{"id":1566,"date":"2015-12-10T13:54:12","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T20:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566"},"modified":"2015-12-10T22:27:22","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T05:27:22","slug":"notes-for-class-teaching-methods-last-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566","title":{"rendered":"Notes for Class: Teaching Methods \u2013 Last Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Untitled\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/anterobot\/22681714978\/in\/dateposted-public\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm6.staticflickr.com\/5674\/22681714978_16385a7930_z.jpg\" alt=\"Untitled\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I want to emphasize a part of the title of this course for a moment: <em>methods<\/em>. I know many of you want to know the secret handshake of good teaching. Less flippantly, you want the key protocols that \u2013 if you put in the effort (and I know you want to put in the effort) \u2013 will make your class move fluidly, perfectly, <em>just like in the movies<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s not ultimately what these methods are about. Yes, we spent a lot of time this semester diving into standards, designing unit plans, and talking about classroom design. However, I want you to leave today recognizing that the methods of teaching methods are <em>personal<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>This is about the processes of reflecting, listening, growing, and <em>feeling<\/em> that make you the patient and responsive mammal that your classroom community needs you to be. It needs to start with that base, instinctual level that we have likely schooled out of so many of us by the time we are about to graduate from college.<\/p>\n<p>You can fake it and be an \u2026 okay teacher. But if you want to be really good, teaching methods are the methods of reinvention. Continually.<\/p>\n<p>In graduate school, one of my advisors often described the ongoing tension between \u201creal\u201d time and \u201cschool\u201d time. The time for cooking, shopping, doing laundry, walking dogs, etc: it does not move at the same speed as grading, deadlines, letter of recommendation writing. Mentally, we are operating on two different circadian rhythms. Which one do you privilege? At what cost? Being in sync in one space may mean feeling like you are careening out of control in another. Game designer Jane McGonigal\u2019s description of a \u201cstereoscopic vision\u201d comes to mind.<\/p>\n<p>Thinking about the personal methods you are working toward (and it is a lifelong process \u2013 not a semester long one), think about where we are right now:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Northern Colorado \u2013 a shifting space at once familiar and growing in uncertain directions, politics, socioeconomic evolution.<\/li>\n<li>The end of No Child Left Behind and the ushering in of \u2026 something new. As usual, everything is about to change. Or not.<\/li>\n<li>2015 curtseying adieu, 2016 bringing in new paradigms of engagement, new warnings of <em>kids these days<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>A period of escalating horror. Daily the news sings new tragedy that is felt in our bones and comprehended by our students. What lessons need to be taught, questioned, demanded?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As much as these are locations (literally and spiritual) about your personhood and identity, they are a part of your shifting syllabus for future methods. So too, is the fact that growing as a person is seeing the ecosystem that you are a part of: the family in your classroom.<\/p>\n<p>Teaching is scary. It is okay to be afraid.<\/p>\n<p><em>It is okay to be afraid<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Be uncertain but do right.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise it is okay to be wrong.<\/p>\n<p>It is <em>necessary<\/em> to be wrong.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of most semesters, I talk to my classes about hope, love, courage. It sounds like the verbal equivalent of that \u201cHang in There\u201d cat poster. But I don\u2019t think I\u2019m clear about a part of this: a big part of teaching we ignore is that it is about self love. Do <em>you<\/em> love yourself enough to meets the needs and demands arising or being stifled within your classroom?<\/p>\n<p>Methods are personal. It\u2019s about learning to be <em>you<\/em> in the classroom and willing to\u00a0reinvent who you are in the wake of tomorrow.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566&amp;share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email this to a friend\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1566\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-1566\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566&amp;share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span>Print<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pinterest\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-pinterest-1566\" class=\"share-pinterest sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566&amp;share=pinterest\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pinterest\"><span>Pinterest<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-tumblr\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-tumblr sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566&amp;share=tumblr\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Tumblr\"><span>Tumblr<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-reddit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-reddit sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566&amp;share=reddit\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Reddit\"><span>Reddit<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-linkedin\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-linkedin-1566\" class=\"share-linkedin sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566&amp;share=linkedin\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on LinkedIn\"><span>LinkedIn<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-pocket\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-pocket sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566&amp;share=pocket\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Pocket\"><span>Pocket<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I want to emphasize a part of the title of this course for a moment: methods. I know many of you want to know the secret handshake of good teaching. Less flippantly, you want the key protocols that \u2013 if you put in the effort (and I know you want to put in the effort) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Tell people this is awesome:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-email\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-email sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566&amp;share=email\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to email this to a friend\"><span>Email<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-1566\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericancrawl.com\/?p=1566&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow 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