A fresh start with exploring "awesome"

I feel that to explain what "Awesome" looks like to me, here in Lake George, I need to share a little bit about my past experiences as a teacher in Minerva. I taught science there at multiple grade levels for over a decade, which gave me the unique benefit of really knowing my students, their families, and the community as a whole. By the end of my career there I feel that my role in the classroom had really shifted to facilitator - the kids made a lot of the choices about how we proceeded with class even on a day-to-day basis. The curriculum in so many of my science classes really lent itself to how we interpret the landscape we live in/on - from both either a biologic, geologic, or ecologic perspective.  I filled in a lot of potential "gaps" in the learning process by becoming sort of like a storyteller, explaining to them why and how the landscape of their community came to be. I had been so familiar with what students had learned either in their previous schooling or would have known from growing up in the community, that this was an easy thing to do.

Here's an example:
In a PBL project that I designed for my sixth grade students, they learned all the skills needed for a unit on mapping as they worked to design a trail for a trail-less mountain that is commonly referred to as "Sleeping Giant" (which is actually Hoffman Mt. in Schroon Lake). This is an iconic area for Minerva as it's the famous view from the center of town. I taught this unit in science at the same time that the students were learning about the concept of rate in math class (rate of change = gradient or slope of land). In social studies they had just finished learning about different landforms and why geography was important to an area and the development of culture. They designed their trail in my class and then wrote persuasive essays to the DEC about why their trail should be chosen (peer edited and proofread in English class). In the several years prior, these same students explored the art and music indigenous to the area, and we pulled out several of these pieces that had referred to Minerva's "Sleeping Giant."

You might think that this was a monumental project to pull together. But I was really fortunate. An opportunity presented itself in that the community was currently engaged in another trail design project. In a small school such as Minerva, the teachers didn't have to try hard to know what was being taught at each grade level and when. And we often taught the same students over multiple grade levels so building on prior learning was inherent and did not have to be "planned."

So needless to say, moving to Lake George has taken a bit of an adjustment in my teaching style. As far as planning, I feel like a first year teacher all over again. To be honest, the number-one way that I would define "Awesome" is that nothing feels planned, but this has been pretty hard to accomplish, and certainly not on any sort of grand scale. Instead, awesome has become the fact that my students have access to a wealth of technology and resources that I could only dream about before. The ability to conduct virtual labs, provide opportunities for research by the students themselves, and organize information digitally is my new toolkit for providing "awesome" in my classroom. The students are challenged to think on their own, and they recognize it. I give my classes a survey after each marking period to have them reflect on their growth and challenges. A couple of comments made me laugh... "Computers are supposed to make things easier, but actually we are doing much harder work!" and, "Can we please just have one lab that is simple where we don't have to research the answers?"

I think that we all strive to live in the center of the TPAK diagram - where technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge overlap. For me, the pedagogical key that is missing right now is to really make learning authentic for my students, I feel like I need to have a better understanding of where they come from natively and academically. I want to be able to experience Lake George as an "insider." Right now, I still feel like a bit of a "tourist."

Here's an "awesome," albeit random, video. This is a student that wants nothing more than to do literally nothing in and outside of my class. But darn it if she doesn't come and visit me every day and play with all the cool science toys (of course venting about life at the same time). Maybe someday this will translate into some self-motivation... someday...