Because time is generally a rare commodity these days, I tend to evaluate everything I do in terms of time worthiness. I know that Dr. S. puts alot thought into everything she asks us to do, but when I saw the tee-shirt project, I thought, "Well, this looks like fun, but will I get enough out of it, given the time it will take me to complete it?".
I figured that a goal of the project might be to give us more exposure to and experience with technology. It would also give us a lesson component that we could modify and transfer to our classroom. The presentation of our tee-shirt project would allow us to practice our classroom presentation skills and build community early on in our semester. However, it also forced us to think about who we are as educators and face up to our anxieties concerning this profession.
As with most education projects (but not all), I did get much more out of it than I expected. Of course there was the pride of trying a new task and having a finished product that I was fairly happy with. Not that it was a beautiful tee shirt. But it does represent my attempt at something new, not giving up when I encountered bumps, and it represents some new thinking on my part. I am hoping that I can encourage these goals in my own classroom. I hope I remember that the act of actively learning is to be applauded, at least as much as content knowledge.
Hi Susan,
ReplyDeleteI've learned a lot about you in this blog. I think what is most impressive is how much pride you take in trying new things. It was interesting to see what you thought the goals were for the tee-shirt project, but in actuality it was all of them and then some. I look forward to reading about the new insights you gain and sharing in this educational learning experience together.
Sally