What I Learned Today #4 (What I like might not be what THEY like)

This past weekend I had a chance to go to Boston with my family. We had city passes that allowed us to go to multiple attractions, and we chose the Aquarium, the Children's Museum, and the Museum of Science. We had a blast as a family, and the kids really were excited (in truth, I was excited, too - this was my first time in Boston).

As we went through the various museums and exhibits, something became very clear: if something caught my or my wife's interest, the kids inevitably didn't want to spend time with it; however, the two of them gravitated toward things that we didn't think they would be interested in. This explains why the kids didn't particularly like the electricity room at the museum or want to spend time with the penguins at the aquarium, yet insisted on looking through every exhibit in the mathematics exhibit and wanted to listen to the complete presentation at the top of the giant tank (Don't get me wrong. I'm excited that they were into these things; it was just surprising).

But thinking back over our fun weekend made me consider the fact that this situation might be happening with my students. They might very well not enjoy the activities that I think they will like, and I may be missing activities that my students would really get into just because I don't think they will. In other words, what I've learned is: What's fun for ME might very well not be fun for MY STUDENTS.

Okay, so this is only a minor revelation, but I think that these are the little things that could make me a better educator. How many lessons, activities, and books have I passed over because I thought they wouldn't be fun for the students? How could I have known that for sure? These assumptions might be leading me away from creating an environment where the students are truly enjoying their learning.

This is not to say that I am now planning to have my students plan every task (I don't think that a year solely consisting of vampires, werewolves and Halo 3 would necessarily be valuable) but it's fair to say that I could bring their interests in a bit more often. A small tweak to be sure, but one that could vastly improve the delivery of my lessons.

What I Learned Today #1 (Painting and Rules)

Today, I spent most of my time painting my living room. We've been meaning to upgrade from the white that was on the walls when we moved in for quite a while, but only recently did I finally make the move toward getting this project done. It's gone well, and my family is really pleased with the results.

Which makes me think: Is there something that I've been putting off trying in my classroom that could really benefit my students and me? I'm the kind of teacher who comes up with 15 "really great thoughts" every day, but then either fall off in motivation or forget the ideas because I don't write them down.

This past year in my classroom, I had the idea to post three simple rules in my room. These were positively stated and clear, and I shared them with my students on the first day of school (they actually liked the way I had phrased them). However, as I wrapped up the year and got the classroom ready for the summer, I realized that I had never posted the rules. Over and over, I told myself to get to it, but never made the final motion in the right direction. In retrospect, I'm a bit upset with myself for not doing something that was very easy, but now I have the chance to make it right by starting the year with these rules clearly labeled in my classroom. A small amount of volition can have great results (whether it's my living room or my classroom).

By the way, if you're interested, the three rules are:

1) In this room, we think first.
2) In this room, we consider others' thoughts and feelings.
3) In this room, we solve problems rather than creating them.

They'll be up on the first day of school this year (and my living room will finally be a different color than boring, dull white).

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.