Oops’s

Finally re-listing some of my ‘blunders/fails/mistakes/etc’ on my learning journey. Had this as part of a digital resume I had been working on, but here are some of them:

 

We did a winter-window plant growing project. Planting seeds in the winter but taping them to the window to act like a greenhouse. Closed the blinds on a bright day. Reopened the blinds a couple months later because we had all completely forgotten about the plants….out of sight (literally) out of mind.

 

I was forcing an explorers unit on a class and one day I finally realized I wasn’t enjoying the methodology and a quick pool of the class indicated that they weren’t either. We stopped that moment.

 

I tried doing a Self Organized Learning Environment in 45 minutes. It wasn’t working out. Took a reread of “Beyond the hole in the wall” and sure enough Sugata Mitra suggests 60 minutes. Made a big difference.

 

Had a few too many students going to the bathroom under my ‘if you have to go you have to go’ belief. Changed it up so they needed to take their agenda as a ‘hall pass’ and I indicated in the agenda when they went to the bathroom – helped one student identify a urinary issue!

 

I relied on a textbook when starting socials (it was early in my career and we even had a ‘common’ final exam) – big shift when we deviated ‘from the norm’.

 

I liked ‘whole group book studies’ until we did “Lord of the Flies” – this is an example of a novel that (while it’s ideals and theme are fantastic) becomes harder to access as language (spoken and written) evolve – ie Dickens was once for the masses, now classic/higher levels.

 

Sometimes I make challenges to my students; sometimes they win the bet:

Mis-reading/understanding the ages that needed a 3:1 adult/kid ratio on a whole-school field trip to a big pool….worked out…but…