First Time....

Tomorrow.  Tomorrow is the first time in 13 years I won't be standing at the door of my classroom, eagerly awaiting the children as they race down the hallway, ready to meet their new teacher.  Tomorrow marks the first time I didn't set up a classroom, or decorate any bulletin boards.  It's the first time in 13 years I didn't have to send a "Welcome to Ms. Diem's class" email to the families that would be spending the next ten months with me.  No labeling of coat hooks or mailboxes, desks or folders.  Tomorrow is the first time in 13 years I won't be greeted with hugs from students, past and future.

Instead, I will be in a new school, with a community that doesn't know me.  I'll watch as 400 students stream through the doors in search of their classroom.  The younger students will flood the hallway with hugs in their arms as they approach their new classroom and their new teachers.  The older students will send high fives flying across the hallway as they check in at their lockers before heading to meet their new teachers.

The hallways will be full of energy.  The teachers will be smiling, hiding that tiny bit of first day anxiety that lingers no matter how many years you've been teaching.

And me?

I won't be standing at the door of my classroom waiting for my students.  Not this year.

Am I sad about that?  Yeah.  I am.
I miss my classroom.  I miss the families that I've known for years whose children were finally old enough to be in my class.  I miss my hallway pals and the conversations we had every morning while the kids streamed in.

But.

I am excited.  I am actually really excited.

Because this year?  This first day of school?

The whole building is my classroom.  And while I am not going to be greeting everyone by name (yet!) and I might not have my own class, this new adventure will have me exploring the world of educational technology with over 400 students and 100 staff members.  An easy transition from corner classroom to entire school?  Nope.  A scary one?  Kinda.  One I'm ready to take on?  Absolutely.

Let the technological adventures begin!

Transformation!

This summer has been quite the transformational summer for me, in so very many ways.  Biggest transformation?  New job.  We're talking huge.  Out of the safety and security of my classroom and into the whole school, a new one, at that.

Transformation.  My new school is undergoing a massive transformation - we're talking a multi-year transformative project for the entire school.  This summer has been the second summer of construction, and I am stoked that I was able to witness the transformation!  So you can enjoy a bit of this transformation too, I've got some videos that might interest you....  (I encourage you to watch with the mute button, unless you want to hear my aimless chatter and narration!)

First trip upstairs!  July 22, 2015.  At that point, I was uber curious as to what the end result would be, cause I sure couldn't tell from this view!!

Second visit to the second floor was on August 4, 2015.  Much progress to be noted!  Still quite an unfinished feel, obviously, but moving along!

One week later and WOW!  Getting closer!

August 20th. Carpeting, ceiling, painted.... almost done!  Can't wait!

Taking Action

My previous school is an International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme School.  (To read more, click HERE.)  One of my favorite components of PYP is the action piece.  Through each of the six inquiry-based units, students were challenged to take action based on what they learned.

Action based on what they learned.

That was a tricky concept for the kids, and a hard thing for me, too, because I didn't want to "give" them the action ideas.  That wouldn't have been organic learning.  Now, granted, these were 8-9-10 year olds, but just because they're young doesn't mean they can't do great things in the world.  It's just a bit challenging, at times, to get them to see that, and more specifically, see how to connect their learning to taking action.

Three boxes of Rice Chex = 15 LOCAL meals!

I so think that everyone is capable of making a difference, of taking action, small or large, no matter their age.  And while this doesn't necessarily connect to a specific learning, it certainly could.  General Mills has teamed up with Feeding America to Outnumber Hunger.  All of April and May 2015, boxes of GM cereal were printed with a special code on the box.  If you take that code and enter it on the Outnumber Hunger site, five meals are secured for a local food bank.  Five meals, just by entering the code on a box of cereal that you buy anyway.  Yet, that box, that small action, can provide five meals to your community's needy.

My FAV poster from FreeSpirit, based
on 26 BIG Things Small Hands Can Do

That's where I struggle keeping my mouth shut.  There are SO many little opportunities like this, from FreeRice, where each correct answer on the quiz donates grains of rice, to the "click to save" sites like The Rainforest Site, where literally, visiting and clicking each day, helps raise money and awareness to save the rainforest from destruction.  The balance between giving kids the action ideas, and showing them where they can find action ideas, not an easy one.  The connection part, while easy for me as a teacher to connect just about anything to our learning, not an easy one either.

But while challenging, it's worth it.

Taking action, no matter how big or small, is a fulfilling, empowering part of life, one that we can't instill in children early enough....

Conformity

Yes.  Yes.  YES.

Life isn't like those strangely sized garments that have a "one size fits all" label sewn in the back.  Neither is the world of education.  Let's remember that, k?

I know, I'm likely preaching to the choir here.  Probably those of you that read this blog already "get" education and where it is.  And most of you probably aren't thrilled. 

 It's like that standard discussion that we have on a fairly regular basis -- we are expected to differentiate (remember that buzz word?) instruction for our students, yet as teachers, our professional development is standardized?  The tests our students are required to take are standardized?  The students that come to us are far from standardized, yet they're expected to succeed on the same standards, the same assessments, in the same time frame?  Where in the world is that even possible?

I'm glad that we have educators like Ken Robinson and Ron Ritchhart and Pernille Ripp and Will Richardson and Tony Vincent and Nicholas Provenzano and Kevin Honeycutt and SO many others that I could mention.  It's people like them, people like US, that are going to make sure we keep kids at the forefront of education.  Each and every child, and all their differences, everyone can learn.