Elementary School Memory
I grew up in a small town in the middle of the midwest. I was an average student who did what I was told. My elementary school took place in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Most of my schooling dealt with learning from a textbook, filling out worksheets and memorizing facts. I didn’t complain too much but didn’t love school until I met one of the most amazing teachers in 5th grade. This teacher was creative and created hands-on, real-world learning experiences every chance she got. Instead of worksheets, we learned through projects.
My favorite memory from elementary school was picking apart a frozen pot pie. In math class, we were working on measurement and money. Our teacher used the pot pie project to teach us how to weigh and measure by weighing and measuring the pie crust, gravy filling, meat, vegetables. We learned how to break down advertising on the box to see if the information that was advertised was what we actually got with the product. This included breaking down the price per ounce to see if we got a good deal or not. In analyzing 2 different pot pies from two different companies, we were able to see what the healthiest option was and what was the biggest bang for our buck. This project also taught us about nutrition and advertising. In health class, we were learning about nutrition. With this project, we studied the nutrition facts, learned about calories, carbs, fat, sodium, and what a balanced meal should look like.
This project was taught by one of my favorite teachers to this day. She was a creative, outside-of-the-box thinker that used engaging projects like this one to teach us multiple skills. This was back in the late 1980s where worksheets and memorization were the norm. This teacher was a diamond in the rough in our area and I would even branch out to say that she was ahead of her time. This activity was super engaging and definitely fit well with my hands-on learning style. It was packed full of real-world learning and was an exciting hands-on way to learn multiple skills.
High School Memory
My favorite memory from high school was building toothpick bridges in science class. Our teacher challenged us to create bridges out of toothpicks and glue only that could hold weighted objects. We could make them as large or small as we wanted and use as many toothpicks as we felt we needed to. We had a contest to see whose bridge would hold the most weight.
In order to construct our bridges, we had to work in teams of 2 or 3. Before we could construct our bridges we first had to study the design of successful and unsuccessful bridges around the world and draw up blueprints or a plan we were planning on following. After we chose a design we started constructing and testing.
To end this project, we had to write a paper reflecting on why we chose the style of bridge we did as well as what didn’t go according to plan and how we problem-solved it. Our final reflection also included the amount of weight our bridge held and any modifications we wish we would have made as well as what we could do to improve the design to hold even more weight. This was a great collaboration opportunity and an opportunity to learn physics and engineering by collaborating with peers. This was a true project-based learning experience.
Adult Learning Memory
As an adult, my favorite learning experience took place in my Instructional Coach training. Our conference, (which included 10 schools in our area) Instructional Coaches all meet on a monthly basis to support each other, bounce ideas off of each other, and problem-solving within a Professional Learning Community (PLC). In order to improve our instructional coaching practices, we did a book study on Pete Hall’s book called Creating A Culture Of Reflective Practice; Building Capacity For Schoolwide Success. I would highly recommend this book for any Instructional Coach, School Administrator, Teacher or anyone in a leadership role. I learned that one of the best ways to build capacity and teacher efficacy is by the power of reflection.
This book forced me to be more reflective on my own practices and really helped me understand the adults that I work with better. It also gave me great tools to use when leading reflective conversations with teachers and administrators. The premise behind the book is that we all fall on the Continuum Of Self-Reflection. There are four stages of self-reflection including the unaware stage, conscious stage, action stage and refinement stage. By asking certain questions we can get an idea of where to start conversations with those we are trying to help.
There is a great tool, which includes questioning stems and action steps to take depending on what stage your colleague is in. I have used this now for a few years and have noticed a huge change with the teachers and administrators that I have worked with. I have also used some of the techniques with some of the older students I work with as well as my own humans. The best thing about this learning experience is that it’s actually usable in my current position as well as any future positions.
Memory Reflection
In taking a trip down memory lane I notice a theme. That both of my most memorable experiences from elementary and high school were exciting, engaging and memorable to me because they both were hands on experiences that were tied to real world learning. In fact, both of these teachers had a large part in my decision to become a teacher myself. They were both inspiring and showed me that learning can and should be fun! My goal both as a teacher and instructional coach is to bring the fun back to learning through hands on real-world learning experiences. I help design and implement true PBL (project-based learning) and WBL (work-based learning) experiences in Preschool-12th grade classrooms.