Reflection 9

Capture:

This week I decided not to continue my post from last week and instead reflect on desires and the realization of desires in the context of teaching.

Analysis:

We all have things we desire. How much do we really desire these things? For many of us, how badly we want to see the realization of these desires is pretty apparent. If we really want something, we're going to be willing to work for it. If we really want something we're not only going to be willing to work for it, we're going to be willing to give other things up. We will be willing to sacrifice what we want now for what we want most. We will make things happen. We won't wait around asking others for permission, we'll give ourselves permission and make whatever we want to have happen, happen. But how many of us are willing to do that when it comes to being a teacher? How much are we willing to do to help our students? How much are we allowed to do to help our students? These are all questions to consider when deciding the desires and expectations you have for your students. Once you have decided those things you can begin to see what you're really willing to do for those students success. Some teachers are willing to give their all, others are only willing to collect their pay check. Many of us fall somewhere in between. Granted, a majority of the responsibility falls on the student and their willingness to learn. We can desire the best for students, but if they don't act on what we've tried our best to give them to succeed, the fault is their own. That said, we as teachers should still do all we can to have strong desires for success for our students and be willing to do what it takes to make those desires reality.


Action:

As a teacher I will work to have realistic desires for my students and I will work to help them see their potential and allow them to accomplish it. I will make all that I can happen, happen.

Reflection 8

Capture:

This week I'd like to reflect on the fear of failure in learning and in life and the effects it has on our ability to perform.

Analysis:

Failure. Failure is unacceptable in our society. Growing up, what happened if you got a score below a 50 on a test? You got a failing grade. You get enough failing grades and you wouldn't graduate high school. Not only in learning do we 'fail' but socially too. We fail if we say the 'wrong' thing at school. What ends up happening? We don't say anything at all! There is something wrong here. Failure in this context, in society's context of failure as a whole, has an extremely negative connotation. It becomes feared and avoided. Failure boxes us into what we think is acceptable by society, so we produce anything and everything else so long as we don't fail in our society's eyes. Fear of failure eliminates creativity. What is creativity? One form of creativity is doing things that have never been done, thinking in ways that have never been thought, going place that have never been gone. The notion of doing something that hasn't been done before becomes insurmountable with the fear of failure.Thinking like this trains us to think that failure is an unbearable  and therefore you shouldn't try new things because you might fail. Not only that but it leads us to believe that we must do everything perfectly, that there is no room for error, which is completely unrealistic. By trying to avoid failure, we set ourselves up for failure by always falling short of what we see our potential as being.You shouldn't start a business because it might fail, you shouldn't get married because it might fail. The reality is failure is meant to happen. Failure is meant to be learned from and celebrated.

Action:

I will create an environment in my classroom where failure is acceptable (in certain forms) I'll elaborate on this subject more next week.

Reflection 7

Capture:

This week I'd like to reflect on how skill sets, divided up and awarded as badges, are my favorite way of measuring achievement and learning.  

Analysis:

I love small steps. Each small step you take up a staircase brings you that much closer to the next level. Small steps make huge leaps more manageable. In learning new skills sets with badges it's the same way. A skill set is what I consider a full 'set' of badges for any given subject. In the analogy of the stairs, the 'next level' is a full skill set and each individual badge is a 'stair'. Making individual badges basic, small and accessible steps toward achieving a skill set allows students to constantly feel successful. As the basic skills are taught, similar to Gong's exponential learning, they can be internalized, applied and passed on quicker. Skill sets are a great way to track progress. When applying for a job employers don't ask, "Hey, what'd you learn in your 8th grade history class" or "Did you memorize the periodic table in 10th grade?". Employers are interested in your skill sets. What can you DO? What are you good at? If there was a way to connect mainstream education with the concept of skill set based achievement, the transition from high school to college and out into the workforce would be much smoother. For example, if the skill set method was implemented when children were in elementary school for skills like design, computer programming, management, etc. students could begin to experience, on a more basic level obviously, skills that they could build on through high school, college and then the workforce. I'm not suggesting, however, that we starve children of their childhood's either. The skills taught in elementary school would allow them to be as creative and imaginative as ever. With the skill-set approach, innovation could take place at an exponential pace as students begin to understand the basic of real-world skills early on.    



Action:

In my class I would like to implement the skill-set/badge approach. If I had a way to do it, I would love to reinvent the entire education system to gear towards this idea of skill-set based learning and assessment.

Reflection 6

Capture:

This week I’d like to talk about how learning to love learning can change your life. I'd also like to talk briefly about how learning to love learning will lead you to love teaching.

Analysis:

We learn new things everyday. If we don't love to learn, life can easily become pretty boring and safe. Not that safety is a bad thing, but that safety due to complacency and an idle mind can completely change what you're willing to learn and accept as knowledge. If we don't love to learn, each new topic we 'have to' study or test we 'need to' prepare for becomes nothing more than just that, "have to do's and need to do's" which causes us to perceive learning as a chore rather than the adventure it can be. However if we 'want to' or 'get to' learn about a new topic or skill, our approach to learning completely changes and we find our lives open to change and new experiences. (Not so sure anyone will ever 'want to' take a test though) If you love what you are learning you'll want to share it with others, plain and simple. Sharing knowledge solidifies it in our own minds and helps others have the opportunity to accept and understand new things that can be life changing. That could be one of many reasons why missionaries go out for two years to teach the gospel, to solidify it in their own hearts and minds as they share what they've learned to be true. 

Action:

I'm trying my best to love learning so that I can grow in all areas of my life. I know that as I truly love learning that I'll truly love teaching and that as I come to love both, each will cease to be a chore and become a 'want to' or 'get to' in my life. 

Reflection 5

Capture:

This week I’d like to talk about the difference between living life by going through the motions and living life by loving life and how that relates to teaching.

Analysis:

Humans are creatures of habit. We wake up, we eat breakfast brush our teeth, and hopefully put on deodorant at some point. Each day we do things out of habit. Habits are good, but if we forget the why of our habits, life becomes awfully boring and, at times, lacks depth.  Habits like going to church, saying our prayers, reading books for classes, typing up reflections each week for this class, and a billion other tasks we do on a daily or weekly basis can become meaningless is we simply go through each task only to check off our to do list. In teaching, if we as teachers clock in and show up, throw up some powerpoint slides and give out an assignment we’ve failed. We’ve missed the point. If we just do things to get them done, we have no reason to be doing them. In order to get anything valuable out of life, we must show love in everything we do. The more we give and show love for what we’re doing, the more meaning it will have in our lives. This is especially true in the classroom. If we love our students and love what we teach, we’re truly living life rather than just going through the motions.

Action:

I have been trying and will continue to improve my perception of life in terms of not just going through the motions but sincerely giving and loving what I learn teach and experience on a daily basis.