My best learning experience

Welcome to you Cohort 21 Blog. This journal is an integral part of your Cohort 21 experience. Here you will reflect, share , collaborate  and converse as you move through the C21 Action Plan process. 

This is your first post and an opportunity to share a little bit about yourself as a learner and leader. Please respond the to the following prompts below:

1) Reflect on your own personal learning journey and K-12 education. Identify one learning experience that you can point to as having made a significant impact on some element of your own growth and development. It could be that teacher and subject that really sparked significant growth or a trip that opened your eyes to a whole new world or way of thinking or a non-catastrophic failure that you learned so much from.  Briefly describe the learning experience and identify the various supports, structures, mindsets and relational ingredients that were put in place by the teacher or facilitator that directly contributed to your growth and success. 

When I was a young child, I had significant issues learning how to read.  I loved hearing stories, drawing comics, watching films, and having books read to me.  I remember feeling frustrated and self-conscious by my inability to read at the same level as my peers, and I would try to disappear into the walls if I suspected someone might discover my weakness.  I would often take long, meandering walks to the washroom and water fountain to avoid being in class, and feigned stomach aches that sent me to the health room were a daily occurrence.

My mother was an educational assistant, and had a good understanding of the issues I was facing.  In recent years, we have had discussions about her attempts to partner with my teachers, and the frustrations she felt along the way.  Children can often be given labels that obscure their identity, and reputations can be an anvil they carry with them from year to year.  I didn’t have an adult I connected with, and my perception was that I didn’t belong at school.  I remember begging my mom to go to work with her, and the sinking feeling I had to get on the school buds.

Both of us identify the major turning point in my educational experience was when I entered third grade.  I had a teacher who made it her business to connect with me.  She made me her attendance assistant, and used it as an opportunity to help me sound out words.  If I was having a bad day, she let me stay in at recess to clean the boards, and would ask me to read a word before I erased it.  She told me every day that I was smart, and kind, and that she thought I drew great pictures.   She invited my mom to school for a cup of tea, and they decided that I needed a specialized phonics-based approach to improve my reading.  My mom worked with me at night on my phonics books, and my teacher worked with me during the day.  By the end of the year, I was reading at the appropriate level.  More importantly, I felt like I belonged at school.

2) What is the one Learning skill (MOE) or Approach to Learning (IB ATL) that you feel is MOST important in this day and age? How do you intentionally build it into your curriculum and develop it in your students throughout the year?

I would identify Social Skills as the ATL I find the most interesting at this moment in time.  The digital world has vastly altered the way we communicate with each other, and the world young people are navigating is incredibly complex.  We talk a lot in my classes about how digital tools have altered the way we interact, and what the social repercussions are every time a new medium is introduced into our world.  Having students reflect on how digital environments alter the way they interact can help them understand some of the issues they are facing.  Explicitly teaching and modelling social skills is becoming an increasingly important aspect of teaching.  The ability to work and connect with others in in a respectful and authentic manner is one of the most important skills we can help young people cultivate.

3) Insert an image below that best captures the essence of that Learning Skill or ATL.

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