I was helping my parents search for plane tickets this past
summer for their trip to Las Vegas.
My mom had asked me to assist them in finding the best price, and I
distinctly remember the day I found a ticket for a significant price below what
we had been finding. I called
their house and broke the news, only to find that “we went ahead and bought
some. Only one stop, and it is a
short one.”
I personally would have chosen the cheaper tickets and
stopped twice, or waited an extra few hours, but they had determined that it
was worth the extra cash to be free of a long layover.
Unfortunately, in health class, we don’t have the option of
choosing a different flight. The
layover analogy is the best I can come up with to describe our current status. We have this goal in mind (Las Vegas)
of student learning coming in the form of projects that make a difference in
society. But, because of learned
habits developed over time (the lack of a direct flight) we’ve had to make a
stop along the way in the form of our first project (layover in Dallas), to
unlearn ways of thinking that inhibit our ability to be creative and to think
in ways that allow students to express their voice, not just restate
information.
Don’t take this all the wrong way. I am actually excited about this layover to see the progress
that we have made. This layover
certainly isn’t like one you’d take on a trip out west, it is a layover that
allows students to present their work, evaluate their work, share their work,
and ultimately improve on their ability to work going forward.
I have learned so much as a teacher over the past two
weeks. I have learned that not
only do students develop some unfortunate habits during their school years that
are hard to break, but I’ve learned that 6 years of teaching can bring on some
automatic, almost subconscious responses that must be unlearned as well.
I, like the students, really want to get to our ultimate
destination quickly. An ultimate
destination that has a more streamlined process, with better explanations,
better feedback, and better guidance from me as the teacher. This destination is but a vision in my
head, and I cannot wait until we board the plane on our next project to take us
even closer to a learning environment that all students take pride in coming to
on a daily basis.
For now, we must enjoy our layover. The work the students have produced for
their second assignment is being posted to our class websites this week. I am very excited to finally launch the
sites and allow students to share their work with whomever they wish. It is another step in the process that
will allow the students to have a vision, like I do, of that final destination. I am hoping that this project allowed
them to have some adversity and some frustrations, because those things will
only make our next set of projects better. If that adversity didn’t show itself this time around, I’m
hoping the students set the bar a bit higher next time and try to do something
that they have never done before.
I heard a great quote this week from a fellow educator on
twitter: “If failure isn’t
happening in your classroom, why not?”
I think this is great because failure is our best teacher. Failure also exemplifies a student’s
willingness to try something difficult, something new, or something that they
thought they’d never get the chance to try in a high school classroom.
If you’d like to visit our sites please feel free to click
the links below. Projects will
continue to be posted throughout the week.
Thank you for being part of our journey.
Take care,
Coach Mo
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