 Photo from http://pixabay.com 71278 This year I took on a new role; I left the classroom and took a Learning Support Teacher position. I left the comfort and familiarity of the classroom and learning I’d come to know and although I was ready for the change, I didn’t quite know what I would face.
I learned, quickly, how much I loved some parts of my new role. I loved how intimately I got to learn about my students’ learning styles, their strengths and the relationships we built so quickly. I see my small groups daily and get to spend time with students in many different grades and I appreciate that special time with each of them.
I also work with English Language Learners and one of my students had just arrived to Canada, from India, just days before school began. He came, knowing no English. He is a small-framed, very young child who was trying to learn and understand the “school” system, communicate with others, find his way around these unfamiliar surroundings and was so overwhelmed by his new environment.
We worked together daily for a number of weeks, him parroting my language. He tried to learn his colours, numbers and letters and attempted “survival” language but was really struggling. He was sad and frustrated. My heart ached for a way to reach him, a way to help him gain some ways to communicate and connect with his peers ~ connect to anyone.
Then one morning, as we walked from his classroom to my room, he silently reached up and held my hand.
This role has reaffirmed the importance of connections and care. That learning comes when children feel safe and when they are ready. As educators, we provide the opportunities, but children will come in their own time.
The feeling of his tiny hand in mine, walking in silence, spoke a million words.
My heart was full.
Sometimes, teaching hurts. I am “that” teacher, the one who cares so much about my students that when they hurt, so do I. This year, my heart has wept along with my students’. I wonder how other teachers manage and balance everything, while I get lost in the love of what I do and whom I do it for, this year I found myself deeply hurt.
Just before spring break, one of the children in my class experienced the deepest loss, the loss of a parent. I struggled with the loss of my grandparents and it took me a significant amount of time to “learn to live” without them. I could not begin to imagine what my little guy was going through or what was about to come.
I started (internally) comparing my grief process to what his may look like. I was so wrong. I tried to anticipate what he might be like when he returned to school, I was again, so wrong. I wept as I shared with the other kids the sad news and continued to have moments of tears in the days that followed, as did they. The days and weeks that followed taught me so much. He returned to school and continues to inspire me with his coping and his processing of the life event he is walking through. We no longer weep – we celebrate and cherish memories. We talk about his dad, we laugh about things his dad would say and do. He hopes his beanstalk grows to heaven so he can see his dad and talk to him again. “I know it won’t happen, but it would be neat.”
My students reminded me of the power of the community we had established. That we were in a safe and supportive place where we live out “real” and accept each other for who we are and what we are going through. I could never have known just how important this groundwork was going to be, until we needed it this year. My students rose up and showed love. My students gave him space, invited him into play when they sensed he was ready and respected him when he indicated he needed time alone. My students made him cards with the most personal, intimate, caring messages. My students displayed a deep love and compassion I knew they were capable of but did not know would be so profound and personal at such a young age.
I am that teacher who loves my students and chooses to risk it all. I am that teacher who cares so deeply that I will give my heart and emotion and be real with them, allowing for real world learning and understanding to take place in a deeply vulnerable way. It comes at a cost. It comes with some rewards I get to see, and so much more that I believe I will never really know but have had the privilege of being part of.
Our community is built on trust, openness, communication, being real and honesty. From them, and me. I am that teacher, who in the last 3 months has learned more about life and living than perhaps I have ever really understood in all my years. My students teach me everyday, and even though sometimes it hurts, it is always worth it.
 http://www.fotopedia.com It was beautiful picture that made me pause. A young girl, sitting on the floor at a large department store, with a stack of books beside her. No adult in sight. I thought to myself ~ this is every teachers dream… Spring break and this young girl is sitting on the floor with a pile of books, right beside the toy section, reading.
I browsed for a moment then was pleasantly interrupted by a man, who looked vaguely familiar. He extended his hand, to shake mine, and said hello to me, by name. I had no idea what his name was, or where I knew him from.
We spoke for a moment and he recalled specifics and details about when I taught his daughter, a number of years ago, and this was her, reading on the floor nearby. He remembered when my dad came and we made Father’s Day keychain gifts – he still uses his. He spoke about the reading time we had in the classroom and enjoyed it very much. He recalled our field trip to Grouse Mountain and shared the lasting memories his daughter had about learning about bears and the experience.
It was a brief encounter but has left me pondering the impact we have on families. Of course, in my “head” I understand I have an impact on children and their lives. But I was touched, really touched, when I encountered this family and he recalled such detail the time we shared. He rekindled what I know in my head, in my heart. His daughter was in Kindergarten at that time, half day. I did not see him often as he worked, yet still, he remembered so much about me and was so quick to share his memories of his daughters experiences.
I think as educators, we need these encounters every once in a while. They cannot be orchestrated, of course, but they are certainly a wonderful surprise to be treasured. They remind us of the lasting impact we can and do have on children and families. How we move from year to year, as do our students, but still, every day we are creating memories, having conversations that may stick with a student forever, and are entrusted with an influential position that many never get to have. What an honor. What a privilege.
I hope to see more young students sitting on the floor reading. I hope this image will remain vivid in my mind for a long time, encouraging me to push myself to think more critically about the classroom environment I am creating for my students. I wonder what my students leave my classroom remembering? I wonder how will they be challenged and changed? I wonder how will they feel and what will they remember about the year they spend with me?
