by Krissy.Venosdale | Aug 31, 2013 | Reflect
Growth. When it’s happening, you can feel it. You feel tired. In places in your brain you didn’t even know existed. Your thinking is stretched. Your answers take longer than normal. You’re finding reflection happening in moments in the car when you use to just hum along to music. Someone says something that makes you think even more. You wake up in the middle of the night with ideas, you jot things down, you have some big ideas that are constantly rolling around in your head like marbles, clanging, back and forth, smoothing out, until you’re ready to put them into action. You start asking people you know, reading more books, looking at new blog posts.
I’m familiar with this feeling. I’ve seen it a million times in my students in the past. In their eyes. Lit up like a Christmas tree. The excitement of learning something new and doing something challenging? It takes over. It’s learning, whether you are 2 years old or 80 years old. Now that I’m on the other side of walking out of a place where I was as comfortable as my favorite pair of sneakers, I’m growing. Every single day. I’m embracing the changes and working around the clock. I’ve been having new ideas, improving old ones, and seeking new knowledge and connections. In a way that just feels so… uncomfortably good.
We can’t let our days be a treadmill that we never get anywhere on. We’ve got to be on a road, going somewhere. Because that’s what we want for our kids, too.
Learning that never stops.
Ever.
Even when it’s uncomfortable.
Nope, especially when it’s uncomfortable.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Aug 30, 2013 | Reflect
What’s more valuable, a report card full of B’s and C’s that represent struggle, learning, and growth? Or a report card filled with A’s that are A’s with no effort that a student just already knew? Every kid deserves the same thing in our schools: To learn and grow every single day. It’s not that we need every kid to earn a gold star or get an A on everything. If the A was hard earned, a beautiful result of thinking, problem solving, effort, and struggle? Then the A is beautiful. If the A is just something that happened because the content knowledge was already there? Then we’re doing a disservice.
Life is not about gold stars and A’s. Life is about learning.
School should be, too.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Aug 28, 2013 | Reflect
Seven things I know for sure…
1.) Kids should be excited to come to school.
2.) You can’t have STEM learning without creativity.
3.) Real learning can happen with a pile of dirt and a bucket of water.
4.) There is often learning in play.
5.) Mistakes are opportunities for improvement.
6.) If you ever forget what learning is about, sitting down with a 5 year old for about 10 minutes and having a conversation will remind you.
7.) Another packet of worksheets is never the solution. Unless you’re starting a campfire.
That’s what I’ve learned.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Aug 25, 2013 | Reflect
You cannot walk into a discussion about education and not hear the word ‘standard’ mentioned at least 16,432 times. I may be exaggerating, but the focus on Common Core, on rigor, on assessing kids knowledge has become the entire discussion. What about kids? What about guiding them to think about others? What about helping them understand that they can make a difference? This quote sums up everything about education. We want our kids to excel academically. We support them in learning to read, write, and problem solve. We want them to do well in their studies, to achieve standards, to reach goals. But beyond that? Do good. We want that too. Even more importantly, we need to guide learning experiences so that students can have the opportunity to want it. Inspire them. I’m not saying standards aren’t important, but standards won’t change the world. Our kids will.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Aug 24, 2013 | Reflect
It’s so easy to teach with tunnel vision. To go into your classroom, see your students, and do what you feel is best. You, the kids, and the learning. I honestly think there was a time when I taught with tunnel vision. I went to school, college, collected degrees, and thought I knew best. After all, my business card said “Teacher” and I was led to believe that that title made me the expert in the room. But, then I realized something. There is value in not knowing everything. There is even more value in openly admitting you don’t know everything. But the most value? It’s in being open to learning from others. Right now, there is another teacher somewhere that can benefit from what you have to share. And right now? There’s another teacher somewhere that can teach you something. There’s a kid you can learn from. There’s a colleague who can make a statement to challenge your thinking. We are so uncomfortable being uncomfortable. We crave to know the answers and be the expert. But the magic? It happens when we learn, from each other. From the teacher next door, the teacher in another building, the teacher in another country. Inspiration is everywhere. We just have to keep our eyes and ears open.
