Staying Open to New ideas

 

Though I have been teaching 20 years, I amalways striving to learn new and better ways to reach my studentsacademically.  This past fall I embarkedon a new journey and headed back to college to work on my math specialistdegree.  Math for me has always been asubject that has been a little intimidating, so I decided to challenge myselfto learn better strategies to be a more effective teacher.  Some of the classes have been online, andthough I feel I am fairly tech savvy I was totally outside of my comfort zonethe first few classes.  The pandemic hadme pretty competent with zooms, but nothing prepared me for breakout rooms, jam boards, anddoing cooperative assignments in groups online. My last college degree was in person, so this dinosaur really had tolearn and grow to feel successful.  Ithas been a great topic in my third-grade class for community circle though, Ilove being able to model for students that you can be a lifelong learner.

Another area I focused on this year was a building wide training toimplement a program called UFLI in my room.  The students I am currently teaching were inkindergarten when schools went virtual. A lot of students are still missing some basic skills to read and decodeand this program seems to be an excellent resource for students stillstruggling.  I have been working withstudents in small groups to try and implement this “new” program.  It has been trial and error at times, but Ithink it is making an impact on student learning. 

The great news with education is there is always room togrow at any age!

Jennifer Mitchell -- 3rd grade teacher in the Kansas City area