I am writing this primarily as a way to understand it in my own head. I have not been in the classroom in a very long time and especially at the end there it was less about the structure and content than it was about creating an environment in which students were encouraged to share their thoughts. I teach with my partner in a learning community that meets once a week and needs a definitive structure that creates space for learning and understanding but also checks off marks on the ‘what should they be learning’ sheet every time they are in the classroom. I am struggling tremendously with this to the point where I don’t know that my partner really enjoys working with me anymore or even wants to as a result of my inability to wrap my head around creating a daily/weekly in-class experience with her. That WITH is an important delineator in all of this. I am having trouble working WITH her and WITH other humans in general in regards to designing learning, because I have not done it in a while, because I am becoming fairly insecure about my contributions, and because I am trying all too hard not to rock the boat or do anything contrary.
Frankly, I don’t know how to solve this issue. The one thing I think I want to start doing is beginning class with a slide that shows what we want them to learn/know by the time they leave the room that day and then work backwards in our planning towards understanding how we hit those goals in a way that is engaging and fun. I’ve largely forgotten how to have fun in class, and that sucks. I’m not the teacher I once was, and I want to get back to that.
Some Thoughts:
- New keyboard. I hate it. I don’t think it is going to work out. The keys and key placements are far too confined for these long yet fat fingers and I wind up missing letters or hitting the wrong ones entirely. I will need to find a way to switch the wireless dongle from this keyboard to one that actually works for me.