I really enjoyed “The Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Adichie, both as a lover of literature and history fascinated by the stories of others, and as a documentarian of my students during the last few weeks. As I watched my students and noticed things about them, I enjoyed learning about their stories, beyond the “single story” of immigrants.
.I spent a few weeks taking pictures of my students who are English learners, curious to capture their personalities and document their personalities. Without getting thier faces on camera for privacy reasons, I think the pictures are still evocative, and remind me that anyone can learn, everyone has a story, and that you really have to see someone to get to know them. It would be dangerous to generalize and assume.
I love my kids, and I hope you enjoy these little snapshots into our lives at school. At first, when I began reading “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon, I felt skeptical. I didn’t really like the idea of sharing something of my work every day on the Internet. I am definitely more of a visitor” than a “resident” when it comes to my private life, and sometimes I feel that I would prefer it that way in my professional life, too. However, recently a classmate had a job interview and noted that her potential employers were very impressed with the fact that she had a professional website. She got the job. And that got my attention.
Austin Kleon talked about “giving what you have,” even if you don’t feel like a genius, because what you make will be meaningful to someone. I feel that way about the teaching profession in general when it comes to my students. It is a nice thought that I could benefit other teachers as well. Here is my final QQCA for "A New Culture of Learning." Though I'm still weighing some of the book's suggestions, it is definitely making me think about schooling and learning in new ways!
Chapter 7 Quotation: “Unlike traditional notions of learning, which position the learner as a passive agent of reception, the aporia/epiphany structure of play makes the player’s agency central to the learning process.” Play has a structure that is different than other formal ways of learning, but it is central to discovering. People will learn more through play because they want to learn through playing. Question: Is there a way to transition from learning-through-play into work preparation? Or is there a way to prepare for work while… playing? I love the idea of students being engaged in learning that interests them, and in my dream world every student would have a job that they enjoy as well, but there are also times that people need to do things that they don’t enjoy. Is there still a role in schools for helping students develop self-discipline? |
Ms. JohnsonI will post reflections here about educational topics that interest me. Archives
April 2016
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