Well, I do have to admit defeat – at least in terms of being able to blog for 100 days in a row.  I made it to 66 days spread over about 90 days (including weekends).  I learned a lot.  I learned I do have something to write about – even if other folks aren’t convinced they want to read it.  I learned that I like to write – given the time to do the thinking about what I want to write about.  I learned that although I wish I weren’t; I’ve been too trained in the last 15 years to be an academic writer, and so it’s very hard to write something once and publish it without further work and reflection upon the product.  I learned that it’s hard to write without an audience.  I learned what I already knew already that I’m pretty tenacious; the difference being that as I age I know when to give up!   It was fun.  I intend to go back over my entries, pick up some of the threads and create some more viable products than a paragraph here and there.  And, so actually I wasn’t defeated — I correct myself — I chose to stop something that was no longer interesting and not finish just for the sake of finishing.  For me – that’s big!

100 Day Project – Day 66 – 8:52 p.m.

If anyone cares to try to open this document and figure out if it works; you’re welcome to it!  I have an Echo Smartpen as part of a grant at my community college.  With just a half-hour under my belt, I can think of a lot of possible ways to use it in the classroom.  Except I’m really old-fashioned in that I really dislike – I might use the word hate – that today’s technology comes with th idea that you’ll just mess around with it, go for YouTube videos, and hunt and peck forever until you’ve got it down.  I can do all of those things and I’m not shy about just pushing buttons and stuff to figure it out, BUT, I love a good instruction book.  Why on earth should I have to figure out how to figure it out when a few pages would show me how?  Have we taken the concept of constructing your own knowledge just a wee bit far?   That’s what I’m thinking about today!

Well, I must admit life has been very full — usually is – and I’m considering not continuing this Project — could I call it the 65 day project?  I’ve skipped quite a few days; and see by my trusty old paper calendar that I should be on day 84 today – and here I am at Day 65.  What to do?  Quit or persist?

I’ll give it some thought today: like life, we don’t always have a choice whether to quit.  We must persist in some fashion, perhaps in a different way than we thought, but persist we must.  Since I doubt many people are even paying attention to this project, and it’s been for myself, I need to decide whether to go on in some way, or quit.  I”ll think about it for the day.  The Day 65 versus Day 84 is a bit symbolic of my life.  I’m a middle of the boat kind of person.  I learned it very young.  It was important not to be noticed as a child, and it was a really good idea to try to anchor the part of the boat that was rocking.  So I stayed unnoticed in the middle of that boat.  As an adult, I’ve certainly ventured out, even rocked the boat, but I do end up back there in the middle.  What this creates is a life of getting things done – many of those things good things – but getting them done in a plodding kind of way, and getting them done in a way unnoticed by others.    So, today,  I’m thinking about persistence.

Last class meeting, the students participated in a Literacy Month event at our college.  The local Head Start bused 30 preschool children to our college’s library where we had the joy of reading one-on-one with the children, joining them in snack, and sending them home with a book to call their own.

Today the class was talking about the joy we all had, and how several of the other adults involved in the organizing and in the area commented on how “well behaved” and “cute” the children were.  It provided us with great conversation about what were these adults, and other adults in our culture, thinking about how children behaved and just what was cute anyways.  I challenged students to consider exactly what cute meant to them, and was it okay to continually use that word to label children’s beings and behaviors.  Great discussion.  In the midst of  it, a student said that I needed to give them a little lee way as I was a very deep person.  So today I’m thinking about what that might mean.

One of the workshops I went to at the NEFDC Conference recently was a workshop on creating syllabi of interest.  While there are several sections I must put in, I have a good deal of leeway about the rest.  Although I learned that at some institutions, the entire syllabi content is legislated by the administration.  But, I have leeway and what the presenter had to say was quite fascinating.  We deem it an important document, yet what we give them often has very little to do with the interesting and what we deem exciting material going to be covered during the semester.

I was really excited about it and I’m not about to give it all away here – but my students should stay tuned for an interesting change in my syllabus!  Here’s where I’d love to say something about my own administration, but I won’t.  Gramma said if you can’t say it in a nice way, don’t say it at all.  So I won’t!

Today I’m thinking about the what is going to be a fun task of creating new and interesting syllabi for next year.

