Wow.

Students are engaged.

Students are laughing.

Students are learning.

Students are participating.

Students are exploring.

Students are experimenting.


I cannot begin to explain how amazing it is to write those sentences as observations of things in the present, rather than goals for the future. It's messy, there's lots that I need to learn and change, but man is this exciting.  I have heard some incredible things from students this week. When we were working on our expectations for each other and me, one student responded to the question, "What do you need from me (the teacher)," with, "The freedom to learn." Another student immediately added, "The freedom to learn in our own way." Wow. In that one phrase, my students articulated what I believe to be at the very core of this new endeavor.

I have received incredibly touching and encouraging emails from parents about the changes they have already seen in their son or daughter. I am humbled and honored to be a part of that change, though it is absolutely a team effort by all those who are working with me behind the scenes.

Today was amazing. We did some creative problem solving/team building activities that were fun for some, and challenging for others. We talked about how one of the activities could be a metaphor for how we want to work and what they need from me to be successful. One of the coolest things happened after I gave them a short 5 minute pitch on what this program is, what my role will be, and where we want students to be able to go. I told them they needed to name the program and that I would not be saying a word for ten minutes. I sat and wrote down what I saw and heard, and it was amazing. It began with a relatively high volume of people shouting out suggestions or critiquing other suggestions. It then became completely chaotic with few individual voices heard and no progress made. Some students just sat there. One was laying on a table. I will admit it was difficult to not step in. But I wanted and still want them to experiment and learn to explore and navigate on their own. At the peak of the chaos, I began hearing some students say things like, "This is NOT working." "We're getting nowhere." "I'm going to leave." Then came the suggestions like, "We need to be quiet." "How about we raise our hand." "We need to focus." Then it began to quiet down. Not silent, mind you, but much more conducive to having a discussion. Then they started working it out on their own.

I stopped them at the end of ten minutes to share what I saw and heard without making any judgments. They thought they had failed. Then I shared with them how amazed I was that in just ten minutes, on the third day of school, they were able to recognize what they were meant to be doing, experiment with how to meet the goal, see what was not working, devise a plan for how to fix the problem, and proceed to execute their plan. All without any input whatsoever from an adult. I thought they were incredible. It was wonderful to see the recognition on their faces that they did something well that they thought they failed at.

I commented to someone today that I feel that if the school year were to end today, I could write at least multiple chapters, if not an entire book, of what I have learned and observed these past few days. It has been incredibly exciting, invigorating, terrifying, and enlightening. It has been incredibly meaningful for me from a personal standpoint as well. For the first time I really feel like I am doing exactly what I was made to do.

Already I love this year. I am growing as a learner and teacher, and my students are as well.  We are experimenting and trying new things. We are sharing ideas. We are laughing and smiling in school. We are pushing ourselves as learners. We are reflecting on our learning. Day three complete.

I cannot wait for tomorrow.