Bridgit Manning Stone

Background

About Bridgit Manning Stone

I've been teaching and working with students in some capacity for over 35 years. My gifts include handling and motivating difficult students in difficult situations, and bringing parents together with their students and their students' teachers for the best educational programming possible. I've taught English, math, language arts, science, social studies, reading, and exceptional education. My specialty is writing individualized education plans and building relationships with students and their parents for student success. Another thing I’m good at is loving on kids, especially when they feel unlovable. Who’d want to spend a WHOLE DAY at a place (school) where you don’t know if you’re loved or not? It’s critical to show it and say it until it permeates the air they breathe. Yes, sometimes this means “tough love”, too. I finally (after 35 years of teaching ) won Teacher of the Year for my school, Bellevue Middle, after being chosen from the top 3 candidates and voted on by my colleagues. It’s an awesome feeling knowing the people you work with every day support you! I know our students need to feel supported in this way, too. Although students may say they don’t care about school and they don’t care what others think about them, they do. They REALLY do. I know it’s my job to show them #educationismorethanacademics while continuing to provide equal access to rigorous content. My heart soars when former students come back to visit and have found success in life. Each day is a new day and a fresh start. It’s okay to have made mistakes, because it’s the only way we learn and connect with others. It’s crucial that we as educators relay this message to students. Too often, they give up after too FEW mistakes. “You’ve not made enough mistakes yet” should become our new mantra.