Summer Diary #7:
On the Shores of
Lake Titicaca
I have the best husband in the world. Not only does he clean the cat litter
and do most of the yard work, but he actually listens to me as I prattle
on about any of many education-related topics.
The other day when I e-mailed my new
website URL to him at work, he replied with compliments, especially
about the picture of Machu Picchu, Peru I placed on the site. We are leaving
for Peru for ten days this coming Thursday, taking the adventure trip we
both agreed had to be taken before introducing kids to our family structure.
Along with his congratulations on a job well done, however, was evidence
of his attention to my obsession with all things educational:
"We should keep a little trip diary every day to note things
we experience. You could maybe incorporate some of that into your class.
I was also thinking that maybe we could come up some sort of 'inquiry based'
goal for us to perform that you could use as an example for your class --
utilizing something that we would actually do on the trip. Just a thought."
I was blown away. I immediately announced to the rest of the teachers in
the computer lab that my husband was the best ever and shared his comments
with them. Although many of them are, understandably, biased towards their
own spouses, they did agree that my husband was just a step below a super
hero on the good guy scale.
Traveling in my students' shoes
Greg's suggestion to participate in an inquiry project while in Peru got
me thinking. His reasoning was that I could share it with my students to
demonstrate the real power of learning, that we do learn things in school
that we use in real life. He also thought it would be great to share with
the staff to help them understand the importance of teaching kids to pose
and solve their own problems according to their own interests.
While I agree with and certainly will use the results of whatever project
we undertake together to help further the understandings of my students
and colleagues, I am going to take away something valuable for myself as
well.
I am going to put myself in my students' shoes, and hopefully I will gain
some perspective of how to help them be more successful in their own inquiries.
I think that unless we put ourselves through the paces, it is difficult
to really help our students when they encounter difficulties in their own
work.
That is not to say that we cannot help our kids, but I think sharing
the same experiences and actively reflecting on the steps we go through
to solve problems along the way assists us in being more deliberate and
focused in our dealings with students.
How can we model what we do not know ourselves? I think one of the reasons
I was not a very effective reading teacher early in my teaching career is
because I was not aware of my own processes while reading or even that a
process existed. Likewise, I think I have been highly successful in my teaching
of writing because my professors in college did a great job of helping me
become aware of what I do, what I prefer, and how I think as I write.
Since I have read Mosaic of Thought
and I Read It, I Just Don't Get It
I have become conscious of what I do as I read. All the strategies I used
naturally and subconsciously pop up in my mind like the little bubbles on
MTV's pop-up video. Because of my awareness and understanding of these processes,
I have been able to help my struggling readers become better readers.
Modeling the changes you seek
All summer long the concept of modeling has surfaced time and again regardless
of workshop content or instructor. I am beginning to understand the power
of what we model to our students and our colleagues. The old idea that students
follow what we do, not what we say, is true. Unfortunately, so many of us
neglect this oh-so-important aspect of teaching because of concerns about
time and covering our content.
Each year I choose a motto, almost a mantra for the year to help keep me
focused. Last year I must have chanted, "Lasting change takes time,"
to myself a million times. Because of that, I have been able to be a lot
more patient and understanding of others, and I am ready to select a new
motto to focus my attention on. My e-mail signature file includes a quote
by Gandhi that states, "Be the change you seek." I interpret this
quote to mean we are to be models of what we want others to do and be, i.e.,
modeling those behaviors and qualities. I can think of no better idea to
focus my attention on this year as I work with my students, new teachers,
and other staff members.
And I can think of no better time to start than on my upcoming vacation.
I want to become aware of how I pose and solve real-life problems so I can
help my students develop and become aware of their own processes. Although
Greg and I have not yet developed formal projects, I am sure we will have
many questions once we land in this foreign environment. Suddenly immersing
ourselves in an unknown culture has a way of prompting all sorts of questions
and observations.
I do, however, have one burning question to which I want to find the answer.
Each year I post my vacation pictures and share stories about my summer
travels with my students, hoping to educate and inspire them to take journeys
of their own as adults. As I have looked through our itinerary and thought
about sharing these places with my students, one question has jumped up
like Horshack, demanding to be answered:
Do the Incans in Puno, Peru have an alternate name for Lake Titicaca?
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