Fresh Start?
This week I am putting the finishing touches on my 23 things program for colleagues and friends. I started it partly in an effort to force myself to begin filling the gaps in my own knowledge about Web 2.0 but also as a way to reach out through the walls of my small school which is situated on a back lane cum driveway and looks out onto the back wall of the local strip mall. Professional interchange in a small school is limited, and I find I am craving contact with former co-workers in other schools and want to meet new people who share common professional interests.
Source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/k/ka_gifts.asp
Like the kids, I went back to school after the holiday optimistic about fresh challenges. Too soon for us all, I'm afraid, old patterns have reasserted themselves, and by day 2 we were all locked back into the old patterns of acting and reacting. There doesn't seem to be an inner Refresh Button I can click to make this right.
Source: http://home.earthlink.net/~shormar/collages.html
For me this has always been the sign that it's time to move on. I usually spend 5 or 6 years in a teaching assignment, and I'm currently in the middle of year 5. My problem right now is that I can't yet see the right opportunity, so there is anxiety mixed with the excitement of knowing that I have to go to something new. All I know is that I have to make a significant change.
In preparation, I have been mentally taking stock and looking back on the lessons of the past 16 months. I am thinking about what I can share with educators like myself who are on the cusp of change. It's like being out in the middle of the ocean, clinging to a little life ring to stay afloat. It takes every bit of energy just to keep from being swamped by the waves. A little distance away is a raft, but in order to swim to its safety I have to let go of the ring and trust that I do it. That's where I am -- psyching myself up to let go and launch myself towards the next opportunity.
Source: http://picasaweb.google.com/sprout33/Mazatlan#5202603869198578674
Right now I am particularly interested in working with other nearly-fossilized colleagues who are reluctantly admitting to themselves that, in order to make things better for their students, they have to change but don't know where to start. These are the lessons that I've learned in the past year. I wonder how I'll feel about this list a year from now.
10 steps to becoming an unfossil:
- Take a look at your class from the students' point of view -- ask yourself just how engaging are they really finding it?
- Don't buy into the dialogue that suggests everything you are doing and have done for so long is worthless to the 21st learner.
- You don't have to remake yourself as a teacher, but you do need to consider how incorporating some new tools and resources could make your classes better for the students. Show them that you're willing to make a move in their direction by adding a new dimension to one of your lessons.
- Find someone you trust who has a tech tool they like and sit in on their class to see how they use it.
- Start small. Think of one task or one assignment that could easily be given a 21st century makeover. Get help to find a tool that will work and that you can manage.
- Suck it up and try it out -- make the necessary arrangements and find a tech-savvy person who will co-teach the lesson if you can.
- You are right to assume that things will go wrong -- have a back-up plan ready -- you may need it. Know that you have been teaching long enough to handle a quick change-up if you need to.
- Trust the kids -- they'll help you with the technology -- that's what they're good at.
- Stick to your standards -- some students will complain (don't they always?). They are so used to using the world of web 2.0 as their playground, that to be slowed down enough to produce and revise work that meets all your criteria may cause them a lot of frustration.
- If there was a need to break off the session -- don't let that deter you. Find out what the problem was, get the help you need, and then make the time to go back and finish off what you started.
Source: http://www.joelharrisstudio.com/chronology.htm
I announced to my students today that I have enrolled in a masters program and at nearly 57, I'm going back to school. They find the news fascinating, I think because it makes me a kind of unique role model in their lives. That's been another lesson for in the power of 'actions speak louder than words' in the classroom. What will they remember when they're making a difficult decision later in life: the time I talked to them about courage or the fact that a teacher they once had made a decision to go back to school when she was nearly 60?
What you say to students doesn'y ultimately count nearly as much as what you show them about living and being by the way you yourself live and are with them. And yes, you're right . . . that's the professional Refresh Button I need to keep clicking.
Source: http://www.refreshworship.com/
