I resonate with Piaget’s cognitivist theory, so I constantly incorporated and applied the patterns I recognize in my life and other topics by using analogies (like riding a bike in my discussion post turned blog post New Digital Age, New Learning Culture) and personal stories (like in my post on Effective Professional Learning for Math Teachers) to foster relationships and connections with my peers. Frequently, there were remarks that these perspectives enhanced others’ learning and broadened perspectives. I would also gravitate towards other analogies, but I intentionally found discussion posts or replies that held a different viewpoint than my own. Doing so allowed me to link the new perspective to my working schema. Even when I met the minimum expectations of one initial post and at least two replies, I revisited the discussion boards and replied to ideas every time a new post was submitted. These discussion posts became the foundation for some blog posts, and I intentionally incorporated my peer’s comments (with their permission) into my writing, such as in my post Being Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable. Some of the discussion board replies turned into conversations and collaboration outside of them. I have spoken with Katie Beauchene periodically since the beginning of our journey in our master's program but recently, we engaged in class individual chat conversations, text message threads, and email exchanges to elicit feedback/feedforward on resubmitted assignments, flexible seating structures, and even components of our jobs that do not directly correspond to our class assignments. Contributions have also been made between individuals through Blackboard messaging and breakout rooms. Usually, I gauge the audience of my peers by sharing my work and perspective and then leaving the door open to receive feedback and give the same for others. Something I could try to do better is take a step back and not being so eager to be the first to speak up, but rather encourage others behind the scenes to be bold. This could enrich others' learning and teach me how to have impact in the silence, connecting dots in a new way. Every term we are encouraged to use the student/faculty lounge discussion board and I find myself trying to engage with others to do the same. When they did not get answered, I reached out to the professors, instructional assistants, and my collaborative group. I also never hesitated to ask questions during class meetings and when I got answers, I posted my own reply with that information for others to reference. Usually, if I have a question, others also have a similar question or concern, but I take the initiative to speak up and be bold, ignoring the subconscious concerns of looking incompetent or oblivious. My core collaborative group has been steady since the summer with Amanda, Hillary, and Lindsey. These relationships I have built with these beautiful women are something I will cherish for the rest of my life. We have really struggled for various reasons, such as personal illness and home ownership woes, along with balancing everything else that comes with life and being in education. Our contribution to each other’s learning and ourselves has really come in the form of encouragement. We also continue to divide and conquer readings and when someone has to miss a class, our text message thread recaps the class conversations real-time. We would connect when working on assignments and discuss our different perspectives on how to meet the rubric criteria. In the in-between, we would talk about our Halloween or Thanksgiving plans, sending pictures of our kids (or in my case, my dog Bruce). This really gets to the caring component of collaboration and learning. For this term, even though my group divided readings, I still read and annotated every reading assigned, including supplemental readings, and looked to connect them more concretely to the work I am doing for individual courses but also between current courses and past courses. One specific example is my inquiry on the difference between big hairy audacious goal (BHAG) and wildly important goal (WIG). I also found direct correlations to developing effective professional learning and creating significant learning environments. This led to a major adjustment in the implementation of my innovation plan, shifting from piloting blended learning environments using the station rotations model in my classroom to inviting others to join me through professional learning cycles so we can implement blended learning environments together. As assignments were turned in, I would take the feedback and adjust my work, as well as revisit and revise components as bigger connections emerged or more details were discovered and analyzed. Something new this term I did to authentically start connecting the dots was when certain experts would show up in videos or reading, such as Angela Duckworth, L. Dee Fink, and Grant Lichtman, I would always research further what they are currently up to. Through this, I found some incredible resources that support my learning for my masters’ program but also resources that I could integrate in the classroom immediately. Just accepting what was provided in our modules has not become enough for me; the blended learning environment I have come to love has shown me to embrace the opportunities to do my work extension of thinking, even if no one requires or encourages me to. The line between the courses has been blurred because they have become so closely related. I cannot develop effective professional learning without creating a significant learning environment for those in the professional learning sessions. There is always room to grow, so I would grade myself 99/100 for both courses. This feels arrogant but definitely justified with the work I have done up to this point to continue pushing myself to learn and grow as I work towards earning my masters’ in the spring of 2024.
