Trying New Things: An Unofficial #IMMOOC Post

It’s been an odd school year for me. I have a lot of freedom and very little to lose, so it’s been a year of throwing caution to the wind and trying new things. I tried the Global Innovation Exchange Challenge, Genius Hour, StrengthsExplorer, and most recently, I ditched our traditional grammar textbooks in favor of lessons based off a quirky workbook with “Clamdigging” in the subtitle (more on that in a bit).

Some of these things have worked well. Some clicked and made a difference. Some royally flopped. But that’s OK, too. I learned, and I think more importantly, my students have seen me learn. They’re seeing me try new things, some that work and some that don’t. When the experiment flops, I admit my mistakes and talk through what went wrong with them so we can all learn together. 

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Moving and Shaking Education, #IMMOOC Week 2

It’s funny how easily I sat down to write last week’s post, and how much I’m struggling with this one. I’m good at asking questions and pointing out problems. I’m good at talking about what’s wrong. Coming up with an actionable game plan for fixing those problems? That’s a little more challenging. But if I don’t, I’m no better than the students who complain and complain but don’t do anything to fix the problem. So how am I creating opportunities for innovation in my teaching?

Well, I’m trying, but I’m still so new at it that I don’t have any kind of “success” track record yet. I’m trying to create opportunities for innovation, but my first two dabbles – StrengthsQuest and StartEdUp’s Innovation Exchange Challenge – have yet to provide demonstrable results. I’m slightly dreading parent/teacher conferences in a few weeks because my classroom has been so non-traditional this quarter, and I don’t have much to show for it.

Yet.

Innovating to Engage Adulthood, #IMMOOC Week 1

When I started blogging five years ago, I began by exploring the concept of “Emerging Adulthood” and tossed around terms like “the boomerang generation” and “Peter Pan syndrome”. I was looking at my peers — college graduates — who weren’t reaching recognized markers of adulthood until their 30’s, and it scared me. I explored a lot of reasons behind this phenomenon. I graduated college in 2008, so financial difficulties and lack of opportunity certainly played a hand, but the trend had already started before the economic struggle hit. I saw lack of initiative, a culture of complacency, too much focus on “following dreams” and not enough realistic pursuits of paying the bills, good jobs requiring higher levels of advanced degrees, and so on.

I saw a lot of problems before I’d ever heard “innovation” as an educational buzzword. I saw a system that focused more on identity explorations than it did on skill development. I saw grades failing to represent ability, and the grades mattered more than the skills. I saw intelligent, capable men and women moving back in with mom and dad while they tried to figure out what they wanted to do after they graduated, and I couldn’t help but wonder… What had they been doing during college if they still didn’t know?