Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

 For this blog post, I listened to episode 165, 167, and 168 of the "Shifting Our Schools" Podcast. 

The overarching takeaway from these podcast episodes is to slow things down. Not every day needs to be a crash course in the content area you're working in, and in fact very few days should be. 

there were a few helpful tools mentioned in these podcasts, as well as an outline for how team collaboration should be introduced and scaffolded. The first tool is a learning portfolio which will catch all of the student's learning through the year. This tool allows the student to track their own progress and reflect individually, and gives us as teachers a different lens to look through. Students can collect their work and reflect on it, and explain to teachers why they chose the work that they did to go in their portfolio. This allows them to explain their own growth in case we as educators miss something. 

The second tool is making a classroom mission statement. The classroom mission statement lets students put some skin in the game in terms of classroom management, and is basically a big collaborative effort between the students and the teacher. It allows the teacher to connect to students and make changes in the course to reflect what students want to learn. It also allows the students to let the teacher know if things are too fast, too slow, or just right. 

Finally in episode 168, there is a description of how to introduce and work with collaboration activities. The point is made that team collaboration can sometimes lead to poor communication if the work is not outlined well enough. In order to counteract this, teachers must teach students what it mens to work collaboratively, which means we have to slow down and scaffold the work so that everyone is on the same page. This will lessen the anxiety around working together, and build confidence in the students. 

Overall, the tools and suggestions all point to the same direction of slowing things down. Like I said before, not everything needs to be a crash course or taught as quickly as possible. It is important to take your time and make sure your students are all on the same page.