As a teacher, I am taking on the role of a lifelong learner and doing my best to stay up to date on best practices. I am seeking out opportunities to help me learn how to educate my first graders for the future. I am doing this in a variety different ways: joining a team of teachers at my school attending workshops on creating Cultures of Thinking, getting my Masters in Educational Technology, and reading books like The Power of Play by David Elkind and A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger. I feel empowered by these influences and excited to try their techniques in my classroom! But wait a minute…how can I make more time for thinking, questioning, and play while still fitting in all the curriculum? I know I can’t be the only teacher out there asking this question. So, I made a survey to collect some data and hopefully move forward in finding some solutions to this wicked problem for teachers everywhere. Click here for the link! In the process of creating my (first ever) survey, I tried hard to think about the people who would be taking my survey: teachers like me. I know that “ugh not another thing” feeling you get when you are asked by a colleague to take a survey that will “just take a few minutes.” For this reason, I did my best to keep it short and sweet – only including short answer questions when absolutely necessary.
It is my hope that my colleagues do not feel this way when taking my survey, but that they feel as empowered and excited as I do to try to work together to find solutions to this wicked problem. Berger, W. (2016). A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas. New York, NY: Bloomsbury USA. Elkind, D. (2008). The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier and Healthier Children. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Lifelong. Tyson, J. (Photographer). (2019, May 8). Untitled [digital image]. Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/hhq1Lxtuwd8.
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