Jill Puchacz and thoughts on Digital Learning...

Last night was my first class of the new term.  I have a professor that I have never had before and I am willing to admit I think this is going to be a fantastic class.  The other students are intelligent and engaged and the professor is witty and very knowledgeable.  With that being said, I learned a lot about myself as a teacher last night.

As we were going through the class I found myself struggling when he would explain the next task to us orally. I began to get confused and then I realized that it was because I couldn't actually SEE what he was talking about.  I then informed him that I had no clue what he expected from me and that I needed to see what he needed us to do.  In a great show of humor he then began to draw a visual depiction of the assignment on the board and it all made sense, he made it into a joke overall and I knew that he was being playful.  It made me think though... Do I teach enough to all of the three learning styles?  I am a Masters of Education Student and it took me some time to recognize that my learning style wasn't being met... what about MY students who really don't have a clue what a learning style is and can't self regulate and realize that they aren't understanding for a specific reason like that?

I began to think through my lessons and how I implement them, and even though I do try to have part of my lesson be hands on, listening, and visual... I realized that not every specific part of my lesson is differentiated to be all three.  On top of that I realized that even when my lesson plans are differentiated to be all three... I really am not sure if I have been doing as good of a job really making sure that I am sticking to that lesson plan 100 percent.  Depending on the class period, sometimes my lesson plan goes completely out the window as if it was just a rough draft.

So I began to really think about what this all means.  I realized that during my other grad course work I always assumed that I would have technology in my classroom and be able to use power points or youtube videos or be able to put things at the very least on an overhead or have a computer that students were able to access to work on specific programs.  I have none of that, so what do I do? I realized I have to make class more interactive overall and have the students be doing while I am talking and demonstrating.

How can I make things interesting to a class of students who really have no interest in anything that doesn't have a screen? Should we consider a new kind of learning style?  The digital style?  Is that why digital media is so popular?  On a smart phone you have visual, auditory and kinestetic all at once.  I wish I knew a way that I could really grab the attention the way a phone or an iPad does, I guess it will come with experience, but if anyone out there has any thoughts I would LOVE to hear them!!


Jill Puchacz: How to make it work!

. "I will ALWAYS have your back." ... Jill Puchacz

So this past Friday I was in my room eating my lunch during my lunch period.  Normal day for the most part until a familiar face walked through my door.  This student is a frequent flyer in my class during this period as they make up detentions during their lunch period by helping organize things and keeping things in working order.  It has been a pretty great arrangement actually as other teachers probably can imagine.  They seemed a bit different though because there was no friendly smile and "Hey Ms. P Whats up?".  Just a frustrated look and a plop on a chair.  I knew this couldn't be good as this is a student that tends to act on frustration instead of working through it or talking it out.
As the student began to tell me what was going on, I found it to be a common issue, High School relationships... As my student vented out what was going on I listened and offered up some advice, trying to get them to realize that as an 18year old, they needed to remember to act like an adult as they would be treated like one... After a long discussion the period ended and then new period came... and class began.

I was a little bit worried that there would be some trouble that weekend for my student and hoped for the best as I really wanted them to make some great decisions. On Saturday I got a text message from an unknown number, all my students have my cell phone as my program does follow up outside of school hours as part of our overall goals, and it was from that student. I was relieved when the message said "Hey Ms. P, thanks for the advice I let the issue go and nothing happened, it felt good to be the bigger person."  I am not going to pretend that I didn't get a bit teary eyed realizing how proud I was of them.  My response was "I am so proud of you, and I hope you are proud of yourself, you are a total rock star!" The kicker to all this... and if anyone has ever worked with any child ever will probably get a bit emotional as this next part made me sob like a baby.... "Ms. P, there is a reason I keep your number, it's really great to know that someone has my back."
I have goose bumps just typing this out.  It made me realize that all the singing and dancing (literally) that I do in class to try to get my students attention and all the times where I tried to level with my kids and tell them the way it is.... was worth it!

I am just a long term substitute... this is the first time I have been in a public school classroom as a teacher and I was able to connect with a student enough where they know that they can trust me and know that the things that I tell them are true.  Being a teacher is my dream, not because I get to grade papers or teach kids things about subjects that I really enjoy.... but because I can be that person that helps a student believe more in themselves than they ever did before.