Now that the dust has settled, and I'm back into the weekly routine, I am trying to process everything that I have learned, and figure out how to move forward. I wish there was a way to freeze time so that I could really sit down and figure out my next steps for implementation, get more comfortable with some of the new apps (like Blogger!), and find meaningful ways to integrate them into my upcoming lessons. But alas, I will have to forge ahead as best as possible and do what I can. Perhaps over the summer I will be able to find the time to really organize and integrate my new learning.
In the spirit of continuing on my journey of discomfort, I will be a guest on a podcast! "Que Sera Sarah?" is a podcast by an Ontario educator-to-be, Sarah Lalonde, who was at the Google Summit last weekend! Sarah was actually the amazing educator I mentioned that told us all to take the plunge. I also had the opportunity to attend her session on podcasting, as I want to integrate them as text forms in my English as a Second Language (ESL) class, and actually get my students to create their own. So what better way for me to continue on this journey than to speak with her?!
While I'm excited for this experience, because it will mean that I am getting closer to my goal of taking more risks, and feeling more confident (hopefully), I am also very nervous. What if my answers are terrible?! What if I clam up and can't even process the questions?! What if I come off as the worst teacher in the history of the profession?! - - Yeah, yeah. I recognize that this is quite an exaggeration, but I am legitimately afraid of how others will perceive me. I suppose that that is a part of the journey.
And while all of this is happening in my head, my day-to-day teaching responsibilities are still there, and things need to get done! Here at my school, we are working on implementing more Project Based Learning (PBL, for short) in our classes. So my newest challenge has been to figure out how I can integrate PBL into my ESL and Spanish classes.
I'm not one to do things halfway, so I have been trying to brainstorm various ideas and see what I can do to make it all work together. Thankfully I have some great colleagues, so I have been able to share my process and thoughts with them as we learn more about PBL and possible ways to implement it here. I'm still not even close to having a plan, and there are elements (like group work - how on earth do you mark individual roles?!) that I struggle with, but I'm hoping that it will all become more clear as we continue to work our way through the world of PBL.
If you happen to be reading this, and you are a PBL guru - feel free to reach out! I am always looking for advice and I love hearing about how other educators are doing things in their classrooms.
That, or if you know of an invention that will freeze time for me - I'd be willing to pay big bucks for that machine!
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