Exhaustion.  This week was non-stop – all five days I was up before 6 am, and although I made it to bed most nights by 10, the days were so full, I practically ran through them.  Yesterday I finished the week by going to the NEFDC Conference in Worcester.  I did debate going, but I’m so glad I did.  I learned some great ideas for the classroom, and I think I’m going to try to write some of them up this next week.  This coming week, being Thanksgiving week, I expect to go a little slower; or at least be a little less full.  So today, I’m just thinking about having another weekend day of moving slower and trying to rest.  Exhaustion.

“Learning results from what the student does and thinks and only from what the student does and thinks.  The teacher can advance learning only by influencing what the student does to learn.”   Herbert A. Simon  (One of the founders of the field of Cognitive Science and Nobel Laureate)

I think I’ve mentioned at least, if not twice, the open classroom visits that recently happened on my campus.  Just a few days ago, one of the professors that visited my 101 level introduction to early childhood education class thanked me for my hospitality and noted that he was interested in the fact that I “only” had 10 minutes of direct instruction.

Although I’ve never timed myself, I wouldn’t doubt that number at all.  I work hard to create an hour of learning that is doing.  The quote I found fascinates me because I’m sure that the more I provide time for students to do, the more they learn; and the more I talk or lecture at them, the less they learn.  I create opportunities for thinking about what they already know about a subject, what they still want to know, asking others what they know and comparing that knowledge, and thinking about ways to learn what they still want to know.

Thank you Dr. Simon for reassuring me that doing is a good thing in learning, a very good thing.

A quote from an email a colleague sent me today as a result of her visiting one of my classes during Open Classroom Week  (a week where faculty volunteer to open their classes to other faculty and staff to visit and also to visit other classrooms themselves).

“I was daydreaming in your class with how wonderful your students are and would be great educators by learning from people like you. I loved your sense of calm and your peaceful way of pointing out what has been done and what is to come in your class.”

Today I feel very proud.

Today was Advising Day at the community college where I work – a day to sit with your Advisor (for those students who choose to, of course), and talk about your goals, where your studies are going, how they are going, what you want to be when you “grow-up.”   I asked each student as they entered my office to pull up a chair and talk to me about how things were going.  A student who took a semester off stopped by with her two-week old infant to introduce him to me and proudly let me know that she’s registered for next semester – as is her husband.  (Bravo to them!)  I wish I could get each student to pull up a chair – these little half hour talks are so enlightening for me in terms of how to best support that student on their journey – whether as their Advisor or their teacher as well.

While sitting in a classroom with a few students during an Hour Open Session, the President of the College stopped in as he toured an important guest of his around — and he nicely informed the guest that if he wanted to know how Mr. Rogers related to life and learning, he should seek me out!

And so, today I’m thinking of an article written by Mr. Rogers support staff about pulling up a chair and the value and importance of that moment to forming a relationship that creates an environment for deep learning.

“When we sit, we’re also saying “I’m settling in here to be with you because I care about you, your thoughts, feelings and ideas.”  That’s what “Mister Rogers” did at the beginning of each program, when he put on his sweater and sneakers.  He let children see that he was putting aside other concerns and settling in for a “visit” with them (sort of like “pulling up a chair”).  ”

Today I’m thinking about the importance of relationship to learning.

I’m sure no one else but me is counting or cares; but if a reader is interested, I know very well that Day 52 had almost a week between it and Day 51!  I can blame the crazy October snow storm for a day or two; not just the power outage which was only the better part of a day for me, but the crazy readjustment that seemed needed everywhere to get past this storm. My students were late and absent and flustered when they were present.

I did have a couple of days of rethinking it and wondering if I should just cut my losses at half way to 100.  But, I won’t stop.  Tomorrow, I’ll begin again with little thoughts about teaching and learning.  Why not?  I know the blogs I’m writing are short, maybe not even sweet to some, but it has convinced me that I do have something to say.  Not only something to say, but that once I start writing, it comes relatively comfortably.

I do know, and blogging has reinforced it, that I don’t have enough time to do each entry thoroughly.  But, I’ve decided to get back to the task I set myself.  Then when 100 days has come to an end; I can reformat and rethink the best of the 100 and see where that takes me.  Interruptions happen in life: some of the worst really throw us onto a new road for short or even long amounts of time.  Some of them teach us a new way to look at life, large or small parts of life that maybe need a new perspective.  Some of them are just plain annoying and equal no more than the big mud puddle that must be stepped in to enter the car on a rainy morning in my driveway.  So, move along life, today I am thinking about interruptions.