Not so flat classroom


The sounds of my daughter and her dear friend chatting in the kitchen gives me great comfort. I know that while I work away the hours each weekend on school related projects she is not being ignored, she is engaged and thoughtful. She is happy. But this weekend was different. Her dear friend was actually 1,500 miles away in West Palm Beach even as they baked apple crisp in the kitchen. FaceTime chat changes everything.

Sunday was a slow day for us. I was cooking and baking to get ahead on weekly meals. A frost was on its way so I quickly harvested our backyard garden. Plums, apples, squash, tomatoes were piled around me when Kata's friend from Florida called. They play all summer while on vacation in Vermont. Kata set up the FaceTime and we all gathered around to wave and say hello. Usually the girls entertain each other by holding up their pets or zooming in on facial features. They both occupied themselves with coloring until Kata took out a kitchen knife and some of my apples. She listened to her friend and quietly sliced her apple into minutely diced pieces. She was absorbed in conversation and in her designated project.  Her friend became curious and inspired. She too found apples in her own kitchen and as they chatted, diced apples in a similar manner. Hours went by as they chatted and diced. I did chores and watched as they two girls stayed engaged in conversation and self appointed tasks. They were together, perfectly happy and enjoying simple task mastery.  Never before would I have allowed or afforded this long distance engagement. Nor could they have practiced something in tandem. Internet tools link us in ways I never really thought possible.

My teaching brain began to wonder- what if we tried something new next weekend? What if both families agreed to buy cookie ingredients for the girls so that they could both make cookies? What if teachers could send students home with kits for particular studies. Students and teachers could connect through Google chat or FaceTime simultaneously constructing, designing or creating a project while discussing instructions?

Baby steps have me looking forward to reading recipes and making cookies next week. The cookies will not be virtual which makes me happy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anecdotal Reports are strong assessments

Image
Check this out!   Global Meeting Room for teachers by Google.  I plan to use this tonight! (After my immediate research). Moving away from grading students on single opportunities for learning has been the best change for me.  I have, over the years developed practices for survival.  I sincerely try to help kids learn, praise improvements, document failures and refusals but always offer other school time to help kids learn.  Handing out quarterly report cards has always been a tense time. Now, with Powerschool grading we are learning how powerful adding and subtracting work to a grade. Kids are motivated or panicked when they view their grades going up and down.  I used to have students calculate grades on paper each Friday.  It took lots of time but it was the equivalent of balancing a checkbook, with a conversation around missing work, excitement about high scores. etc.   Numerical scores are powerful but often the power has negative r...
Read more

Modern World Dominican- first week abroad

Image
Marc, Kata and I have left everything we know that was normal to us to plunge headlong into adventure here in the Caribbean.  I'd like to start this blog with some relativity. The Dominican Republic is relative in size to Pennsylvania or Mississippi. Vermont is relative in size to Haiti. Together the whole island is almost 60,000 square miles or a bit bigger than the state of Georgia. So far, every day is hot and humid. It's the consistency in the weather that is the hardest for me to understand. Relative to Vermont, I need only one raincoat and maybe an umbrella for shade instead of a coat or sweater for every 10 degrees of weather above and below zero. Relative to Vermont I need many shoes. Women here wear the highest impossible heels with grace and always, always dress for notice. Casual does not mean casual. I'm sorry Bernie Sanders, but I can't wear that tshirt with your crazy hair and cute socialist face to a BBQ anymore. Yes, I wore a tshirt and shorts to a BBQ w...
Read more

Parents provide the best literacy

Image
I admit becoming a parent made me more aware of what I loved and feared in education.  I went through an intense stage of self awareness when my daughter entered kindergarten.  I was so impressed by her excitement to learn.  Her teacher of 30+ years experience was engaging, entertaining and very organized.  Her mentoring led to my transformation  and a decision to improve upon a few things. This teacher communicated with parents.  Parents were not afraid or put aside.  Every interested parent found a role to play in education (at least while their children are involved).   It is difficult to organize but I will not give up on the idea that parents want to be involved in education in a positive way.  If I don't give parents a role it isn't surprising to find them airing frustrations on Facebook or in other public forums. First, I need to improve how schools acknowledge the role that parents play in the home. In the Journal for the Educati...
Read more