It's not the destination, it's the journey

      As this course comes to a close, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the kind of teacher I want to be, and the way I will run my future classroom. I’ve talked on this blog in the past about the importance of preparing students for “the real world”, giving them plenty of authentic experiences, whenever possible. In lecture, Dr. Lane spoke about engaging students as partners in their own learning. As necessary as it is that teachers maintain that position of authority in their classroom, I absolutely agree with the idea that students should have a sense of agency in the direction their education takes. When teachers and students work together, amazing things can happen. When I think back to some of the memorable moments from my elementary school years, the times that come to mind are those where we were either allowed to have significant input in to the lesson, or when we were able to actively engage with the material in some unique way. 

      It’s all well and good to get caught up in grand ideas of inspiring students and making their education a positive experience, but in order to accomplish this, it’s necessary to get some perspective. One of the most important concepts I’ve learned about in this course is the role Big Ideas and Enduring Understandings play in 21st century teaching and learning. Planning out a curriculum unit has been such valuable practice this term, as I got to see, step by step, just how to convey those Big Ideas and Enduring Understandings, which, at first glance, seem like intimidating concepts to have to teach to elementary school children. Backward design makes so much more sense, and honestly is what put my mind at ease. Rather than jumping around from big idea, to the most minute lesson plan detail and back again, it presents a logical way to step by step lay out an entire curriculum in a way that not only makes sense, but that will keep you on track for the rest of the unit. 

(Murphy, 2007)

      That is perhaps the most practical, and useful thing I will take away from this course, but it’s not the part of teaching I’m most excited for. As I’ve said in past blog posts, I love getting my students excited, meaning that I was thrilled when we talked about Inquiry based learning in lecture. 

(Crombie, 2014)

      This is so precisely what I loved as a student, when someone would say, off-hand, “I wonder why/how/what/where/when/who…” and that would spark a discussion that sometimes even led to a whole project. Some teachers even had these kind of projects already planned into the unit, allowing us to take an idea and run with it however we chose. The final end product in these instances isn’t even the point usually, but it’s the learning that occurs along the way, the surprises and the “oh, I didn’t know that!” moments that happen. 

     In this sense, I suppose I really do take a constructivist view when it comes to teaching, which, it was comforting to learn, is preferable in the modern classroom. What we've talked about this term, with regards to the importance of multiple literacies and meaning-making has really struck a chord with me, and despite some doubts about teaching I've had, that I'm sure many of my fellow teacher candidates have experienced given the current job market, it's topics like these that remind me why I want to teach in the first place. 

     I'd like to finish off this blog post with an anecdote that I feel really summarizes a lot of what we've talked about in this course over the past few months. 
    
     In the summer, I work in a preschool, helping out in the different classrooms as needed. Last year, one of the children commented on the number of caterpillars on the playground outside at recess. He then asked one of the teachers why they never saw any baby caterpillars. When the teacher responded that those were, in fact, the babies, and that they would turn into butterflies soon, the little boy was shocked and ran off to tell his friends. The teachers and myself naturally found this to be very funny, but one teacher then took it a step further. The next week, she proposed to our supervisor that we order a butterfly kit, and the whole school would take part in this inquiry-based project. Caterpillars were delivered to us with the necessary supplies to see them all the way through their life cycle, hopefully so that we would be able to release them as monarch butterflies. 

(Monarch, 2014)

      The children took part in the daily care for the caterpillars, giving them food and water, and we tied in so many different lessons to this topic, including reading, counting, and science, among others. We even had a school field trip to the library, where we not only found books about butterflies for the children to read, but taught them how to use a library and find books as well. Unfortunately, our caterpillars never made it past the cocoon stage, but it didn't matter. The children were so excited to come in and learn everyday, that I really got to see what was meant by the saying "it's not the destination that matters, it's the journey." 

      I have very much enjoyed this journey the past few months, and look forward to taking with me the lessons I've learned about teaching 21st century skills in a meaningful way to my students.