{"id":148,"date":"2020-01-14T20:08:38","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T20:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/maylu\/?p=148"},"modified":"2020-01-14T19:01:22","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T00:01:22","slug":"i-have-20-20-vision-but-cant-see-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/maylu\/2020\/01\/14\/i-have-20-20-vision-but-cant-see-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"I have 20\/20 vision but can’t see everything"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to hit the blog. Not from laziness,\u00a0 but because I’ve been so mentally exhausted by the time I get home. Our robotics team is gearing up for regional tournaments, I’ve had to use most my preps going to doctors (nothing serious, just specialist follow-ups who have limited schedules), and haven’t really had a chance to use my preps as actual preps. It’s been a little bit crazy and like all teachers, certain things have fallen to the back, back burner and the to-do list has really become a “get what you can” list. I am excited to share what has been pondering my mind because SURPRISE, I want to change my action plan and my ideas have changed to something different. I am so excited to share all the changes and mind-shifting that has occurred in the last two months. I can’t do that all in one blog post, but I guess I’ll document as much as I can before our third F2F. I still have more things I’d love to share–but one at a time. Breathe and let’s dive into today’s main idea: 20\/20 vision.<\/p>\n

\"Bitmoji<\/p>\n

Most of you know, at the end of 2019, I got laser eye surgery–so theoretically, I have 20\/20 vision. Well, I’ve been thinking lately as I have been talking to my classes about my Cohort project and looking at my classroom and culture, I’ve shifted my mindset and outlook again. A couple years ago I did my Masters in teaching culture around mental health.\u00a0 I mainly studied building classroom culture that provides a safe space for students to talk about their mental health. This does not necessarily mean a discussion or awareness on mental health illnesses, but more about how self awareness of their mental health may support their learning. My focus was on mental health awareness and language, but all at the individual classroom community level. That being said, I felt I needed some actual teaching experience first, before I got too wrapped up in it all. Practice makes perfect, right?<\/p>\n

\"BitmojiFast forward to now, I originally wanted to look at classroom community around science literacy–developing growth mindset and a mindset to fall forward that motivates and curates a curiousity in the sciences. Turns out, with an overwhelmingly large number of feedback, my students consistently all commented on how their favourite thing about our class was our community; that was positive, uplifting and a place they felt safe to talk about their mental health. As I kept reading survey after survey, I kept getting similar messages about the “safe and supportive environment” these students felt. I kept getting similar themes of students talking about how happy they were to talk about their anxieties openly in class and where their mental health was on a specific day. Then I got thinking…<\/p>\n

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How might we support teachers to create classroom environments where students feel mentally safe to express their socio-emotional health and support pathways of emotional growth?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

How did I loop back from my new idea to back where I started when I first became a teacher!? I guess I made a full circle back to where I originally started. I sort of laughed to myself because I had this passion, got discouraged,\u00a0 started slowly building confidence again and somehow ended up here–back to the beginning. I guess in the end, it went back to my genuine self…and we all know, that’s always been the case for building a strong classroom community.<\/p>\n

\"frolicking<\/p>\n

\"Bitmoji<\/p>\n

This is how I ended 2019. Then, I jetted off to the holidays and averaged about 10-12 hours of sleep. Yes, I am a sleeper. Even so, as the holidays went on and my Instagram feed kept filling with 20\/20 vision, and I kept thinking: IS EVERYONE GETTING LASER EYE SURGERY?! Then I realized–oh, it’s a new internet trend. Whooops…<\/p>\n

So 20\/20 vision–what does that mean? What does that look like? I started thinking about the idea of how much we don’t see in our students. I hate relating to myself because I am not the only person who has every experienced this, but I also don’t feel like I can speak for anybody else. The impression I often hear that I make on people is that I am excitable, bubbly, friendly and talkative. This then easily lends itself to characteristics like enthusiastic, talkative and happy. This then leads to the many similar quotes and phrases I’ve heard way too many times:<\/p>\n