Peggy's blog

You and your students will go through the ups and downs of many different life experiences during each school year. Navigating these ever-changing challenges can be difficult. If you can deal with new experiences in your classroom in a positive way by using them as teachable moments for your entire class, you will help your students develop empathy towards others. As a member of a military family and a teacher, I have experienced the effects of military deployment both personally and in the classroom.

I read a sign in a Kindergarten class the other day that said, "The best way to become a better reader: READ, READ, READ, READ, READ!" and the Kindergarteners do! Teachers and parents read out loud to them. Kids practice reading in fun learning centers. They lounge in comfy reading corners and read stacks of colorful books in the classroom. Teachers understand that learning to read is paramount, so reading and listening to stories is an integral part of the early primary classroom. Stories are full of bright pictures, and reading time is often mixed with art time, allowing students to display their imaginations. Most importantly, the reading that goes on in the Kindergarten is fun. It's magical.

Reading Joann’s column this week about the Iditarod was intriguing. Racing across frozen lands on a sled pulled by a team of dogs sounds like such an amazing adventure, yet I have not thought much about the history of the sport and the controversy surrounding the treatment of the animals involved. One of the best parts of my job writing this column is my weekly chance to learn about and explore new topics. I have a week to dig into a topic and research ways for teachers to bring that topic to life for their students.

For many years, scientists believed that bumblebee flight was aerodynamically impossible. Somehow, despite this “impossibility,” bees are great at getting around in the air! Over half a decade of scientific inquiry has created a better understanding of how the quick flapping of wings paired with a twist on the upstroke creates enough lift for a bee remain airborne. The scientific process leading to a better understanding of the flight of the bumblebee is a perfect example of how science works in the “real world.”

Do you ever do things in your classroom just to throw your students off balance a little and get their attention? I admit that I think it is kind of fun to watch student’s reactions when I try something totally new in class and they aren’t quite sure what to think. Although the topic of codes and ciphers is different and cool in its own right, you can make it even more engaging for students by immersing students in the subject from the beginning of the lesson.

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” – Confucius

Some students easily grasp concepts in a traditional instructional setting with a teacher in front of the classroom explaining and demonstrating a particular topic. These students are often good note-takers and do not have a problem staying on-task and listening for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, not all students fit in this category. Many students need to DO things to get a deep and lasting understanding of a topic. Teachers attempt to engage these students by including hands-on activities and projects as often as possible, giving these Do-ers a chance to learn to the best of their potential.

"I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn."
- Albert Einstein

This is a humbling philosophy to think about as a teacher. My job description says “teacher,” but now I’m supposed to be a creator of optimal learning conditions instead? It’s easy to assume that teaching something to your class means that the students all learned it. With the variety of abilities, learning styles, and needs in every classroom (and the possibility that some of the students MIGHT not be listening…) this is not always the case.

A few places come to mind when I think about uncharted frontiers: deep space, deep sea, and deep inside the tropical rainforest. (Deep, I know!) In a perfect world, our students would have the opportunity to explore these depths on extended field trips where they would get the opportunity make their own discoveries: authentic learning at its best. Since traveling to any of these environments with a class of 30 kids (or more) is nearly impossible, you will have to get creative to use the topics in your classroom. Fortunately, today’s technology can help you bring your students close to these uncharted frontiers without setting a foot outside the classroom.

If you are reading this, you have probably already noticed the all-new Gateway. I hope you are as excited as I am about all the new features! Like always, it is free to become a member of the site, and now you can choose to sign in through your Facebook account to make sharing and discussing resources with your colleagues even easier than before. (Don’t worry if you aren’t a Facebook junkie, though. Plenty of teachers are still using the Gateway without it!) Please take some time to explore the site to find some perfect activities for the new year. As you look around, please let us know what kinds of resources and discussions you are looking for. We count on your feedback to make sure we cover topics that are important to you.

Joann did a wonderful job of explaining the goals of our weekly columns, so I hope you read her post first! I would like to join her in welcoming you to the new Gateway and inviting you to make the Gateway an integral part of your teaching. As you explore, you will find tens of thousands of resources that include lesson plans, activities, units, and examples of best practices. When you choose a resource to use in your classroom, you will be able to see the alignment of that resource to your state standards, and share that resource with your colleagues. It's a simple way to find and share standards-aligned resources.