Ashley Blackwelder Blog Post #1: JL Mann Visit

I wasn't expecting to see much at JL Mann that would apply to me in the elementary STEM classroom, but I started brainstorming as soon as we entered our first classroom. I LOVED seeing teachers team teach, and the interactions that they had with their students were incredible. It was exactly the kind of setting that makes me want to (almost) go back to having my own class, because I would love to spend my day in a learning community like that. It was also refreshing to hear the teachers describe some of the struggles they'd had in building that community with a particular group of students, and to see some evidence of kids just being kids. It was awesome, but never perfect--there's no magic secret that these teachers have figured out and the rest of us haven't. It's the result of good teaching, hard work, true collaboration, and the willingness to constantly reflect and make adjustments when needed.
I actually got really excited about an idea I had while observing, which may selfishly be my way of getting as close as I can to experiencing this close-knit, student-centered, team-teaching setting myself. But I immediately talked with our reading coach (who agreed that we would've had way too much fun with adjoining classrooms when we taught 5th grade together) about setting up our own type of PBL coaching cycle for classroom teachers next year. Through my two PBL units, I have learned that it's asking a lot of the classroom teacher to share their class in the way that I have expected, and even with much more careful/strict scheduling in my second unit, it's difficult to expect "my" instruction to carry on when I can't physically be in the classroom with them each day. It's also not entirely fair of me to ask. BUT...if we can develop well-integrated units for each grade level and offer to teach it in its entirety--along with all of the assessments and grading that go along with it--and take one class from start to finish, it would benefit that teacher and class, as well as the others on the same grade level. The classroom teacher would be present and involved throughout the unit, but could also step out occasionally to cover for others on the grade level to come and observe. We've had such growth in STEM and PBL in our school over the past few years, and I think we'd have quite a few teachers who would be open to this. It's an idea that I am really excited about, and probably wouldn't have thought of before our visit to JL Mann.