Reflecting on Learning by Design

My LA classes just finished reading The Great Gatsby. The ending of a novel with a class is always so bittersweet, especially with a text like Gatsby since it has so many symbols and rich connections to the real world. It lends itself to amazing discussions about the American Dream where students willingly share so much about their own hopes and dreams; the end of the novel and unit has made me reflects on ways to continue the momentum of students consistently reflecting and sharing about their own lived experiences as we work through difficult skills in our next text. Sometimes building in student experiences comes easily, and other times I have to work at it. With my elective courses, I am inspired by lots of choice-driven lessons and assessments because the curriculum is a little more flexible. With a set curriculum and being on the junior year English team, there’s a lot of pressure to assess in ways that show students are ready to perform well on the SAT. It’s such a big year. I find myself struggling to keep to my philosophy sometimes because testing even overwhelms me. That said, I love any learning theory that praises teaching that gives value to student experiences. I don’t remember this being a topic brought up a lot in undergrad, so going into the classroom thinking that I had to have all of these walls up was so misguided and cost me some meaningful opportunities to be what students needed. I know most of us teachers say we wish they could go back to our first couple of years in the classroom to show students how far we’ve come. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to not have to frantically dart to the next aisle when I see a student from my first year that I was SO focused on “managing” their behavior like everyone’s warned me about that I failed to see the person behind the action. Hearing things like “don’t smile until Christmas” and the first time any student talks out of turn, send them to the dean and the rest of them will “fall in line” were commonly exchanged mottos at the lunch table from veteran teachers my first year. I’m happy to say that teaching has changed a lot in just the 7 years I’ve been in the classroom. With this shift, I’ve noticed more teachers who are eager to connect and build rapport. We’ve learned that if there isn’t trust or time isn’t given to get to know the students and the shoes they walk in, we can never reach them in the ways that we can when we prove we care. It’s so important to be relatable and human. This model reminded me of the invisible backpack metaphor with learning. I recently found this article by Dana McDonough (https://edublog.scholastic.com/post/i-asked-my-students-what-they-carry-their-invisible-backpacks). I loved reading her reminder for teachers:

“It was very apparent at that moment that in order to teach each child, we have to reach each child.  Their ‘invisible backpacks’ are very telling. We, as teachers, need to create a safe environment that will allow our children to share their stories.  This sharing has also turned into goal setting for the day, and I am so honored to have an opportunity to really get to know my students. 

I have made it a point to pay closer attention to what I don’t see in the course of a day. The impact on learning is often hindered by many invisible barriers. My role is to unearth these barriers, help when I can and let them know that I am there for them.  

Some of the most important work we do as educators is to get to know our students as individuals. What’s amazing is that we can invite them to be themselves in an inviting space every single day, no matter the curriculum. Student experiences, skills, talents make our rooms beautiful when we let them shine!! When we let it be known that we, too, have so much to learn and so much we can learn from THEM, we create a classroom community where learning truly happens!! 🙂