Welcome to my blog. I share stories of educators from around the world. Hope you enjoy the jrney!
All in Pedagogy
This post is a departure from what I usually publish in this blog, but this topic has been a central focus in my life this week and for the past couple of weeks, so I thought I would pull together some ideas and share some resources about how to teach about the new coronavirus.
I decided to switch gears this week at the last moment. I was going to write about travel and how it has made me a stronger teacher, but I think that is a story for another day. I’ve been thinking a lot about student voice this month particularly this week as I’ve watched Florida high school students and teachers all over the country speaking out and taking action to make schools a safer place. I remembered a lesson from the same group of students I have been writing about this month, and it seemed fitting to round out the month with a story about student-directed reflection. Sometimes the best thing you can do is take a step back and watch what unfolds.
In a previous post called Rethinking Classroom Design to Build a Culture of Problem Solving, I wrote about how a colleague and I changed how we thought about the beginning of the school year. In this post, I write about the same group of students several months into the year and what can happen when foundations of independent thinking, solving problems, and taking action are established as integral parts of a classroom culture.
On the first day of school, the students knew what they were in for. Some of them took to the challenge of setting up the room beautifully, and some leadership emerged. Others clearly had difficulty working in an environment that was not controlled. This did not, however, sway me from my vision. Like me, they would just have to learn a new way of doing things. They would have to learn to trust their own thinking and trust each other.
Last week, Nam Thanh shared the impact Skype has had on his classroom in Vietnam. This week, for part 2, he shares how to take something you and your students love and how to turn it into personal and professional development opportunities. Here are three ways to take your learning deeper and find ways to connect further.
Taking the first step in rethinking how you design learning experiences for your students can be incredibly difficult especially if you don't know where to start. Our story this week is from Mr. Nam Thanh who helps you take the first step with his JRNEY to becoming an innovative educator not just in his community but across the world. The beauty of this story is that anyone with an internet connection and a bit of motivation can be like Nam and open the world to his students. Here's part 1 of Nam's 2 part exploration of Skype in the classroom.
JRNEY is so excited to feature a story from Jodie Deinhammer to kick off 2018 because it focuses on something that I hope will become everyday classroom practice in the very near future. She weaves The Sustainable Development Goals into her year, not as something fun or outside of the curriculum, but an essential piece of it. World Water Day isn't until March, but it's never too early to start thinking about how to bring it into your classroom and school.
Change can be hard, but Juanita has embraced it with open arms by bringing Project- Based Learning to her 1st- grade students. Along with her 1st- grade partner teacher and school community, she has facilitated engaging projects like Food Transformers with a focus on matter and learning about exotic foods and designing a new Olympic sport to teach forces and motion. Here's her perspective on the benefits of PBL.
As the world becomes increasingly more connected, it is our job as educators to help our students navigate this new terrain. But we can't begin to do that until we develop the skills ourselves. Find out how to make small steps to become a more globally competent educator.
