Utopian classroom

The last 10 years or so of my husband's military career were spent as an AGR soldier.  Active Guard and Reserve soldiers do the dirty work for the unit.  They work there, Monday through Friday, taking care of the paper end of life.  They make sure the i's are dotted and the t's crossed so that when the reserve soldiers come in on the weekends, they get to do the 'fun' stuff.  Because, in the end, how much training can you truly accomplish if the mounds of paper work have built up.  After teaching in the learning support environment for the last 4 years, I have often felt the pressure of feeling like I wasn't able to give my students the best of me because I was being so pressured to complete meetings and testing and all the goals that were set for my students by someone other than their teachers.  I know for certain that I am also not seeing the best of my students because they are bogged down by the pressures of like in today's classroom environment.

In my ideal classroom, the teacher could focus on the teaching aspect of the classroom.  They would be able to throw themselves completely into the lessons with the students without worrying about what was coming up for the next data session or IEP or meeting with the principal.  I have found that my best lessons happened when I was able to dive into them with the students.  Yes, I am the "expert" but at the same time, I made sure to let them know that I made mistakes and forgot how to do things.   Sometimes it is better to know how to get the answer then to have memorized the answer itself.

I would have students working on projects and lessons that were appealing to them.  I truly believe that any student can learn - no matter the subject or difficulty level.  There is always something that can be pulled out of every activity that is completed.  My daughter's kindergarten teacher is a childhood friend of mine.  At her orientation last week, he said that his idea of the perfect year for his students is that they learn and grow without realizing that they are even learning.  These young minds are entering school bubbling with excitement and interest and he just isn't ready to squash it out of them yet.

I believe that the online learning environment is the best place for students to reach their potential.  By completing lessons online, students are able to work to their potential without being pulled down by other students who are working at a higher or lower level.  There is also a need for students to have in person interactions with the adults and other students that they are working with.  Students need to have hands on activities to complete so that they can learn ways to work cooperatively with their peers.  The world is not a singular place.  School should be the best place to learn how to interact with otherwise and learn about yourself and your strengths and weaknesses.

Despite the many hats that we wear each day, there is still the person under that hat that needs to keep going.

https://spark.adobe.com/video/rl9SOzK3QddJG

Trust in Education

In my experience as a brick and mortar teacher, trust is a critical component to a middle/high school classroom. I worked primarily with learning students who have unfortunately become accustomed to teachers thinking they were stupid, and classmates making fun of them. Without establishing a connect and trust with these students, they would continue to be shut down and not try their best. My students were told from day one that I can't and I'm to stupid were never permitted to be uttered in my classroom or my presence. I had students that worked for me that refused to work for any other teachers. They had A's in my room while they were flunking everything else. In this generation of "internet kids" being online is a scary place but it is like the car accident that you can't look away from - they know that it isn't always a safe place to be, but they can't leave it alone. It is a place to stay in touch with their friends that they may not be able to see regularly in this single parent/2 working parent world. It has also become a place to 'facelessly' harass and bully their peers and classmates. This 'faceless' part of the internet world is what I believe makes establishing trust so important. I recently completed an interview for an online teaching position where I was told that the students are never permitted to turn on their cameras because their teachers are not to see into their homes. It is therefore impossible to tell if it is truly that student that is completing the work, or a parent or sibling. If the students are not required to report daily to the online classroom, it is important that their be trust between teacher and student that work be completed ontime and on their own. It is important that trust be established between students in the class. Although it is theoretically less pressure to be responding facelessly, it is also less pressure to treat your fellow classmates with respect. When discussions take place, students must feel that they can trust their classmates to be respect of their points of view and differences of opinion. This can be an excellent opportunity to establish a sense of community as long as guidelines are followed. I believe that by establishing guidelines ahead of time and increasing their autonomy as the course progresses, this opportunity can be harnessed by both teachers and students to allow ideas and perspectives to be shared. I have noticed in our online face to face meetings on bluejeans, we are all trying to respect each other and not interrupt. Although this is wonderful, I believe that it also leads to less participation because we do not want to talk over each other or interrupt someone when an idea pops into our head. By having discussions and chat boards, students are able to share thoughts and idea without fear of interruption or running out of time in a limited 1-hour face to face meeting.

Canvas Classroom