I greatly enjoyed our EdCamp session. I think it is a great way to facilitate discussion and share knowledge! It was also very comforting to know that many of of my classmates also have anxieties around communications with care givers or parents of students.
I spent the majority of the time in the groups discussing communication with parents/care givers. I learned so much and it was amazing that it was all from my peers! I think we have this idea that people who are “students” just don’t have the same level of knowledge as “teachers” and I think this was also a good opportunity for me to reflect on that idea. As a teacher I want to be able to let my students bring their own knowledge and ideas into the classroom and learn from it myself, so I think this was a good reminder for me.
The best advice/takeaway I got from our discussion was to never feel like you have top defend your teaching choices. This strongly resonated with me be cause I do have a tendency to immediately become defensive when faced with confrontations. We discussed instead asking/exploring why the care giver is concerned about what is being taught and to go from there. Another key idea we discussed was trying to mainly use face to face communication as so much can be lost over email or even phone calls. Face to face communication just seems like the most respectful option for us as teachers and the care givers as well.
Another important discussion we had was focused around keeping a record of every single communication you have with a care giver so you can reference it if need be. Although now that I think about it you would have to be careful that you don’t sound too defensive when referencing while in discussion with caregivers.
I also spent some time in the group that was going over scratch. I found this extremely interesting and wished I could have spent more time there. I have previously helped some 3rd graders use scratch in the classroom but it was my very first time using it so I was a bit lost at times. The grade 3’s really enjoyed it though and some of them were so skilled it was amazing to just watch them work through it.
I made a simple infographic using Canva on the main tips we discussed. Obviously I didn’t pursue a career in graphic design for a reason, but I had a lot of fun making this!
emma
February 27, 2022 — 6:03 pm
Hello, Lucy.
You and Kasey both sat in on the same two meetings; what are the odds? You also both managed to find nice stock pictures on the subject; I don’t know what I was doing wrong.
I liked the inclusion of your personal experience with Scratch in the classroom. I don’t think you should worry about being lost in something unfamiliar (like coding, in this case), as it can be turned into a brief inquiry moment where you and the student learn together.
The Canva infographic was an excellent way to incorporate material previously introduced in this course–adding the address of the Google Doc for the session at the bottom was a nice touch.
I wonder what you meant by “never feel like you have to top defend your teaching choices?” I’m guessing the “top” was not meant be be there, but it could be a mistyped “stop,” which would invert the meaning. I was at that session too, so I know which you meant, but an uninitiated reader would be left confused.
kstockli
March 7, 2022 — 12:04 pm
Hi Lucy,
We attended the same EdCamp sessions but it seems we both got different take aways which was interesting. I think it is easy to become defensive or unconfident when dicussing something you are fairly new at like teaching. I think there is a bit of imposter syndrome where people want to prove they know what they are doing as a teacher but I feel like a lot of teachers will tell you that they don’t have it all figured out and that is perfectly normal.
It is great that you have had some hands on experience with Scratch. I think it sounds really cool but I don’t know how to use it so I am hesistent to teach it.
I also really like your infographic, it is simple yet informative.
-Kasey