This week, I decided to tie up some loose ends. The nature of my classroom creates many loose ends, and sometimes I just want them all to be tied up in a neat bow, and finished. I don’t know why- it doesn’t last long. It just makes me feel better I guess. So I went in determined to do nothing but tie, tie, tie. No sidebars, no interjecting personal stories to drive a point, just tie, tie, tie. Well, it was all going as planned…until journal share. Alex had written about a dream he had, and someone asked “what part of the brain does that come from, and how come I can’t remember mine?” We wrote that question down to add to the list of questions on my website…another loose end. During workshop I realized that several kids needed a refresher on states of matter so that they could finish their powerpoint project…small group time scheduled….another loose end. Then during choice time someone found moviemaker, and asked if I would show them how to use it….now he wants to do his matter project on moviemaker, and spends the next 20 minutes sketching ideas and firing questions at me….loose end. After school, a student emails me to ask whether she should get a pink or orange cast on her broken hand….so I post a blog survey for my kids, and decide we will take that data and use it to make bar graphs for math tomorrow. That will give me a chance to show them create-a graph, which we have not done yet this year. 2 more loose ends…hmmmm. So I think I ended the day with at least 5 more loose ends than I started with….it was a good day. I guess I should just let my loose ends go….because that’s when I see the most…..I see kids who are not afraid to ask questions, I see my instruction changing to meet student needs, I see curiousity, flexibility, and reality. I see loose ends. Ah well, I was never really a “bow” kinda gal anyway:)
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November 5th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Ahh, a REAL teacher in the REAL world! Your post was so refreshing! You were flexible and allowed your students’ desire to learn expand into an opportunity for exploration. I am going to use this post as an example on my lunch and learn series on digital natives. Thank you. Forget about any loose ends!
November 6th, 2007 at 11:01 am
These are the very things I love most about teaching - running with the ball when the kids throw it back at you. With a little coaxing it always adds value to their educational experience AND relates to the content standards. Thanks for the glimpse of the live wire ends in your classroom!