So, I named this post "opening the box" for many reasons. You may think of a variety of things when you hear the word "box". Is it a gift? Perhaps its a special delivery of some kind of mail order you've been anticipating. Well....the answer is...yes, its a gift. Its a special delivery alright....just what kind of box are we talking about here? No, the postman didn't deliver this one. I'm referring to the box called the brain. Whose brain, you ask?
For starters, mine. For years now, I'd open a box every month at the public elementary school I taught at. I'd pull out all my cute little thematic activities, lessons, ideas and examples of things I've taught over the years and do what every good teacher does- plan and prepare. After all, that is a big part of my job, right? So, how is that different now that I'm teaching a multi-age class at an alternative school? To put it in a nutshell, its as if I've arrived in a foreign country, stepped off the airplane and discovered that my neatly packed and organized box (lets call it my luggage or baggage...ha, ha, no pun intended) just got lost. It fell overboard and I will have to replace most of it with the new items I find in this foreign environment. "Damn", I say to myself....those articles that I was so comfortable in, that I knew so well...now what will I do?" To make matters worse, the new environment (in my case, the workplace) is impoverished and lacks many of the resources I was once accustomed to....shit...and the next plane back doesn't leave for another six months, since I really am on a leave of absence for this assignment. I guess I'm here to stay.
So, if you never understood the phrase "thinking outside of the box", I really hope my previous analogy gave you a bit of an image. I have had to not only change the way I think, plan and teach but condition myself to be a problem solver in so many ways. Each and every one of my students is unique and different and my curriculum is so unlike my previous one. Despite the obvious flaws in this new system, (some so obvious they resemble patches on a scarecrow's overalls - but that will be for a later post), the meat and potatoes that fill my plate on a daily basis at work are the students. Yes, my plate gets very full at times. It gets soooo full.....I have to take bigger bites than what I'm used to in order to prevent the plate from overflowing (leading to indigestion, heartburn, bloating....and yes, the occasional consumption of a bottle of wine or two at the end of the week to unwind....LOL). BUT.......what am I learning? Is this experience a failure or a success? Hmmm....
From every failure comes a success. That is number one. But, who says I've failed? My students just completed the most amazing projects, which they all presented in class. If you can believe this - I had a 1st grader who gave a power point presentation on lightning storms, followed by a structure he build that is battery operated and lights up to resemble the lightning bolts. I had a kindergartener who made a DVD of himself as a meteorologist describing droughts. Oh, the projects these 5 and 6 year olds showed me! I thought I was back in a college lab class, no kidding. I celebrated today. Why? We had the last three presentations. I saw a complete transformation of the students I met back in August. Today I realized, these are very gifted students and no wonder I feel so exhausted all the time! I also realized something else. Know what it was? My box, you know the one I relied on so much? I don't really need it as much because these students are all so different and full of abilities, unfortunately some also have disabilities. I mold the curriculum to meet them halfway, wherever halfway might be. What do I get in return? (smile....) Today, one of my toughest 1st grade boys who is constantly in trouble said.."Ms. Angela, you have really cool ideas!" And yes, this made my day. So, tomorrow I get to go do the rest of my parent/teacher/student led conferences. And...I'm not as worried about the stupid box. You know why? The evidence lies all over my classroom, in the form of posters, dioramas, kid-made books and various models of everything we have researched. And..guess what? None of it came out of the box, now did it? I guess I am finally thinking outside the box!
