OLW: April Reflection

Most of the time I think about wondering through my students' eyes, but for the month of April I am going to reflect on how wondering has changed me as a teacher. 

#1  I have grown professionally outside of school because of my connections with NCFL. I have a larger audience because of my blog and my virtual twitter PD including virtual chats. Because of my extension beyond my school, I have widened my learning and my professional contacts.  I now "talk" frequently to Tracy and Tara about new ideas. Tracy left this in the comment section of a  blog post
Here is a tip...show the photo with no talking and write your wonders, give a fact and write more wonders...then share! Great lesson on how our own experiences draw different wonder and curiosity and how that changes the level of your wondering. Appreciate the "known to new" learning! Tara and I always seem to be on the same page although she is in New Jersey we posted about state testing on the same day, and she is handling it must better than I did. "I walked into our classroom today, and gazed upon those rows with loathing.  Gone were our friendly pods of five desks, spaced at odd angles so that everyone could move around the room easily.  Gone was that friendly feel of a room where people often work together to learn, where discussion and collaboration is encouraged.  Gone was that familiar, reassuring  feeling of being able to see each face as I stood in front of the room." These comments and many more have changed my lessons, my thinking and most of all encouraged me to reach out and extend my learning.  This summer I am excited to be planning some PD on my dock with many of my blogging and twitter friends.  


#2 Many of my blogs posts have been about the integration of Wonderopolis within my classroom almost everyday but especially on Wonder Wednesday. This was a huge shift for me because I now weave non fiction into all aspects everyday. NF is no longer just a unit in isolation. With the articles that I have been reading about Common Core I believe this is the shift towards more Non Fiction.  Finally the integration of technology through our iPods and iPad have been an integral part this year especially with this class.  As the years roll on as Bob Seger sings, I have noticed students need/want technology.  That could possibly be another blog post in the future (I am still wrapping my thinking around that idea)  When they use the iPad to read about the wonder or watch the video/links and then click to the word document to take their notes or answer the 3 questions they are actively engaged in their learning vs. one computer and a spiral notebook. This shift happened for me as well as the realization two years ago that we need need to prepare our students for the 21 Century especially in our classrooms.  Taking time to reflect has been a powerful tool for me in 2012. 

Here are some other OLW reflection posts for the month: 

Melissa @ Technology: figuring out how the pieces fit
   
Tracy @ Thinking Stems 

Tara @ A Teaching Life

Barbara @ One Little Word