MARSHA
RATZEL
Diary #3
The Fun of Thinking Outside the Box
Well, the momentum is beginning to build. Whereas I used to be able to think, now there is just chaos. I worked to distill the best of a commercial online virtual field trip to the Amazon. I wanted to make sure that we are meeting our own district objectives and indicators. It's overwhelming to think that 7 middle schools and 24 elementary schools are adopting this field trip. I also want the assessment pieces to in place before any student exploration started. Having learned so much from going through National Board Certification process, I realized how often we plunge ahead and think about assessment part way or at the end. This project I wanted to go differently. I dragged out the Inspiration software and started working away. My first webs were so complicated that I would have run if some district-office type brought those into my grade level meeting. But I had to do these to flesh out my own thinking and get everything straight in my own mind. So I broke the webs into grade levels. I wanted each grade level pieces so "doable" that teachers would say yes and really, really understand how to approach fitting the Amazon into every grade level. I also wanted the library media specialists to have an articulated plan (3-5 or 6-8) based on our district standards. The excitement Next I met with the district's content-coordinating teachers to brainstorm integrated projects. That way we could offer relief --- a way to take something off teacher's plates. And offer something that would be energizing. I can't remember when someone from district office offered me something that would help me simplify or improve my teaching load. I felt the pride of teamwork with such professional colleagues who were working hard to make things better for classroom teachers. Our first meeting was with a building's 7th grade, and we didn't know what to expect. Teachers asked excellent questions and watched intently as we showed them how to address life science, location, place, movement, reading and writing objectives simultaneously while doing the same Amazon field trip activity. (Intentionally, this entire effort has been launched through our library media specialists who serve as the information literacy guides and technological innovators in each building.) Each of the three 7th grade teams saw a way to work along the guidelines we laid out --- in three different ways. The conversation focused on what would work best to accomplish student learning using the overarching question, Why is A Biosphere Important? The tapestry of social studies, science, language arts and technology being brought together to attack this question was powerful, especially when you looked at the larger teams which have tended not to integrate curriculum. The problems In the middle of all this synergy, I had to struggle with log-on problems, scripting problems, getting curriculum guides posted onto the web, and a whole host of technical network problems that would choke a horse. But I realize that's my payment for the fun of thinking outside the box. Without these pieces, the computer network won't work and we'll be stuck inside our firewalls, not to mention buildings. I'm struck by the power of simplicity. That was really the key to this week's success. I figured out that teachers needed to see a simple game plan so they could take their kids to the Amazon for 5 weeks and still teach the basics, meet curriculum objectives and do a good job. If you get enough time to think about something and find a way to show others how to see through the complexity, then you can accomplish something no one else thought you could do. How do we give our kids the time to think and ponder? I also realized that in all the chaos, I forgot about keeping assessment at the forefront. I talked about it and thought about it. But didn't outline it the way I wanted to, and while teachers caught the vision of the Amazon, I know that I didn't make assessment an integral part of their considerations. Old habits die hard, so next week that is top on my agenda. For sure.
