where his dad is a pastor and his mother is a special educator.
Cole said Giles County was fine, but he started becoming his real self in Wytheville, spending time with family and good friends. He iterates he is still growing even after attending Radford University. Cole began his teaching career in Roanoke County and then recently moved to teaching at Belle Heth Elementary School in Radford where he is teaching sixth grade social studies. Part of his growth he credits to his time teaching and the many different educators he has worked with since the first time he stepped into the classroom. He says he was surviving in his childhood but, in retrospect, he has had huge growth these past two years at Belle Heth Elementary School in Radford, Virginia. Hear Cole's journey as a changemaker in his own words below.
“I’m grown, but I’m also still growing.”
There are so many aspects to my growth. My wife is my rock. We compliment each other in so many ways. We don’t always see eye to eye, but she is my “go-to” person. We both grow in these instances. (when we disagree). Family is a big part of my growth – on both my side and on my wife’s side. My mom is an educator and my father is a pastor, so he is also an educator. My wife’s mom is a special educator and her dad is a former police chief. These people are all educators in one way or another and very religious. These aspects all play a big role in my growth as an educator.
I’m becoming a better educator for a higher purpose than just educating our children. Another huge part of my growth is my two and a half year old daughter.
This Covid pandemic has been terrible for some people but it also represents blessings in disguise. Not many people get this, but I have been able to spend six months at home with my daughter, time I would not have ever gotten otherwise. That time from two years old to two and a half is very transformative …There are a lot of things I got to do with her that just never would have shown up .
SOLUTIONS-FOCUSED COLE
I’m someone who, early on in my professional career, always said I was the guy who says, “I’m there early. I’m staying late.” Teaching was my priority and everything else came second. I think Covid has really brought this out in me – switching my priorities around. Put family and God first and then follow from there. I have been around great people who do that. It’s kind of “work smarter, not harder.” I’m finding a way I can still do the things I used to, but I can find balance in other areas of life, and professionally really setting kids up for success in their future has been a switch early on in my career.
I believe this happens to a lot of new teachers. You’re kind of in survival mode. It’s sad, but in a lot of places you’re kind of viewed as a successful teacher if you have good scores and have control of your classroom, and that’s it. So getting comfortable in those area, I’ve really opened my eyes to not just those things, but it’s important for me to give kids real world opportunities. The administration at Belle Heth does that -setting up relationships with kids so they’re set up for true success, not just academic success.
While teaching in Roanoke County and teaching social studies, I began producing RAP sessions about the history my students were learning.
Somehow it is easier for students to remember facts and information by singing along with raps. I have done several raps on many different subjects in social studies as well as language arts. They have been all-inclusive with faculty, students, and administration. (Note: Cole's videos can be found at https://www.youtube.com/user/USHistoryRaps).
COLE’S PATCHWORK
I have worked with many people different than myself. We are all very different. To be honest, early in my career that’s not something I did a good job with. I think it’s a comfortable thing to seek out people who are very similar to you, and in doing that you don’t compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I
I’ll give you an example. When I first got to Belle Heth, I wanted Andrew Reedy, who was also teaching in Roanoke County, and is very similar to me – we’re very similar in a lot of areas: professionally, educationally, the third instruction. I wanted him to come to Belle Heth so we could team up and make this great team. To be honest, we’re not great teammates because we did the same thing for kids but it became kind of unorganized. We are both kind of crazy in the classroom and all those are good things, but we don’t compliment each other. (Now) my teammate has that role and I love her to death. We are different in every way, but we make a fantastic team. I think it’s…because we’re different. We do butt heads, but we’re coming at it from a lens of growth…
There’re some things I did she doesn’t agree with and there are some things she does I don’t agree with, but we come at it with an approach of we’re here to be stronger together. I think as someone who is heading into the educational leadership field, you don’t want your staff who is all the same because you’re not well-rounded. I think it can be tough and uncomfortable to seek out people who are different than you, but … our differences make us stronger… I think a lot of it is setting aside yourself, your personal beliefs, not that you want to get rid of your personal beliefs, but…maybe there is a better way.
COLE’S WORLD
I think I am surrounded by changemakers. It’s kind of contagious. I know my parents are definitely people who just don’t go through the motions in life. They’re here for a purpose and they’re making a difference. Tara, our principal, is like that…She's someone who's doing this for the kids. She has a true passion for kids, and that is contagious. She broke the mindset…There came a point where I stopped growing. I felt like I’d arrived. But (new environment ) really afforded me to (the opportunity) to continue to grow. That’s a place I’m in right now; pursuing educational leadership. I think all of that is contagious. You are who you’re around. So being around changemakers has, in a sense, made me a changemaker. Hopefully (as I ) become a changemaker, people around me are also becoming changemakers…
I don’t know how many kids I’ve made an impression on – I’ve only taught nine years, but think about the edge.
I bumped into a kid that works at Food Lion. It was my first year teaching and he was in my first class. …He just bubbled up my personality. I think that, although he was always that way, I think being around me definitely rubbed off on him. I kind of saw myself in that Food Lion… He just graduated from college and everything about his senior year was not what it was supposed to be. He talked to me about some job opportunities that he had planned on… Here he is just greeting people…
I just think in education we have the opportunity to impact so many kids. Obviously academically, but man, just smiling every day and night in the hallway, and making them feel good about themselves. That is something that ripples off… You add multiple generations of that.
I think about you, Dr Dore. How many kids you’ve just not taught in the classroom, but in higher education, and the ripple effect of that.
“I am a ripple effect of the people who came before me.”
Thank you, Dr. Dore and Mr. Wilder for your commitment to change the world by providing quality education for young people everywhere Through your commitment to the students in your classes and the wellbeing of your own families, you've found important ways to create positive change in the world focused on quality education.
Quality education is certainly key to bringing all the other Global Goals adopted by the United Nations to fruition by the 2030 target. Readers, won't you join us to spread the work and the word to make them a reality? Learn more by getting in touch below.
Elizabeth Dore, Ed.D. recently retired from Radford University as a full professor in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership and Coordinator of the Middle Level Teacher Education Program where she served for almost 24 years after teaching middle school in Maine and at the college level in Colorado while earning a Doctor of Education degree. Dr. Dore has written and presented extensively on her research interests including transracially adopted young adolescents, multicultural education, reading and young adolescents, middle school instructional strategies, sexual harassment in middle schools, middle school curriculum development and co-teaching with content area special education pre-service teachers. Her service to the education community is ample evidence of her own work as a CHANGEMAKER for a better world. It is a great honor to include her voice as a Guest Author to our Blue Roads Changemaker series.
