Day Four at the Institute
To quote the good ol' Grateful Dead, "Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right!" After the Team Meeting I found myself feeling like I had learned from talking and sharing with my partner. I realize I am quick to take on something, only to find myself at some point later falling short of my vision that I started with. Out of fear? Lack of commitment? Because I took on something else interesting? I stop before taking the new task to a higher level. How does that relate to this project this year? Last year I fell short of being able to present my project in January. Sure there were lots of factors...but how can I do things differently this year? With the project and with my personal life? No answers at this point. Is that realization enough as a starting point?
Another "getting shown the light" time happened soon after that "a ha" this morning. I started talking with a teacher who works in the same SU. We spent a good deal of time processing the year and talking about what went down in our respective schools, celebrations and challenges. Eventually the conversation turned to our project ideas, and when I mentioned mindfulness she lit up! She said she has been intentionally doing that for several years in her classroom. I began asking lots of questions and summarize here:
- Yoga For Classrooms - This card deck has a large number and variety of mindfulness meets yoga activities. She swears by it!
- How does she build this intentional practice in? Morning Meeting. After recess. I see it happening after our snack and movement break.
- Sounds like we had a similar year with the dispositions of our students. What to do with the disengaged? They can desk rest or do another quiet mindful task
- Mindfulness in her classroom can be doodling, drawing, writing. That was refreshing and helps me understand the importance I realized yesterday that I need to let the students design this curriculum with me!
- Are other students distracting you? Ignore them and remind the others that is why we are practicing this! To be able to focus amidst the distractions!
- Books for resources! - Taming Your Dragons and other anxiety and stress reduction books for children
1:15 Workshop
I decided I needed some hands on time in the Maker Space so I went to Lucie's workshop. I had to take my foot out of my mouth first after yesterday when I shared out that I hated Maker Space stuff. That was surely me showing off my discomfort with the idea of working with such tools. It also was evidence of my fear in that I have no idea how to incorporate something like this into my classroom. Luckily at my school we have a whole room with a teacher dedicated to this kind of enrichment. But I realize after this session that Maker Materials, like technology or science, needs to be integrated and not a stand alone event. Well, this is not in the near future for me perhaps, but I see the need to meet the variety of learners in my classroom. Students with a variety of interests and means of expression of their knowledge should have this access. Students come from a diversity of backgrounds and learn in countless ways, so giving them access to makes sense, it's now a question of where to start. Lucie advocated strongly for having the "Makey Makey" kits if you had to start someplace!
Afternoon Work Session
I found yet another sweet nook to work in. It was quiet for most of the time...I feel I made good progress on my Research Plan. I decided to leave the reading and rationale part for now and really hash out a calendar of implementation. I feel very different from previous years in that I feel I have so many ideas of lessons and tools to implement for this plan. I didn't want to put all of it in September for fear of overload. I made a conscious decision to use some newer resources and instruction earlier, and then include the resources that I have used in the past later in the semester. I decided to do that because if I force myself to do the instruction that is new to me first, I feel that I will be more accountable to my plan.
Take a look at the Research Plan
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