Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Questions from Densmore about Global AND Sustainable...

Sorry to Bob for cutting the presentation short, but there was lots to nosh on today.

Here are the questions (not quite verbatim) we'll address at next week's meeting around this issue:

Should a group of students and faculty take a plane to go to Belize (or anywhere) to study climate change and sustainability in a far away place?

How can we combine the global and the sustainable? Are they mutually exclusive?

Can technology bridge the GAP (Skype with a school in Belize) between our experience and theirs or do we have to be there "on the ground'?

If we wanted to make a trip to another place/culture/climate, can we do it in a sustainable way without being hypocritical?

MINDSET Activity September 17, 2008

At our Opening retreat, I talked about one of our themes for the year being our INTERCONNECTEDNESS. I wanted to remind us that as a community of adults working with these students, we rely on each other:
in class
around campus
while on duty
at meetings
and
during assemblies.
We are trying to model "Ways of being a lifelong learner" and our own ability to takes risks and "walk the walk" with them, in the name of education.

When discussing MINDSET we named a student from the past (or ourselves) as someone who came to mind when we read MINDSET over the summer. Please respond to each of the following questions here. When you are done and have posted your answer, please respond to the postings of two colleagues.

1) With two weeks of classes behind us, what can you conjure from MINDSET about your own teaching practice that IS working for your students? Name it. Why is it working?

2) Is there anything in your practice that MIGHT need some shifting for a student or group of students so that they can learn more fully what you are trying to teach? What would you shift?

3) Describe one risk you have taken in your classrom this fall with your teaching. If you have not taken any real risks yet, name one risk you can/will take in the next week that you can reflect on at next week's meeting.

Learning to Change, Changing to Learn...