Celebration of Learning

 

One of my favorite teaching days was the culmination of a project-based learning unit. Students had studied an element of local history and their goal was to simply share their learning with the community.  Students had the opportunity to view student-created exhibits, websites, performances.  Students also participated in a student  film festival.  Members of the community were invited to give students feedback on their work.  It was an awesome celebration of their learning.

Alex Schwartz

One of my favorite teaching moments is from 2011 in Namibia, Africa.  I taught English to secondary learners who were used to traditional rote methods (vocabulary regurgitation, copying down sentence’s, etc.)  of learning the language.  Instead of using these methods, I redesigned a unit that centered their learning around designing a new national park for the wildlife in their area.  They were required to use english vocabulary and other ESL staples in an advertisement to attract tourists, the signposts throughout the park, etc.  

Throughout the project they were overjoyed at the idea that they were able to work in groups, draw their parks, and contemplate creative and attractive English sentences.  As I watched them, I realized how important it was to make learning authentic to students.  This deeply shaped my pedagogy and educational experience.

Mi mejor Dia

Michelle Traub

¿Mi mejor dia?

My best teaching day ever? I have been teaching for six years and I still don’t think I could I pick a favorite day. My favorite teaching day is a cumulation of all of the little moments. The moment when a child who has had a tough time raises his hand and answers a question correctly, smiling proudly ear to ear when he gets it right. The moment when a student hears Spanish out in the “real world” and comes bouncing into class barely able to contain herself with excitement of waiting all weekend to tell me. The moments when students say “Gracias” when they leave my classroom and really mean it. The times when I can really see the light bulb turn on or when I see a student do something really nice for someone else without looking for recognition. The many memories of students humming Spanish songs in the hallway and parents telling me that they learned a new Spanish song at the dinner table from their student. The reassuring hugs from a co-teacher after a difficult day or the understanding from students when I share that something outside of school is affecting my teaching and I may be a little off that day. There are so many moments, from so many days that make up my favorite day. I don’t think it is possible for me to pick any single one.

Jennifer Gembala

One of my favorite teaching moments was last year (and this year), when I was teaching a writing technique for my AP World History classes. I teach APWH to 9th and 10th graders, but when I teach the DBQ, I teach the technique to all of my World History classes, no matter the level. When I teach it, I emphasize the technique of “grouping docs” by using actual candy as my documents. So I pour a bunch of candy (chocolate, hard candy, chewy candy, sour, etc) in front of each group of students, and then tell them to organize the candy, title the groups of candy they’ve created, and identify why the candy group is called that. They then have to write a thesis paragraph, that responds to the question “Analyze the impact the diversity of candy offered during the 2016 Halloween season has on American health.” They love grouping, talking with each other, and eating the candy, and it just really makes me love my job on days like that :)

Amorette Hernandez Third Grade Teacher

I recently began a study about our Desert habitat focusing on the High Desert.  We were studying the Water Cycle and learning about condensation, evaporation, and precipitation.  The class was split into groups and their task was to plan for what their habitat would look like (Desert).  Then, research on their chromebooks using KidRex or Dinosearch animals, plant life, and landforms in the desert.  They were to write one fact next to each plant and animal that described how they survive in the desert as a prey or predator.  Then they needed to place illustrations and places where condensation, precipitation, and evaporation was taking place in their habitat drawing.  They also added how our desert animals survive with minimal water.  We made a gallery walk in the classroom, and took turns with group presentations of their work. We took questions from other groups, and offered to add critiques to each group drawing.  We posted these pictures up in our lower grade pod for back to school night.  Students were able to explain what they did with their parents that evening.  I love when my students teach each other about what they learned! It’s empowering for them and gives me a backseat view to their learning!

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Best day ever in the classroom..well, sort of, and broken up by 21 years

Posted on my sometimes-updated blog as well--thanks @jheil65 for reminding to post again. http://dfcain.blogspot.com/

Michelle and Dustin were in my 12th grade English class in 1995, and they fell in love.  Michelle was a witty and creative soul who had overcome spinal cancer in fourth grade--Dustin was never without a smile on his face, and loved to engage in philosophical discussions that were rather loosely connected to our literature. In other words, they were perfect for each other.  

Soon after prom that year, Michelle missed a few days and Dustin told me that she was having some tests done.  The bad news hit our class like a brick to the skull, and our worst fears were realized as her cancer had come back.

At Michelle’s funeral the next year, Dustin and I embraced for minutes.  We cried, as even now I fight back the tears.  That was the last time I saw Dustin until…

Twenty one years later, I brought by six-year-old daughter to ballet and noticed a man looking at me, then glancing quickly away.  After a few minutes it came to me.  “Dustin?”

Bridget McKenzie, Ballet
CC

We both rose, he much bigger now, a paramedic and firefighter, and me bigger as well, but in a different way that I am less proud of.  We embraced again for longer than the dance moms watching would call a comfortable time.  Tears came again.

He said he still journalled every day because of me, that his own kids--one graduating from high school last spring--would read them and writing was a central part of their days as well.  He said he never forgot our discussions and that he told his kids about my class on a regular basis.  

There were many more questions and answers between us, and we spoke about Michelle who he said will always be a part of him.

She’s a part of me as well.

My best day ever grew out of the worst ever.

Number One

Vanessa Chambers Smith

I taught Junior AP Language and Composition in 2014-2015. One day, a few of my students were chatting in a group about their home lives, and they included me in the conversation. One of them told me that her father makes a list every day of the things and people that make him happy. She said that her placement on the list depended on her behavior, her grades, and any other criteria he felt like using - and that she was usually toward the bottom of his list. He’d say, “Today you are number eight,” or “Nine,” and so on. I thought she was joking, but her friends had been to her house and asserted that this was indeed the case. It just made me angry, that a parent would treat his child this way. I grabbed an index card from a drawer and quickly wrote “1” on one side of it. I gave it to her and said, “I think you are number one.” I would greet her as “Number One” here and there over the course of that semester, and she would smile.

Then I moved schools. She gave me a drawing as a going-away gift (it’s on my wall at my new school), and she added me on Facebook so that she could keep in touch. I forgot about the card until about a month ago, when I received a private message from her:

I didn't realize at the time how much that meant to her, and so it was a good reminder of the effect we can have on students' lives in the moments when we aren't teaching curriculum.