Question 1: During the first face to face we used the language of Urgent vs Important to help frame our discussions and thinking around the use TIME. Reflect on why you joined Cohort 21 and your professional goals for this year. Now that the year has begun and you have met your students what IMPORTANT goal might you like to address and leverage this community to get support with.
In joining Cohort 21, I was inspired by the idea of working with a broader group of educators to inspire, challenge and ignite me with energy to bring back to my homecourt classroom. My professional classroom goal this year is to critically evaluate how to best to integrate all of the “great” teaching strategies and goals “pre-Covid” learning with all of the “now-Covid” learning strategies and goals – and dovetail the two together – recognizing that not every piece can stay moving onwards. I feel that the most urgent needs in the classroom right now are the students & their social/emotional development and well-being as they readjust to in-person learning. I feel my classroom goal of evaluating teaching style and content is important as it is a daily revelation and recognition as to what is working and what isn’t quite hitting the mark. I am excited at the prospect of leveraging the community support of Cohort 21 to consider how this evaluation can best happen in the present and planning forward into the year.
Question 2: Which of the Season 10 Strands did you choose and why? Share what you feel is both urgent and important about it for you and your school at the moment and some of the questions you have around moving forward. Feel free to change strands should you want to.
I selected Pedagogy & Wellbeing (K-8) as my Strand- specifically as I am a Lower School teacher. Creating a vibrant syncronystic classroom at the Lower School level – with curriculum that engages and stimulates wonder and curiosity in students both at school and at home- is a constant challenge. Scaffolding emotional growth and in-person learning readiness is urgent and continually evaluating and reconsidering the curriculum is important. I am looking forward to working with my team to gain from the vast teaching experience and rich ideas to support both the urgent and important quests.
So glad you joined Cohort 21! Looking forward to your posts.
Taking the ‘best of the old and best of the new’ is definitely going to be our challenge as teachers this year. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here – not everything can stay. We need to reflect on our practice and trim away the detritis of days gone by and keep the things that are truly important and truly working to support students learning and well-being. 🙂
@lkanary,
The last two academic years forced us all to push into educational spaces. paradigms and pedagogies that we would have never done as quickly or as deeply. It was not what we signed up for as educators and there was no time to assess the impact as we were all learning on the fly. Now on the other side and with some time to reflect we can begin to ask ourselves what is worth keeping and tweaking and what is worth walking away from. One thing is clear; our students need our help and support to recalibrate. They have had an interruption in the normal cycle of development (all a the same time) which requires us as educators to adapt to meet them where they are at. So where are your students at and what seems “important” enough to address right now? The Cohort 21 action plan process is the perfect vehicle to address this challenge and serve your growth and development at the same time. Win win 🙂 @nblair @gnichols
Yes, as @jmedved says, it is a ‘win – win’! It looks like you are in the right place here at Cohort 21 and within your strand group. What we can work towards is turning your challenge: “Creating a vibrant syncronystic classroom at the Lower School level – with curriculum that engages and stimulates wonder and curiosity in students both at school and at home- is a constant challenge.” into a powerful question. Because getting in front of the right question is key!
See you soon,
Garth.
@lkanary What a great reflection as your first blog post. You have a great goal of reflecting on pre-Covid and current teaching strategies and melding them together to create the best learning environment for your students. Your students will definitely benefit from your work with Cohort 21.
@lkanary – Happy new year! I hope you are managing during this remote learning period. We are looking forward to connecting this weekend. If you have a moment before Friday if you could create a 2nd post that answers the following 2nd F2F reflection questions and post your HMW question. This will be really helpful to your coaches/facilitator in their support of your Action Plan.
1) What was the process like in coming up with your HMW question at the last face-to-face? Where did you land? Share your first attempt so we can see where your action plan is headed.
2) Who should you talk to next to help guide your inquiry? In order to answer your HWM question, what voices and perspectives need to be consulted? What did you learn when you talked to them?
3) Why are you engaging in this line of action and inquiry? What important unmet need sits central to your question?
See you Saturday!
Justin