I am so enjoying learning and being part of a group of like minded people questing for similar answers. As we learned in these videos and readings it is in the groups where we are doing the hard work of really trying to push ourselves, to take a chance make mistakes, to keep searching and trying, and then finally that we may gain some real insight into how we can better serve our students. I feel like this masters program has given me the permission I have been wanting to really think about learning and how we foster that in our students. It is making me really look at myself as a teacher and why I do the things I do. I have been given permission to synthesize what I do everyday and what I have been doing for 25 years. I and I feel like my feeling of things need to change , things are not quite working for the kids, things can improve are okay and validated. I wish I had more time in my day to dedicate to this thinking and for me my frustration is life pulls us in so many directions everyday and I really just wish I had more time to really take this in and think about all we are learning more. I do want to point out that as we are all juggling so many things in our professional and personal lives it does give us the ability to practice what we are learning in class for ourselves and our students which is a true gift and is the learning that will stay with us as we persevere through our journey of educators. I have enjoyed all of Sir Ken Robinson's videos his insight is wonderful and really resonates with me as an educator and as a mother of 3 amazing daughters. It It is his video "Schools Kill Curiosity" that really pulled together what want continually touched upon in the previous videos; humans are naturally different (diverse), curious, and creative. These are the 3 principles for humans to flourish and I feel like education is floundering with these basic principles. His example of the dancer who was thought to have a learning problem because she couldn't sit still made me think about 80% of my class. There is another serious research question here" Why are so many students struggling with focus and attention in school? " . I will try to work on that after my math question but the reality is this question is affecting us all in our classrooms everyday and I don't think as a system we are addressing it. Nature can't be contained it finds ways to survive and flourish and I feel that some of these behaviors we see in our students is because we are not supporting their basic needs as learner, as humans. I have so many boys in my class who have so much energy and are so social and so different, I am eager to continue reading my gender section in Brian Rules because I know there is a lot to the gender difference which is not bad but as a system how to we honor and support these differences. For me I think I started the work I am now thinking hard about in this masters program 4 Summers ago when I applied for a Napa Learns Maker grant. This grant provided money for myself and my partner science teacher at the time to go through the Sonoma State Makers Certificate program. This was the first time in a long time I was a students and I loved it. This program was something I knew my students needed, that all students need. Making is problem solving, it is creativity, it is collaboration, it is making many mistakes, and it is play. It is a model that our district needs to fully embrace and support. This is how we bring play and creativity into our classrooms, this is how elementary teacher address the NGSS standards, this is how we support these human principles.
Social interaction (collaboration) on topics we are learning about and interested in is exciting, creativity opens a whole world of critical thinking, exploring , and testing, and curiosity is what fuels all learning. Jo Boaler speaks of deeper learning, of questions, of many ways to arrive at a solution, and about math being creative and visual. These are the themes running through all of my research as well as in the information being provided to us in this masters program. Now the question is what are we going to do with it? I can tell you from my experience it is much harder at times teaching with collaborative groups, hands on lessons, discovery based curriculum. Our students can be a bit of a handful when we are in our Makers Space at Valley Oak and they are working on projects frustration levels rise, the temptation to give up is real, and collaboration can be tough when people are absent. The same is true with the coding and robotics it is a big learning curve for me as the teacher to create ways to mange a class that has students playing with linkbots around the room or others wanting to give up because their code has a error. The research is defiantly supporting these types of learning experiences now I look forward to there being more support for us as educator with the how, the what in terms of more inquiry based curriculum's, and the understanding that we too need the space to make mistakes and learn. I am excited to be trying some of these new ideas but I also realize that I have a huge learning curve and I get frustrated that I don't have the time I need to plan and think about creating more experiences for my students. I do celebrate that I am learning !!
4 Comments
Jona Sandau
10/21/2018 03:11:38 pm
Julie, I love your post. I really, really connected with your comment about not having enough time in daily life to go deeper with what we are learning here. It is so interesting, applicable, and TRUE! I find myself working into the wee hours on this learning, and not wanting to stop. In fact the ONLY thing stopping me are the other commitments in my life, that I know I can't let go of... I also love to hear about your work on "Makers" and imagine that it must be the very best kind of learning for your students. Sometimes I feel really distracted in this program by so many cool things that I want to learn more about! I guess that's one way we know we are in the right profession...
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julie
10/21/2018 04:47:03 pm
yes I am hoping that as the program continues we do get to go deeper and in the end feel satisfied to a small degree anyway
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Monica Knecht
10/23/2018 01:03:36 am
Julie, I love your reflection of the program and how it provides time and an outlet for like minded people to get the chance to read and search for ways to improve our craft.
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Rafael Garcia Avila
10/23/2018 02:21:19 pm
Julie,
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Julie LovieJulie Lovie Is a Math and Science teacher at Valley Oak High School with 25 years experience in teaching at a continuation high school. Julie Also teaches at Napa valley Adult School in the High School Diploma Program. She is passionate about the environment, loves gardening, and learning. Archives
June 2019
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