Frustration then Faith

 Some rights reserved by sarahgb(theoriginal)

Wow, these last couple weeks have been really frustrating. Working with teachers and coaching one on one, a lot of them feel frustrated that they haven't met the particular outcomes they felt they needed to meet.  We've talked a lot about content vs concepts, and moving towards changing our thinking with our culture of thinking model. 

However, what struck me recently was how important documentation can be to bring faith back into the teachers.  Too often when we are in the classroom we are seeing the students as they are, not where they were.  At the beginning of the year, it required so much faith in our students in order to believe they could get as far as they did, now that they are here, we can't be frustrated, we need to know they can get to the next level. 

In teacher's college we talked about the importance of high expectations, and I think this is very similar.  We need to have faith that students will get there, they will understand, they'll be successful in our classes. If we are only looking at the things the students can not do, we foster that kind of thinking, we need to help the students believe that all things in learning are possible. 

Reports are coming up, working with some teachers on how to create more evidence for next year. It's been really exciting so far. I'm glad I've started coaching more than just being in an edtech role.  It has got me outside a lot more, had me more meaningfully involved in planning meetings, and teachers are now asking me a broader range of questions. 

Happy days. 

Back at it

 Some rights reserved by MACSD

We just returned from break, a wonderful time but before we left I didn't have time to write about our excursion week. 

I was really worried before we went about the quality of environmental education that we would be receiving. We had outsourced the week so a company would be working on the activities and preparing our kids for learning about Malaysia.  

It turned out way better than I thought it would.  We had lots of time to just sit and be present in nature. Some, but not many of the students went out to the ocean and played in tide-pools, so this is where I spent most of my time. 

We were just looking at life, observing, documenting with technology and then researching later on about what we were seeing and thinking and wondering. 

Now, back in the building. Things are alright, winding down.  

Been reading a lot about different interview techniques and styles.  I'm trying to support some teachers for their bid to apply for new jobs next year. Talking about redesigning infographic style resumes, how to make sure their websites are up and running and looking good.  Exciting times for sure.