Let me set the stage. Mid workshop, mind racing as questions are being asked about classroom practices, students, personalized learning, and how to juggle all of the students, in different proficiencies in my classroom. One question stops me in mid thought, “So you know where every student should be within their proficiency? Every day?” I answer, “Yes.” When the follow up was “How do you do this?” I had to pause, but only for a second.
The answer? It is my job.
I say that with no arrogance, no conceit. Educators are in the business of knowing our students. One of many amazing quotes from the Deeper Learning 2019 Conference was that we all need “to focus on the ecological before the pedagogical.” Relationships, the needs of students, and knowing where they are in their educational journeys. That is our business.
Student Centered Learning goes beyond designing curriculum, rebadging what we do, or sticking with the “same old, same old” approach, because all education focuses on students, right? What more can we possibly give them? Educators work hard. We don’t make much, but we make a difference. I have to believe that, every single day, I have the opportunity to make a difference. We may have 99 problems, but motivation is not one. I was blessed, truly blessed, to be surrounded by educators that traveled the world to share their motivations. Their successes make the hard times better, lifting my spirits when it begins to feel like work.
Personalizing Learning, at its core, is the creation of experiences. Experiences that can engage, inspire, and motivate students to develop the best version of themselves. It is difficult not to live in the nostalgia of the teacher as the sage. I stand and impart wisdom, and my students take it in, shaping their future. In reality, the days of old (you know, when I was in school,) are gone. Not relevant. Have gone the way of the dodo.
One of my Learning Lab cohorts, Kyle Chadburn said it best when he posed the question “How do we help our Thorndikian colleagues see the Dewey light?” Experiences matter, people! We crave experiences! Unless it is the weekend, and we look forward to doing nothing. Unless doing nothing, as an adult, IS the experience? I digress… I have never met an educator that has not worked hard to make their classroom a place of learning. What learning looks like is questionable. We all agree that school is trying to give them “the world.” The world is out there, and part of our job is to aid in preparing students socially, emotionally, and cognitively for “the world.” Yet, are we consciously creating and planning for those experiences? Living in “the bubble” of our own classrooms, and not actively seeking people that can enrich and connect experiences for students truncates options for them. To tell students that “School seeks to give you the world. What we provide are all of the connections between subjects that show you the world. Now go and do math.” What are we missing, as educators, that creates those deep, interconnected experiences?
I am the first to admit that I don’t know everything. Schools, to me, are the collective conscious of many people with different passions. It is on all of us, within our buildings to ask, listen, and learn about our colleagues passions. I love geology, but am not a rock climber. I do know people that are, however. So, connecting a student that has this interest, then speaking with their math teacher about how to connect distances, speeds, and ratios for belaying a climber, while asking their ELA teacher about upcoming writing assignments that may allow for narrative reading and writing? How do just two additional connections deepen this experience? Why are we not reaching out to experts in the field more often, to have them share their experiences? Why can’t we step away from tradition, and embrace “the world” for ourselves?
Christopher Emdin inspired me to look at how experiences influence engagement. How do the lives of our students, their cultures, determine their need for diverse experiences? I too believe in rainbows over housing projects. If you have not seen this, stop reading, skip the rest of this post, and consider how you can create experiences that engage diverse, self proclaimed “ratchet” students. Yes, I am embracing my ratchedemia.
So yes, I do know where each student is in their learning journey in my classroom. But, I realize that I need to continue to work for them. How can I meet them where they are, and deepen their own understanding by creating new experiences? Leaving behind “the sage,” instead becoming the “designer of experiences?” Designing, leading, reflecting, networking, and learning are our responsibilities. By that, I mean the responsibilities we have to ourselves as professionals. As a coach, I would never ask my athletes to do a workout that I have not completed. So, why would I not strive to model the same for my students? I have to model what I want to see of my students. That modeling MATTERS! The world is counting on them! They should begin those experiences today!
Mr. H's Not So Secret Classroom 