Back to School

Sailing lessons ended last week with a regatta! It was quite a day!  I realized I learned so much about sailing and about learning.  First of all, sailing has taught me that I’m in control of my learning.  Sailing has also taught me that my mindset for the day and an encouraging instructor makes a huge difference in the learning experience. Learning something new is not always an easy task.  Learning something new is what we ask of our students on a daily basis.  I may not love sailing, but I like it and want to keep learning.

So, how can we make the learning experience better for the students in our classroom and help them to want to keep learning?  I want to be the teacher that helps to create a growth mindset, encourage and inspire learning for ALL students.

For me, the successful learning on the water transfers over to my classroom.  Relationships, encouragement, and inspiration are all needed for learning in any setting.  I was sitting in our first staff meeting and the principal was sharing a story about a great coach.  The story truly reminded me how teachers and coaches make a huge difference in a child’s life.  If kids are not learning, if kids are not engaged, educators must think about how we can teach differently to reach that child.  To start the year off right, we must learn about each individual to build strong relationships with our students. 

How will you connect with your students this year to encourage and inspire learning each day?  I start the school year by writing a letter about myself on the first day and ask students to write a letter back about their summer and some of their interests.  I also start the year with a student inventory.  I am already planning lots of brain breaks and teambuilding to create a culture of learning and collaboration among the fourth graders.  Right now my classroom bulletin boards are blank.  Together with the new fourth graders I will be creating anchor charts and sharing student work that is about is connected to the classroom.  As I start the year learning about students, sharing stories and conversations, I believe we will start the school year building relationships and a classroom culture focused on learning.

Have a great start to the school year everyone!

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 
― Maya Angelou

Summer Learning

For my first blog post, I can’t help but write about a personal learning experience and the connections to the classroom.  Educators need to be learning all the time.  I challenge myself to learn when I read, ask questions, and have conversations with teachers and administrators about important school topics.  This summer, I was up for the challenge of truly learning something new!  I enrolled in sailing lessons and was quickly reminded about the challenges and support needed for learning.

After a few weeks of sailing lessons on the beautiful Lake St. Clair I’ve come to the conclusion that everyone should learn something new.  Everyone should push themselves outside their comfort zone, something you may not have done before in the classroom or building or for personal growth or just for fun!  One of my summer learning goals was sailing.  Almost everything I’ve learned so far about sailing is new.  New terms. New phrases.  New tasks.  And to make it even more fun, some of the instructors have different phrases and methods of teaching!  I am swimming in the lake of new learning!

My big learnings are taking place each Tuesday evening as an adult learn to sail participant.  Sailing has challenged me as a learner in many ways.  At times, I am uncomfortable with this new learning.  Sailing, and all that comes with it, brings a little bit of anxiety for me.  Each week during the class, I’m making a lot of mistakes; this past week I “bumped” the wall going into the harbor.  And, at least once during each sailing lessons I feel so frustrated that I wonder why I even bother to show up to class.  Sailing is hard work!  But, for some reason, each week I keep going back to learn more. I am learning and the learning does not come easy for me.  The anxiety, mistakes and frustrations remind me that each day in our classrooms a student has a similar feeling of dread about another mistake they might make, or concern of peer judgment, or defeat they feel after putting in so much effort and still not getting it right (yet!). 

What keeps learners coming back, even when they are scared, embarrassed, or questioning the purpose of the learning?  I keep returning to my summer sailing lessons because of the encouragement and the culture created in the learn-to-sail classes.  It is okay that I’m making mistakes (most days), but I am encouraged to find more time to practice.  The culture established during the lessons is that everyone is learning (at their own rate).  I can now rig a boat, set a plan to sail out of the harbor and even tack the boat in open water.  Some of those sailing skills require more scaffolding from the instructor than others, but when I reflect on what I’ve learned so far I have come a long way as a sailing student!  One instructor said to call after I’ve been on the water over 100 hours to share that sailing is as natural as driving a car! 

While sailing is not as easy as driving a car yet, I keep thinking about the learning that takes place in our classroom each day.   Educators must find time for students to reflect on learning and continue to establish a positive learning environment.  When we take time to see how far we have grown as learners, reflect on the big learnings from the lesson or a unit or a class, we can personally see the amazing amount of growth and the growth might push us to keep learning more!  Learning is messy and learning is not always easy.  An encouraging and supportive environment creates opportunities for learning and growth.  How can educators continue to model and support learning at all levels so students want to continue life-long learning?