A Growing Forest

A new school year is upon us, and it is hard to believe that another summer has gone by.  But as much as I cherish the relaxing summer months, I am very anxious to begin this upcoming year.  This past summer has given me a new outlook on what I do for a living, and made me excited to change and try new things.  As I plan the 2011-2012 school year, I am keeping this vision in mind...

In order for a forest to grow, a single seed must be planted.  It takes effort, time, and patience to turn that seed into a forest.  You must be willing to plant more seeds, nurture them, make adaptations to help them survive the elements, and most importantly, have a passion to see the forest thrive. 

When I view my classroom as a forest, the seed I will be starting my forest with is active learning.  Active learning will be the base for the activities and lessons in my classroom.  We fill focus on DESCA model, Dignity, Energy, Self-Management, Community, and Awareness.  I will do my best to incorporate these themes into our daily schedule.  Once a strong base has been built on those five these, I will expand our focus (and forest) to cooperative learning and group work.  The focus of my action research will be on cooperative learning and the use of small groups to teach math.

My goal in focusing on active learning and cooperative groups, is to build an environment where the students feel more comfortable and have a stronger passion to learn.  I hope to see a classroom where students are working independently, yet helping one another and sharing their knowledge. I hope to see less direct instruction from me, and more inquiry and knowledge seeking from the students.  I want to see the students moving more and sitting in their desks less.  These are all my goals for one main reason: children don't see the joy in school any longer.  They have become robots of habit.  They are great at filling out worksheets and learning knowledge, but not able to actively engage in the process.  Learning can be fun and exciting.  But having the students sit in a desk while a teacher rambles in your ear, is not fun and exciting (There is a reason why all the adults in the Peanuts cartoons talk so funny!).  

Just as a forest will not grow over night, nor will this ideal classroom.  It is going to take time, effort, and patience in order for this to happen.  I must continue to reflect  and adapt in order for this forest to grow.  But most importantly, I must continue to have a passion for seeing the children grow.

So many thoughts...

As I began learning more about blogs, I got very excited thinking about the many ways in which I could incorporate a blog into my classroom.  It would be a new and exciting way to communicate with students and parents, I could post class activities and homework, and use it as a place to display student work.  So much to plan and think about!

But then, I couldn't help but feel that it is going to be one more thing I start in my classroom with great energy, but then with time, it fizzles out.  This is exactly what happened to the hare while he raced the tortoise, and it is exactly what happened to the class web page I started five years ago and haven't touched in almost three.  The energy was high and excitement was booming at the beginning, but then new initiatives were adopted by the district and more planning time got eaten up.  As a result, other things suffered.  And in my case, it was my class website that couldn't finish the race.  

So, how can I make this blog beneficial to me (and hopefully my students), without it becoming an extra add-on that fizzles out as quickly as it was started?  I think that for now, it needs to be a site where I reflect on my learning as a teacher and a learner.  A place where I can connect my life as a student conducting research and my life as a teacher guiding students through fifth grade.  In time, I hope for this blog to become a place where the students, parents, and I can collaborate with one another.  But that will come in small steps....slow and steady wins the race.