Amy Simpson is one of seven Golden Apple Award winners for 2011. The Golden Apple Foundation of New Mexico has recognized exemplary teachers since 1996. Golden Apple Fellows demonstrate high levels of commitment not only to continue their own learning but also to ensuring that New Mexico’s next generation of teachers is successful in helping students learn.

Some Thoughts on Teaching
by Amy Simpson

I believe that success is the positive culmination of hard work and sustained effort. It is often a group endeavor—possible because of the direct or in direct support of others. Whereas failure is more like a series of missed opportunities; of chances not taken (or given); of potential not recognized or articulated or trusted. The bigger the untapped potential, the bigger the failure. And if success is a group enterprise, so too is failure.

The good news, of course, is that this means it is also within our reach to remedy. In my years of teaching at Alma d’arte—an experience that is alternately exhilarating, humbling, empowering, and terrifying, often all in the space of one day—I’ve seen the breath-taking potential in high school students. As they struggle to decipher the contradictory messages of the world around them, they make meaning from surprising sources in sophisticated ways. And contrary to what I hear about teenagers, I’ve found them to be unexpectedly generous with one another (though they are often brutal on themselves). Their humor and creativity and their passions are out there in the open for all to see, and I think, “They are the best of who we all are!”

I’ve come to believe that the very act of pursuing a career in teaching is one of profound faith in what can be—it is about recognizing and realizing potential in others; it is about taking chances and making fresh starts; it is about trust; and it is most of all, about building community. In short, it is a rejection of the concept of failure.