Lessons From Yoga

Dana has been teaching yoga to the 8th grader health class. Here are some of the lessons we are learning:

It's important to breath
Forward bends can calm the nerves
Standing poses can strengthen and energize you
Balance poses can help you concentrate
Twists can help with digestion
Restorative poses can help to de-stress
Be kind to yourself and others

Fire Prevention Week

Quality Time continued

I've been pondering yesterday's post, and asking myself what it was about the field trip that made it such a powerful learning experience. In the middle of my pondering I heard this quote by an unknown author, "Education is moving from an unconscious to a conscious awareness of ignorance."

That's it. The students and I were put in a position where we became conscious of our ignorance. That can be a scary place, but the teacher had supports in place so that Fear didn't overtake any of us. I didn't know how to work the GPS device, but I did know how to paddle the canoe and keep us safe from capsizing. They knew enough about the JUNO to know what to ask, and a high school student was available to coach them through the process.

So here's what made it a good learning experience:

A challenge just beyond our reach
Enough background knowledge to know that the task was doable
Supports in place when we needed them
And at the end of the day,
a sense of accomplishment,
and a desire to learn more.

Would love to hear about quality times you are having with your students!

Quality Time

I love teaching because it the perfect blend of Art and Science. You might, for example, use data to discover the learning needs of your students, and then use your creativity and passion to design an artful learning opportunity. Sometimes it's a neat and tidy process; Sometimes it's terribly messy. It is sheer delight when those messy, " go with your gut" moments result in quality time with students.

Yesterday was exactly that for me. I helped chaperone a middle school field trip, which put me in a tippy canoe with three seventh grade girls and a $900.00 GPS thingy, in the middle of a lake, with no idea of what I was supposed to do.

It was a well-planned trip, with lofty educational goals, but as often happens, things didn't go as planned. There was a seriously damaged canoe, fewer life jackets than expected, one less chaperone, two fewer students, and pouring down RAIN.

But in the middle of all the chaos and scrambling to pull off the field trip in spite of numerous set-backs, I witnessed teaching and learning that had me laughing my guts out one minute and a liitle choked up the next.

I knew our intent was to map the bottom of the lake but that was the extent of my expertise. I was no help to the girls trying to work the GPS thingy (ok. It has a name, JUNO). So as I was doing my best to keep our canoe steady ( leaning this way, as they leaned that way) they worked together to figure out the JUNO. They passed it back and forth, trying to determined who had the most skill with it. They asked each other questions. They tried to remember their practice session from the day before. They eventually got help from a high school mentor in another boat and were able to map the section of the lake assigned to them.

It was hard work. One girl sat on the cold canoe bottom reading the JUNO and directing us to each point to be measured, another helped me paddle as we tried to follow JUNO girl's directions, and another had to drop the anchor, measure, and pull it back out of the water at each point. I admired their perseverance and good humor. It was cold and wet and they were afraid of being so far from shore In an unsteady boat, but they pulled together as a team, each taking on a difficult job that they didn't want to do so that they could succeed.

It was a quality time. They learned really good science. They used the very latest technology. They asked high level questions. They did the work of scientists. And I got to be there. It was cold and wet and rainy but I am thankful I had a chance to witness such high level teaching and learning.

Hiawatha Trail

Fear Factor

Yesterday Steve and I biked the Hiawatha Trail, a 13 mile ride that follows the old Milwaukee Railroad line through the Bitterroot Mountains in northern Idaho. One section of the hike goes through the Taft Tunnel, 1.66 miles of total darkness, with water ditches running along both sides of the tunnel. Helmets and headlamps are required.

Before entering the tunnel, a trail guide gave us some helpful advice. He said the darkness can be disorienting, and that if we start to lose our balance, just get off of our bikes and walk.

I really didn't think I would need to do that, but once I got into the tunnel, my headlamp barely penetrated the darkness. I couldn't see anything except the reflectors on Steve's bike which I wasn't sure was going to stay out of the ditches. I had a difficult time staying steady on my bike. I pedaled as long as I could, but fear of crashing into the ditches and increasing wobbliness, caused me to stop and walk for a bit. Eventually my eyes adjusted, and I could make out reflectors along the sides of the tunnel. I got back on my bike and rode cautiously until I literally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

Reflecting back on the experience, I appreciate the guide telling us what to do if we got disoriented. It was good to have an option that kept us going in the right direction, rather than giving up and turning back. Without putting undue fear into our students' minds, I wonder if we as teachers can do the same. Particularly when we are asking students to do something new and challenging that might cause them to panic a bit.

So, if you are reading this, I would love to hear your ideas. Do we anticipate how students might react to a given learning challenge, and do we provide them with helpful options that will keep them wanting to move forward in their learning?