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With the chaos that is the beginning of the school year, a new semester with my master's program, and everything else, my family has been going through some trials. My husband's grandmother, Poo Poo, has had a pretty big health scare in California. So significant, that my mother-in-law flew out to see her and my father-in-law followed a few days later after Scott and I picked up his brother, Jeffrey. Jeff has severe Down syndrome. He communicates with grunts, limited single syllable words such as yes and no, and his own sign language. While he does have some limitations, he is very intelligent. When I first met Jeff, he was the first person with special needs I had really interacted with, and the best advice I was given was to treat him like he is normal. Jeff and I have a very interesting relationship because of this advice. He has opportunities to be mentally enriched here and there, but his days often include endless YouTube videos of Barney and the Wiggles with meals mixed in. His autistic nature causes him to fixate on specific video clips and sounds within them, so he has ownership and choice over those aspects, navigating through the various channels at his own pace. This goes with what I am learning about applying digital learning in my classroom. Being VOCAL is something we should strive for in the classroom and I realized with Jeffrey being here, I also try to provide him other opportunities to have voice, ownership, and choice. The authentic learning for Jeff comes from doing the ordinary things most people do every day. Now, Jeff LOVES pizza. The first time I "Jeff-sat" when all of the family was out, I basically bribed my way into Jeff's heart the way the cliche goes for any man, through his stomach. He likes to constantly ask me for pizza with sign language and I like to try and sneak some vegetables into his diet. When we have pizza, building the pizza is part of our process. He consistently chooses to overload with pepperoni but the other veggies are placed as his own pace, wherever he chooses. When he is done, he will vocalize that. As the pizza is baking, we also make a salad. He had a number of choices but decided to stick with carrots, cucumbers, and tortilla chip strips. There was not any pressure to pick the others but he knew he had to choose something at whatever degree he wanted. This relates to my classroom because having voice, ownership, and choice in an authentic learning environment is inclusive. I choose to follow a vegan and gluten free diet, so my pizza was completely different than Jeff and Scott's pizza. My salad included a lot more vegetables and Scott chose to take what toppings were left. Even the order in which we ate our meals varied: I ate my salad, then the pizza. Scott ate his pizza, then the salad. Jeffrey picked off the veggies and pepperonis first, taking bites of salad in between. Being VOCAL is inclusive for all learners and in all contexts. We should look for more opportunities to embrace learning in different ways and on our terms. Scott, my sister-in-law Stephanie, and I just got back from a trip to Disney World. We had an absolute blast, each getting to achieve our goals. Scott's Goals: Visit Galaxy's Edge. He wanted to go live the Star Wars dream and build a lightsaber, as well as ride in the Millennium Falcon. A bonus was meeting Din Djarin and Grogu. Here are some pictures from our days in Batuu. This is the way. Stephanie's Goals: Visit Toy Story Land, meet Lilo, meet Mulan, and eat around the world. While she loves the aliens and we had fun riding the Slinky Dog roller coaster, the "best day of her life" was eating at the Polynesian and meeting Lilo and Stitch, then traveling to China and meeting Mulan. Eating around the world took some pacing. Here's a collection of pictures from Andy's backyard, Hawaii, and China. Ohana means family. My Goals: Visit Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade and ride as many roller coasters as possible. Now, I know the Wizarding World is not technically Disney, but it is still magical right? I was on the verge of crying a few times being so happy living in a book. It was also fun getting the adrenaline high. Scott and Stephanie ride the milder roller coasters, but I am all for the biggest, fastest, craziest, usually spending the entire ride giggling and clapping. My hair definitely demonstrated the wild factor. Here's a snapshot of some of my time in London and after the thrills. I solemnly swear I am up to no good. Mischief managed. Times like this recharge me for the upcoming school year. There can be so much to do in one day and the order in which you go through the motions really depends on your choices. We balanced spending time taking care of our individual goals, but also staying together and finding experiences we all would enjoy and part of that came from seeing the joy in each other when we got to experience our dreams. Some of Disney's taglines are the happiest place on earth or the most magical place on earth, but there are always times when it doesn't feel that way... especially when it was as hot as it was. It makes cherishing the simple things, like a water fountain or a tree's shade, very easy. Our classrooms have magical moments, but what if we created a different kind of magic? I am not saying our classrooms need to be Disney World but there are some things we can take away from how the parks operate and the experiences we get from them that we could incorporate into our routines, structures, and lessons. What if our learners could decide the order of their different lessons or activities? What if they could pick when to take breaks and for how long? What if we created efficiencies that took away potential misbehavior and redirected them into more positive choices? What if we embraced individual goals and collective ones, giving learners the capacity to enjoy the rewards of achieving all goals?
There is still a little less than a month until the school year starts and I am choosing to hold onto this much needed break for as long as possible, but this trip has been a nice transition from summer to the beginnings of a new school year. I am looking forward to embracing a different kind of magic in my classroom. It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live. |
My husband lovingly teases me when I reflect on my day with him and say "I learned something new today!" because he would be surprised if I didn't learn something new.
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