Day: January 27, 2016

More bridge building

by dougpete, posted in Education

When I wrote the post “Building that bridge” on Sunday, I was a little hesitant to name names.  Whenever you do that, there will be lots of people that don’t get named.  I hope that readers recognize that you can’t be entirely inclusive, that I was inspired by the original post on Staffrm.io and that I had interacted with the people named in the post on that day.  It seemed, to this writer, that a number of things had just come together and it was time to share my thoughts.

It’s also nice to know that people actually do read this blog!

What’s even nicer is that the concept resonated with a couple of people who decided to share how they’re building their bridge while walking on it and left a comment to the post.  Today, I decided to bring those comments forward and feature them in a separate post so that everyone can enjoy them.  I know that I “liked” and appreciated the comments to the original post but they deserve more.  It’s seldom that visitors to a blog go and read replies to a previous post so you undoubtedly missed them.

Peter Cameron said:

Another thought provoking post Doug! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Twenty years ago, when I first started teaching, I could never have dreamed that the opportunities for learning would be so vast and readily available. I am an adventurous spirit and believe that the most valuable lessons I’ve learned in my life have come through adventure. In my “pre tech” days of teaching, I instilled in my students that they could adventure far and wide through reading. Today, you will still find my students happily exploring, meeting new people and learning new things with their books in hand. They love reading! However, technology has also allowed me to bring adventure and exploration to another level in my classroom. We have “virtually” traveled together to all ends of the earth and met some incredibly awe inspiring people. I have “brought” my students along with me on my own adventures through the use of video in the classroom and we are looking forward to travelling on the Iditarod Trail in March. On Thursday my students and I will be inviting teachers and students to visit our classroom in Thunder Bay. I know it sounds cheesy, but I often feel the same excitement travelling to school as I do to the airport. When my students arrive in the classroom they often ask, “Mr. C, where are we going today?” Where would you like to go?

Lisa Noble said:

Today, I did some bridge-building. I’m a participant in the Core French collaborative inquiry that my board offers each year. My consultant, who is a friend, asked if I would join the group, to share my knowledge (I’ve been doing this gig for a while). I found myself sharing my learning today with another experienced colleague, and an amazing collection of “newbies”, in their first or second year of teaching. This felt a little strange at first, until I realized that we really were bridge-building – between one another, between experience and fresh knowledge, and hopefully between the English and French realities in our building. I also realized that it’s okay that I choose to continue to question my practice, as Aviva’s puts it. My ability to adapt my bridge to changing conditions depends on it.

What a couple of wonderful additional examples to add to the collection!  Had I only been interactive with these two before I wrote the original post.

Thanks so much to them for sharing their stories.

How about you?  How are you building your bridge while walking on it?  I’ll bet it’s just as interesting a story.

 

OTR Links 01/27/2016

by dougpete, posted in Links

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.