Tag: musing

Beginning Teaching in Outdoor Education (or, How I was Inspired to Teach)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

When I graduated from college, I wanted as far away from academia as possible. I was tired, very tired, of memorization and tests that had sapped the joy out of learning. Now, I’m beginning my eighth year as a teacher, enthusiastic about learning, and am applying to graduate school.

College was an emotional and geographic roller coaster: I graduated from high school from the American School of Paris in June, split with dear friends, spent the summer working three jobs (including cleaning hotels rooms) in Door County, Wisconsin. In September, I plopped down at Washington University in St. Louis, and though I did well there, rowing crew and acing organic chemistry, I wasn’t happy. I spent the summer as a Girl Scout Camp Counselor near Minneapolis, the fall at the Biosphere 2 in Tucson, Arizona, studying astronomy, and the spring back in Paris at the Sorbonne. It was healing and grounding to have chosen to go back to Paris, a place I’d always felt conflicted about. At some point, I decided I didn’t want to return to St. Louis and applied to transfer to the University of Wisconsin – Madison. I spent the next two years there, starting in analytical chemistry, switching to biochemistry, and finally graduating in biology with a double major in French. While all my friends applied to medical schools, I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I moved out to Montana to work on a dude ranch.

Continue reading “Beginning Teaching in Outdoor Education (or, How I was Inspired to Teach)” →

Final #ISTE13 Post: Connect and Reflect

ISTE hall

ISTE seems a world away now that summer vacation is here and my days are filled with story hour, diapers, ear infections, and naptime (or lack thereof). But I would be remiss not to reflect on yet another great conference on connecting with my current colleagues, fellow SIGISers, and new educators.

This list really isn’t in order of importance:

1. I’ve been using the SuperBetter app for a week now and dig it. I look forward to pressing the “I DID THIS” button and getting the happy ding of the achievements. I’ve even set up some of my own Power-Ups and Quests but I haven’t recruited any allies yet. I’m not sure how I’ll measure the long term changes in my behavior, but I’m enjoying the process for now. I’m hoping to pass this on to our support staff as a potential option for struggling students.

2. From the second keynote: I love Steven Johnson’s remixed quote, “Chance favors the connected mind.” I love the idea of getting out of your silo, connecting with others, drinking coffee, fueling creativity by stepping outside your comfort zone. That said, I have two thoughts:

  1. What about the quiet, mindful, reflective, independent time? I think this is needed in the balance and some people need it more than others. After reading Quiet last summer and identifying myself as an introvert, I guard “me time” as important in my own creativity. Is this another “everything in moderation” type deal?
  2. I’m curious about how the zone of proximal development applies to this idea of connecting with people out of your silo. I would think that the cafes of the 1800s were fairly local and culturally homogenous. When we mix in diverse groups, what happens if we’re too different? Does this break down the connections? Hmmm. I don’t have an answer for this. I’m really looking forward to my first day of Intercultural Competency training this August.

3. If I attend ISTE next year, what would be the best format for me? This year I LOVED the keynotes and poster sessions, but I was disappointed by the sessions I attended. What is the value of me going to this conference, year after year? I was thinking that what I would get the most benefit from is four days of concentrated work on an issue at school or a new project. Could I work on that in Portland? Yes, but I wouldn’t have access to the people that I have at ISTE. So maybe it would be a four-day informal get together (i.e. not paid) where a group gets together, and we learn how to build apps or design professional development portfolios or design a parent education series. This could leverage the power of the ISTE community and give me the space and time to work on a project for my school. ISTE14 is a long way off… but it could be fun!

4. I’m really excited about the summer of making, sponsored by SIGIS and SIGCT. I’m worried most of my “making” will be from 7pm-midnight after the little one goes to sleep, so I hope I can find the energy for it. My goal is to delve deeper into Scratch, take the 3DGameLab course on how to create an iOS App, and print something on the 3D Printer. Okay, I’ll be happy if I do ONE of these!

5. Last, my goals for ISTE13 were:

  1. Be where I am. Done. I feel good about this one.
  2. Gaming. 3DGameLab, SimCity. I feel good about this one too.
  3. Support. Not sure I got enough of this, but it will come out over the summer. I know some people’s brains were so full by the end they couldn’t process. Sounds like a follow up meeting in August would be good.
  4. Reflect. Once this is posted, done!

Now I should really go open that free Surface still sitting in the box…