This is a post I started in December. Since my students are currently writing their own blog posts, I decided to publish one as well:
This past week has been one of the most rewarding of my career. On Friday, two of my colleagues, Cathy Stutzman and Marci Zane, and I presented at the NJ Association of School Librarians conference in Long Branch, NJ. We presented on assessment, both that of the school library program and that of our students. Buffy Hamilton created a fantastic video about various formative and summative techniques and Heather Hersey was not only there via Twitter, but her brilliance was all over the powerpoint and learning plan we presented. Marci, Cathy, and I spent the day listening to speakers and prepping for our presentation, which was my first.
I was blown away by the experience. It's one thing to get up in front of teenagers to speak, but to speak in front of my peers and strangers was simply amazing. The audience's questions and feedback were invaluable; I left the session challenged and motivated. After the presentation, the three of us had dinner with some of the most amazing women I have ever met. One in particular, Alice Yucht, continued to blow my mind over and over; this is the educator that we all aspire to be. Dudes, I hope I have that much wisdom some day!
Alice really helped us to reflect not only on our presentation, but on what we are truly trying to do with this inquiry and information search process class. One of the many things we talked about (and there will hopefully be more posts to come!) was letting go in the classroom. By adapting this style, the teacher must let go of a lot. Some of it easier than others; it's very, very difficult to let go of what we love. And in many ways, we might be letting go of the things that made us become teachers in the first place. But once you've studied inquiry and you've given your students the power over their learning, you'll see why this can be even more rewarding. What I'll attempt to do with this blog is address some of the things teachers are often uncomfortable giving up and how I've dealt with them. Or honestly, how I'm still dealing with them.
