As I look back on my entire ImagineIT project, it is crazy to see how an idea turned into such an impactful project for my students. I have discovered that it takes a lot of planning and thought to create this design for the classroom, but if it is done well, will make a strong impact on the students. Some pushbacks that I feel held back some of the potential of my project are common core standards and state testing. As a CPS teacher, I am expected to meet certain goals for mathematics and expected to make sure students have mastered skills and concepts for standardized testing. If that pressure was alleviated, I feel that there would more time allotted for my project with my students.
As I talked to a group of students about their experience, I was shocked at some of their opinions. The students altogether really liked my project and some of the concepts that they discovered. They told me that they liked it more than the normal math curriculum because it was something different, unique, and exciting. The part that really shocked me was some of the examples of takeaways that they got from these lessons. During one of my lessons, we ended up getting into a deep discussion about calorie intake and I mentioned a documentary about a man who eats McDonalds for a month straight. I found out that one of the students went home with that information and asked his parents if they could watch the movie in which they did and had a family movie night. I was shocked to see that something that I suggested had a strong enough influence on one of my students that he went home and followed through with it. Then I thought back to one of the articles we read about what all the best teachers have in common and one of the common traits was bringing it parts of you as a person into your lessons.
What I have learned from teaching itself is that it becomes more enjoyable when you watch the students excitedly discover something new. When you are not just teaching another lesson, but getting another opportunity to explore something that excites your students and motivates them to have a positive growth mindset, it makes the art of teaching so much more exciting.
As I talked to a group of students about their experience, I was shocked at some of their opinions. The students altogether really liked my project and some of the concepts that they discovered. They told me that they liked it more than the normal math curriculum because it was something different, unique, and exciting. The part that really shocked me was some of the examples of takeaways that they got from these lessons. During one of my lessons, we ended up getting into a deep discussion about calorie intake and I mentioned a documentary about a man who eats McDonalds for a month straight. I found out that one of the students went home with that information and asked his parents if they could watch the movie in which they did and had a family movie night. I was shocked to see that something that I suggested had a strong enough influence on one of my students that he went home and followed through with it. Then I thought back to one of the articles we read about what all the best teachers have in common and one of the common traits was bringing it parts of you as a person into your lessons.
What I have learned from teaching itself is that it becomes more enjoyable when you watch the students excitedly discover something new. When you are not just teaching another lesson, but getting another opportunity to explore something that excites your students and motivates them to have a positive growth mindset, it makes the art of teaching so much more exciting.