 Image from www.freedigitalphotos.net With nothing left to do but follow my students' lead, I jumped in with both feet. I left my hesitations and fears on the edge and joined my students in their uninhibited quest for learning. We pulled out the iPads and learned about Book Creator. I used the document camera and projected my iPad to the big screen and led a few step by step lessons. Everyone created their own title page for their "I Wonder" book, and set a few background pages. The children were able to quickly navigate this app and loved knowing that they were on their way to creating their own book for their own inquiry topic! Next we needed some help. We had the ideas and information on our "thinking pages," but getting the information into the iPads was going to be a challenge. I had decided I was going to leave my inhibitions on the deck. No "yeah buts," so I sought another teacher in my school who is familiar with Genius Hour. Their class agreed to step up and be our big buddies! Thanks Div 4! So, we met in the library, learned more with our non fiction books, and our big buddies helped us write when we couldn't. Then they helped us type our learning into Book Creator on the iPads and format some of the pages. Soon we became better with the iPads and were able to format, and change the font, size and colour on our own, too! Then we talked about illustrating our books. We decided that we could use the non fiction books to help us draw pictures that connected to our writing. We made small illustrations, then took pictures of them with the iPads and uploaded them into our "I Wonder books" on Book Creator, so our illustrations were our own. I was impressed at how the children's art changed. They were drawing and creating for a purpose here too, something I hadn't really thought about before. Their pictures were well thought out. Their perspective, colour choice, size and detail was all to a new standard they had not set for themselves before. They had their topic books out so they could be sure to have their image look as "real" as possible, after all, this was science! We're done! The children were thrilled to have a book to showcase their learning about THEIR passion. We shared our books with our families during our student-led conferences and with our big buddies. This has been the highlight of our recent learning. I created a short video documenting the process (too big for this site) and shared it with our staff so they too could see how we were learning too.
So what did the "I Wonder" project do for the students in my primary (grade 1/2) classroom? My students now love non fiction text My students love reading, finding facts then sharing their learning My students ask me to bring in specific topics for our class library so they can continue learning more My students help each other understand what they are reading and buddy read with more authenticity and purpose My students write life cycles, randomly, and make books about nature, animals, world issues and other facts they are learning about. We have various "fact books" floating around our room so they can document their learning while reading My students are comfortable with Book Creator and ask regularly when they can make their next book My students have taken learning to a new level!
Each child learned something different. I do not think I could have elicited this level of enthusiasm and passion for learning by having them all learn the same topic at the same time. The skills learned were all similar, but the inquiry was their own, the passion was their own, so the investment and desire was their own.
Thank you, inspiring, passion filled educators who believe that children's learning matters, for sharing your passion with me. My learning came through Twitter and talking with inspiring educators. I've learned that there is genius all around, I just needed to open my eyes and change my approach! Passion is contagious. Be caught!
Image from www.freedigitalphotos.net
So the children each had their wonders, and I wanted more. I wanted the buzz of a classroom filled with minds spinning with excitement about learning and for learning. I wanted a classroom where so much learning was happening that I'd have to step back and really soak it in. I had to stop hoping for something I wanted to fabricate and remember who this was about. This was about them, and their passion, their learning. Not me. Ouch.
My little minds wanted to learn. "I wonder why don't people recycle more?" "I wonder how do space cars get made?" "I wonder why are butterflies such pretty colors?" "I wonder what is the biggest animal in the ocean?" "I wonder what is the earth made of?" "I wonder where does all the garbage go?" Pretty great questions, pretty big wonders.
I asked them how they thought we should find the answers to our questions. They decided we could go to the library and ask our librarian to help us. So we did. We went for a few sessions, exploring about our topic, learning more, finding answers and new, deeper wonders. Writing what we could, drawing when we needed to. It was amazing! My emergent readers were pushing themselves, using the pictures to help them understand the non-fiction text they were reading and doing it without my prompting or reminding about "reading strategies." Authentic learning. I had chills I was so excited! So this was what "Genius Hour" could look like in the primary classroom. My mind was racing, I was searching for how to lead them forward. All I had to do was listen...
 I wanted to know about Genius Hour, I wanted to know how I could have my students who are in grades one and two really love what they were learning about and push themselves to want to know more, try harder and seek a higher bar. I have worked hard to develop a classroom community that is warm, inviting and where all learners feel they can explore learning at the place where they are at, but I was hungry for more...for them.
I pushed myself, read more, explored more twitter posts and decided to stop, step back and listen. My "kidwatching" changed to "kid listening" and then to listening to what wasn't being said. We explored questioning and talked about "surface" and "deep" questions and this is where things started to take off. I let go of the reigns and let them wonder, question, and have time to talk about this vast world that if there were no rules, what they could spend their time learning more about. I asked them "what does your heart break for?" What do you want to know more about, if you could pick anything?" "What do you wonder?"
We pulled out the "post-it" notes and started writing our wonders. I wrote some for those who were hindered by the writing element, but could orally express themselves, others wrote their own. We explored many great books about questions and I watched how their questions started to form a theme and become more specific and detailed. I grouped their "wonders" and eventually we all had a "big wonder" that we were going to explore.
So here we are, with our wonders... Now what!?
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