Since we teach via a dual in-person/virtual format, all of my kids now have a technology device issued to them, meaning we no longer have to share ten ipads and three chrome books between 44 kids. In order to keep preparation as easy as is humanly possible to teach in both formats, we use their technology device for absolutely every assignment in some way. Even if they did it with paper and pencil, they still take a picture or make a video of it to turn it in to the digital classroom. The more comfortable they get with their device, the more confident they become and eager to take risks to share their learning in new ways. What once looked like a boring worksheet suddenly comes to life with color, voice, and animation. Where once my kids gave me the minimal amount of effort, they are suddenly taking their work home to enhance it, hoping that I will now publish it on our class blog (our digital hallway bulletin board).
This year I gave them a different gratitude activity to do each day. Monday they wrote a letter of gratitude to someone. Tuesday they made gratitude jars and filled them with strips of paper with things they were grateful for written on them. Wednesday they made a Thankful Mat. Thursday they did a Gratitude scavenger hunt page, and Friday we shared. These digital worksheets came back with colorful words both typed and written, pictures, and even embedded videos that they made at home. They recorded themselves reading all the things they were thankful for with such pride and confidence in their voices. They truly warmed my heart as I listened to them.
On the day we made the gratitude jars (that I unfortunately had to rush them through), I noticed a little girl going all around the room at the end of the day writing all of her classmates names on her little strips of paper. That night, she went home, pulled her puppy up close to her, and made a video of herself pulling out every strip of paper from her gratitude jar and stating, "I am thankful for....." while reading off every name in the class. It touched my heart deeply and made me realize just how much voice we've given these kids with technology. Yes, it can cause a lor of issues and make things take twice as long, but it gives them so much more choice as to how they want to present an assignment and it opens up the door to so much more creativity.
I'm beyond frustrated with the workload put on teachers right now, systems that expect us to create a whole new way of learning but still evaluate us with the old rubric. If you could just take away the old rubric and celebrate all the incredible innovation, creativity, and determination happening, we might see that education is being transformed for the better. My kids showed me that this last week, and they continue to show me as I periodically check for more assignments coming in, and I keep finding more videos like the one I just mentioned or more positive, encouraging comments that they're making on each other's projects. It's a whole new sense of community as a class, including the ones that never step foot in the actual classroom. Today, I'm thankful for these precious students in my life and the privilege to teach them in this new way of learning.
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