Change is in the Air

"Great leadership is not about having all the answers it is more often having the courage to have a great dialogue."
Lolly Daskal

I am working with two new teachers this year - one teaching 7th grade and one teaching both freshman and seniors. I love working with new teachers! They have new, fresh ideas, but are also willing to listen to and try out other ideas. We have had multiple discussions about how and what to teach and what sticks out in my mind from those conversations is their ability to reflect on how they were taught and improve on it.

Both teachers looked at genre categories this week. Instead of handing out a worksheet or handout (as we all experienced), students were asked what books from their independent reading fell into each category. Next, in groups, students listed characteristics of the genre based on their knowledge and the book selections.

This activity led to lively discussions of not only genre, but also individual books. Students were enthralled with the discussions, offering examples of genre characteristics, favorite books, characters and plot lines and a whole host of what if's. What if a story has time travel but the time travel is to a historical place? What if it is based in the past, but has ghosts? What if the book says it is based on a true account? And what about... They weren't asking us, per se, but were challenging each other.

I remember thinking all through high school that when I got to college, I would finally get to the good stuff. These are the types of conversations I remember having in college and more often in grad school. This is the good stuff and it can and should be done in middle and high school!

Setting up the Workshop

"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings." Hodding Carter Jr.

These past few weeks of school have been my attempt to give students "roots". We have been building our classroom community and developing our procedures for workshop. These past few weeks we have been getting to know each other as readers, writers and learners. The notebook has been our textbook, and we are writing it as we go along.

One of my favorite activities was our class discussion on classroom expectations which revolve around respect, responsibility and safety. The guiding question was. "What do you need in order to learn?" Students were asked to jot down their ideas of what their learning environment should look like in their notebook. Then in small groups, students shared and added to their lists. Finally, each group submitted their unique ideas to the class and created their own posters which are now prominently displayed in the classroom and constitute our classroom rules.

These student developed expectations have helped to unify us as a learning community, giving students a stake in their own learning. this activity also set the tone for further learning in our classroom - student centered authentic learning, a focus on issues and concerns that matter most to students and student voices matter. Looking forward to witness students' learning taking flight!