Mr Hammerlund

Today I there was a little good bye ceremony today at our last faculty meeting today, and as one of the leaving teachers, I cringed as we went around and people started giving speeches. After 12 years abroad, I have seen many people come and go from my life, and the good-byes never get easier. One colleague told me that she appreciated me "popping in" to classrooms and helping out when there. I didn't know how to respond to that. I think it was hard to respond because that is just what I do. I like watching other teachers teach to get ideas for my own classroom. It is one of the reasons I enjoy talking with my colleagues. It helps me think and reflect on what I am doing. I have been fortunate to work with inspiring educators.

This week was the first of the course, and it was also the week report card drafts were due, so the course took a backseat until today - Sunday. The introduction video was of a model primary class and showed students learning through Minecraft. It was a good reminder of what a class could look like. Sidenote - video lectures are more powerful when participants are required to answer comprehension/thought questions during the videos. We watched a video of a class that learned about butterflies. My first thought was of UBD, and my next was that I wish I had seen what the other students in the class were doing when the teacher pulled a small group to guide them through the iMovie process. I liked what the teacher was doing, but if it was my class, I know I would have had students coming up to me with questions - unless they were free playing. I liked how children worked in pairs with iPads. They were each working on their own task, but were engaged with each other through conversat...