Getting My Feet Under Me

I am just beginning my coursework.  I'm working away, reading articles, working on our group project for Unit 2 in EDET 780, and jumping into being a student again after so many years on the teacher side of the desk.  I am having fun with it so far, and enjoying the challenge.

It is interesting seeing things from the student point of view firsthand.  I believe educators must put themselves in into their students' shoes periodically, and take credit-bearing classes.  If we're not careful, we sometimes forget what it is truly like to experience having hard deadlines and receiving grades for our work.  We get a glimpse of it when we are observed and evaluated, but it isn't quite the same.

The college experience this time around (even though we are just a couple weeks into it) has reminded me to keep the student experience in the forefront of my mind always.

If we approach lesson planning with empathy for our students, how might our planning change?  Do we try to think about how it would feel to be a student in our own classrooms?  Dave Burgess, author of Teach Like a Pirate, asks an excellent question in that book for us to consider, "If your students didn't have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty room?"

I try to think about that question when planning for my adult learners in my professional learning sessions. I am a work in progress.  The coursework in this program so far is helping me tap into my student side more extensively...