Passion Without Purposeful Action… is Dead

Well here goes… This is my first ever blog post. Needless to say I am feeling nervous and fearful.

(Thinking out loud)

I am just a regular person with a passion for Education.   What if my thoughts are not as innovative as I consider them? I don’t feel as though I have anything really profound to say… What if others think my ideas are silly or ineffective?

I guess that I should practice what I preach to my students. “It is ok to make mistakes and fail, that is how we learn and grow.”

After reading (The Innovator’s Mindset by George Couros) the introduction, chapter 1, and listening to the podcast I’ve had so many thoughts come to mind.

First, as Mr. Couros reflects on Steven Johnson’s notion of ‘adjacent possible’,

“The strange and beautiful thing about adjacent possible is that its boundaries grow as you explore them.”  When I started teaching, my purpose trajectory was completely different. The more I teach, the more curious I become about different aspects of the educational sphere. Additionally, with each new experience, I have a new question that creates a multitude of alternate possibilities. In my own classroom, I would define innovation as the ability to assess students’ needs and use their strengths and other tools to inspire learning. I once read that teachers make more minute- by -minute decisions than a brain surgeon (author unknown).

After being a foster parent for many years and advocating for their needs, as well as my two sons, I felt like someone needed to be there for the kids. I wanted to be in the classroom (trenches) to make sure all students were getting what they needed to learn effectively.   As a first year teacher (with my Pollyanna optimism syndrome), my wise principal Tim Hise taught me that students needed to be working harder than their teachers. I was spending countless hours on lesson plans and providing detailed step-by-step instructions.   He said, “when I walk into a classroom, I should see the students not just attentive, but active with the content.”   A mental shift occurred after about my 2^nd year teaching where I didn’t need to write out all the mental planning I did for lessons. I started using that time to research resources I thought would more effectively allow students to be active with the content.

Another education reformer once asked me, “What do you learn from your students? What do you ask them to create? How do you create a buy in (inspire them) for learning in your classroom?”

What I have learned from trying out of the box lessons is that it dramatically decreases behavior issues, while increasing learning retention, and inspires creativity. It hasn’t always been easy or worked the first time around. However, my students are just as flexible as I am and willing to ‘try again’ till it works for all of us.

Blog question: If you were to start a school from scratch, what would it look like?

The first aspect of a campus that comes to mind is people. What kind of people would I want teaching?

People: I would recruit and hire teachers who have a passion for some aspect of education. People who are positive, people who dream, people who are able and wiling to inspire change. I want teachers who are not afraid to fail, who self-reflect and want to learn constantly.   I want teachers who are good communicators, collaborators, and /or see the opportunity to become great. I want staff that love what they do (working with children).

Building: I want my campus to have lots of light coming into the building. Also, I would want the classroom walls to be painted with bright colors. The hallways would be painted with calming colors (i.e. light blue, cream colors). I want my campus to have room for maker spaces for creative projects)

Furniture:

• Streamlined desks that do not take up so much space
• Collaborative tables
• Comfortable chairs, mats, bean bags

Technology:

• 1:to 1 technology devices
• Tech bar (row of high tech tables, chairs) with charger stations
• Internet server that has the ability to support Google domain (Google ed apps)
• Conferencing hardware and software