I’m a little late, but today is my last day of the TeachThought 30-Day Blogging Challenge. This has been a great experience. I mentioned in a post before I started the challenge, that I was hoping to get over some of my fear of blogging. Writing every day for thirty days has definitely helped. I have also made connections with other educators. Getting feedback on my posts and reading other participants’ posts also encourages me. I would like to have more time to connect with other teachers and maintain those connections – I always feel like I can do more – but I am much further along than I was 30 posts ago.
I am sure many people put time and commitment into making this challenge possible, but I must thank Beth Leidolf (@bleidolf67) for her tireless efforts in keeping this challenge going while being so welcoming and encouraging along the way.
Now for today’s prompt: What would I do as a teacher if I wasn’t afraid? Since I already wrote a lot above, I’ll keep this brief.
If I wasn’t afraid at all, I would completely turn my classroom over to my students. I think that’s why Genius Hour is so intriguing to me. I would love to have my students run the show: choose the curriculum, design the schedule, set goals, solve problems, etc. There are many fears to overcome in order to achieve this: What if they don’t learn anything? What about the Common Core? What if it works for some kids, but not for others? Grading? How would parents ever be able to understand? What if I don’t like what they decide to learn? What if it turns out to be chaos? Despite the fears, and the constraints, I am drawn to this type of teaching. I’m not there yet, but I am working towards it.
This is the end of the 30-day Blogging Challenge for me, but I’m determined to keep writing. Maybe not every day, but I do see there is another challenge for October . . . .
