In my previous school district, I was the only teacher teaching a physics course with set, district-wide learning outcomes. These same outcomes were also taught in physics classrooms at the other high school in our district. But at our school, I was one of the 2 physics teachers. The other teacher taught the AP-level physics courses. So, in many ways, I had opportunities to incorporate strategies I believed were best for learners and that I found worked best for them without being seen as out of alignment with anyone in our building. My amazing friend and one of my teaching philosophy goddesses, Katie Novak, stated the following misconception about alignment: All teachers must deliver instruction in the exact same way. True alignment, she says, is about shared goals, rigor, and outcomes. Thank you, Katie! Katie has taught me to truly believe that learner variability is the rule, not the exception. I encourage you to take 10 minutes to listen to Katie Novak explain it in the ...
Over the past couple of months it has been my pleasure to be a part of the Innovator's Mindset MOOC (massive online open course). I was able to participate in the last episode of the live MOOC hangout which will be turned into a podcast.
Below are blog posts on takeaways from the book when I read it this summer:
I just wanted to share some of my brief takeaways for the online community experience.
There are so many talented people out there. I was amazed to read all of the brilliant blog reflections of my fellow #IMMOOC members. It was great to see all the different perspectives and paths people took from a similar prompt. Those posts shed new light on my own reading of the book.
There are so many risk takers out there. To hear what others were trying out for the first time was awesome. It really served as an extra push to try something new.
There are so many different ways to express yourself using low tech or high tech. Looking at the reflections I was able to see they ran the gambit from high tech green screen videos to beautiful sketch notes. You don't need much to be reflective only time and honesty. So, we can't make excuses.
Staying connected gives me great new ideas. We can innovate within our box to great effect. But, the only way we can get new ideas is by looking outside the window of our box.
Staying connected helps me feel supported. Being part of the #IMMOOC community helped me feel like I wasn't alone and that someone was out there listening to me and understanding my struggles. The views, likes, retweets, replies, and comments helped me realize I wasn't just talking to myself. Of course the primary purpose of this blog is reflection. But, together our voices may are seeking to create some forward motion.
It's great to be in a book group where people read the book. I'm a pretty serious student. I was the one who had always done the reading. So, it was amazing to see a group of like minded individuals pulls quotes and commenting on the same things I was thinking or bringing up points I hadn't considered.
Innovation is not a thought it's an action. In the end it was seeing what people in the group were doing that had the biggest impact on me. It's a lot easier to take risks in the mind. Only when the thing is done does it have the possibility of changing the learner's experience.
I really loved being a part of the #IMMOOC. I look forward to our next steps and new voices.
Comments
Post a Comment