Sarasota Teacher of the Year: Helping students learn how to learn
Joe Conner grew up in Colorado and still misses the brisk mountain air. But since moving to the Southeast, the Venice Middle School math teacher and 2022 Sarasota County Middle School Teacher of the Year, has experienced the powerful rewards that come from helping students – many with special needs – learn how to learn.
Joe took a winding path to reach the classroom. At the University of Northern Colorado, he was pursuing a music degree (he is a percussionist who still loves to play drums) when he enrolled in a philosophy class, which led him to switch majors.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, Joe met his wife, Tiffaney, a teacher from Florida. While the two worked for a sales company, she wanted to return to teaching — and to the Southeast. Joe had no intentions of teaching, but he was up for a new adventure.
In 2007, Joe and Tiffaney moved to New Orleans, where the need for teachers was great in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Joe’s wife convinced him to try teaching, and the two enrolled at Xavier University, where Joe earned his Master of Arts in Teaching Special Education.
Joe’s first teaching position in New Orleans was not in the classroom. In St. Bernard Parish, which was devastated by the hurricane, he served as a resource teacher, and students came to him. These students had struggled, many with learning differences. Joe worked with them one on one, covering multiple subjects and providing extra help to those students who needed it most.
Working in a city recovering from such a profound natural disaster and supporting his students was incredibly rewarding. Joe fell in love with it. He found his niche.
In 2010, Joe and Tiffaney made their way to Florida, settling on Siesta Key. Determined to help students in need of a second chance, Joe started teaching math and social studies at an alternative school, AMIkids in Sarasota. The alternative school provided students, many of whom had been adjudicated or expelled, with an opportunity to reach their potential.
“Every kid wants to learn,” Joe said. “If you can find a way to get a kid excited about just a little thing, that helps a lot.”
So much of teaching, Joe believes, “comes down to relationships.” It is about, he said, “being willing to see [students] as people first, understanding that they’re high school kids, or middle school kids, but they’re people, and having that respect to give to them and also showing them that you’re an adult who cares.”
When the Sarasota branch of AMIkids closed, Joe moved to Oak Park South, located on the Venice Middle School campus, where he taught special education math. When Oak Park South closed, he stayed on the campus, where today he teaches math to Venice Middle School students in grades 6 – 8, both Exceptional Student Education and Regular Education.
Joe has made quite a journey from Fort Collins, Colorado, to Venice, Florida, and he loves what he is doing. “The kids are endlessly entertaining,” he said. “Middle school kids — they’re fun kids — they haven’t become too serious yet.”
As for teaching math, he enjoys the challenge of getting certain students to appreciate what math is. He said, “You have to learn how to solve problems, and that’s what math teaches you to do. The math you learn will help you understand the world.” At its essence, Joe said, “It’s learning how to learn.”
He applies this idea to his own teaching. The longer he teaches, the more he wants to understand. He said, “There’s so much to learn about how kids learn.” He is endlessly curious and constantly working to know more and get better at what he is doing.
As an undergraduate, Joe was drawn to philosophy because the discipline celebrates knowledge and wisdom, and Joe is driven by a desire to inspire that in his students. His approach to teaching is captured in a quote attributed to Plutarch: “For the mind does not require filling like a bottle, but rather, like wood, it only requires kindling to create in it an impulse to think independently and an ardent desire for truth.”
Joe is certain that all students deserve an exceptional education, and no matter their abilities or experiences, he is committed to kindling a love of learning.
About the Education Foundation of Sarasota County
The Education Foundation of Sarasota County sponsors the Ignite Education Teacher of the Year annual recognition in conjunction with Sarasota County Schools. The Education Foundation is an independent, philanthropic organization whose mission is to enhance the potential of all students, promote excellence in teaching, and inspire innovation in education, guided by strategic philanthropy and the belief that education changes lives. Learn more at EdFoundationSRQ.org.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Teacher of the Year: Helping students learn how to learn
