Monday, August 17, 2009

Doing School...Differently

I just posted this to my classroom blog, and realized that it also belonged here:

As I prepare for this school year, it is becoming increasingly clear that this will not be a "business as usual" year. With our classroom's expansion onto the web, the very nature of our learning will begin to change drastically. Students in this digital classroom will be challenged - not to learn a set of information or to prepare for state tests, but rather to become creators and innovators on their own. Yes, there will be information learned, but in many ways, that will be the secondary focus behind students learning how to learn and create for themselves.

This will require a lot from the students, but I'm confident that they will be up to the challenge. We need to move past the notion that I (as the teacher) have all of the answers and the students need to "receive" the education that I am "giving" them. Instead, I want to be a facilitator and give my students the tools to develop themselves as learners. As I think back to my own education, I realize that I wanted to have more control, too. I remember coming to a point where I began doing what I knew would make the teacher happy and gave up any of my own opinions and interests. My goal now is to not let that same thing happen in my classroom.

So, welcome to a new way of doing sixth grade. It won't be perfect, and I'm sure that I'll make mistakes along the way, but if I can allow myself to be a member of this community, rather than the leader of it, we'll be moving in the right direction!

No Time to Slow Down ... Thank Goodness!

There's nothing like the start of a school year to keep a teacher motivated and working! With only a couple weeks left before I'm working with my sixth graders, I've found that the short timetable is the ultimate incentive for me to keep moving as I plan and create for my class. In the past, I've entered the summer with high goals for setting up ways to integrate technology into the coming school year, but I usually run out of time.

Not this year. The difference is small, but important. This year I have the initial structure of my digital classroom in place, and I have also talked at length about it (on the web, with colleagues, on the bulletin board outside of my classroom). I've found this to be exactly what I've needed; in order to ensure that I see my ideas through to the end, I publicly talk about how exciting my ideas will be. This way, if I don't complete what I endeavor to do, I will have an audience questioning me. By "going public" with my own process, I have added motivation to its completion.

I think that I will apply this lesson to the way that I deal with my students in the fall. Rather than having them simply do their work on my timetable or create their own private goals for completion, I am going to move them toward making their intentions known and public. This will cast a light on the process of their learning instead of constantly focusing on the product that is "required". Everything I've been reading lately encourages this attention to process over product, and this little step of bringing others into my own process has opened my eyes to the possibilities that lie ahead.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

There's something about August!

As the calendar rolled over to August, I managed to find my way back to my classroom. There's something about this time of year that fills me with excitement for the return of the students. And this year is especially exciting, given that I have switched levels (to sixth), changed classrooms, and established a "digital classroom" in which my students will also be learning. I read the other day that the best modern classrooms are not constrained by the walls within the building and allow for learning at any time, not just during the school day. This year, my students' learning spaces will match those goals. In fact, I have already had students in contact with me this summer (mostly just checking in, but a new development, to be sure).

All of this makes me think about "year-round school". As more and more districts nationwide move in this direction (and our President makes it clear that he's in favor as well), I find myself personally considering this new option. The time I'm going to spend over the next few weeks preparing in my empty classroom will certainly be used well; it's obviously easier to do certain things without having students around. However, I also find myself on August 11th wishing that I had some students here working with me. My classroom (and digital spaces) has always been collaborative, so I feel like I'm missing something as I work here alone: namely, the other workers with whom I share this space. I find myself wanting their advice on how the room should be set up and what I should be planning for this fall, and it makes me realize how long two months can be.

I've never had much trouble with the "summer drop-off" in September, so my lean toward more school isn't really so much about making sure the students don't "lose what they've learned". Instead, I really enjoy working with them, and it strikes me that 180 days isn't enough for what I want to do. Maybe next summer will be different; once the kids are a full part of our digital classroom, I will be able to keep going past June if we choose. Year-round school? Maybe not in my building. But if I don't focus on the building, the possibilities are endless!