Problem Solving with Digital Tools

This last week I attended a workshop sponsored by Meg Orimston through the Lee/Ogle/Whiteside Regional ROE. It was amazing! I have attended Meg's workshops now for at least five years, and she is always simply amazing. The workshop lasted two days, from 8:30 to 3:30 at Sauk Valley College. They are most engaging and challenging!

Her workshops are invigorating, and this last workshop lived up to its name. She is a great role model for how we can choose to work with our students. She presents ideas/concepts and potential software usage in her workshops, and then it is up to us to explore, create and collaborate on our own projects. She does not show us how to work in a software; she requires us to explore, assist and collaborate with each other to learn how to use the software in a manner that is unique to our own classroom and our students. She gets out of the way, and gives us time to create, make mistakes, and move forward in our learning. She role models for us her idea of an effective and successful classroom.

It has been through her workshops that I have changed and grown as an educator. I followed Meg's advice and have taken the risk to change my teaching style. I now expect my students to work collaboratively in their learning process. I no longer lecture to my students. Instead, I am coming up with engaging and creative projects that require students to make decisions about their own personal learning. What I now see in my classroom, are students who can multi-task between software, be engaged in their own learning process and are collaborating and assisting their peers as educators themselves.

Is my classroom perfect? It depends on what you mean by perfect. If you walk into my classroom, you will see a lot of confusion, conversation and assisting among students. You occasionally might also witness some quiet (but not very often though) as students are engaged in their activities. I spend most of my time talking with students, evaluating their work, and watching their progress in action. What I have found is that if I just get out of their way, students can do amazing things.

Six years ago, I would have highly questioned this process; matter of fact, I did. When our superintendent, Dr. P.J. Caposey gave each of us teachers a card that read, "Feel free to fail", I did not take him too seriously. I thought I was doing fine as an educator. My division leader, John Vos, however, really challenged me to think about a new way to educate our students which aligned perfectly with Dr. Caposey's and Meg's way of thinking. So I started taking the risk to change my approach, and I thank God every day that I did. I am also fortunate to have a great co-worker who is patient and supportive of me as I grow as an educator. Thanks Ryan Read; you are amazing. Oh, and by the way, I still have out on my desk, the card that Dr. Caposey gave us the first day of school: Feel free to fail.

If you decide to risk it all and begin to change your approach, understand that a few students will probably revolt; I experience it every year. However, the majority of students enjoy taking on their learning responsibilities. I am thankful everyday that I have supportive administrators who not only back up and support my teaching approach, they are also willing to stand firm with the few students who do not like the process. The few students who want me to "teach" them exactly what it is that they need to know.

In Meg's workshop, I created my first digital break out escape room, and it was fun! It took some hard work, some investigation and collaboration with others, but the project has been completed. I am excited about the next one! I have come to recognize that these types of projects are exactly what students need in order to be work and college ready. The projects challenge them to think outside the box, think in new ways and solidify their own personal learning.

So hats off to Meg and others like Dr. P. J. Caposey, Leslie Showers, John Vos, Ryan Read and Matt Miller who have challenged me to think about education and learning in a new and exciting way! Thank you for helping me get excited about learning and teaching again! Thank you for helping me escape from the locked box of education that I was taught in college!