Day 1 of NYC PD

After day 1 of my NYC workshop, I have a few big take aways:

1. Thinking about the zones of learning is useful for teachers AND students!  Eventually we want students to be able to design their own learning in the real world and that means helping them monitor their own learning.  Danny's model of different zones of learning, and also thinking about them as a range that we slide into in different times made a lot of sense to me.  He also talked about needing to get students be able to self-monitor where they were in these zones so they could manage their learning over time.  This including asking students some questions:
   • If they were in the "comfort" zone, are they taking enough risks?  Do they need a different task?  How could they modify their project themselves - what would be a "reach" for them?
   • If they were in the "panic" zone for much of class, they really should ask for help.  Knowing when AND how to advocate for yourself is important for students to know and be able to do.
   • We want the "learning" zone to be BIGGER!  To make it bigger, we should try to operate on the edge of panic (this actually perhaps explains my personality a bit).  Operating on that edge "pushes" your learning zone to expand.
   
   
   
    
2. I need to build a "Whole Class Culture".  I was so much better at this in the math classroom.  I think it was because I forced students to work with people who were unlike themselves.  Teaching an elective class, and a class with a large gender imbalance makes this rougher.  My goal is to really make this happen for my AP CSP class (after the drop period, that is).  There was nothing wrong with my class culture last year, it is just that students didn't branch out socially and I think doing this occasionally is important.  I can do this simply by having people pick ONE partner they want to sit with, and then mixing up the pairs into groups.  I also need to think more intentionally about the following:
   • What beliefs do I need my students to have in my class?
   • What habits do students need in my class?
   • What workflow needs to be in place?

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My favorite quote from today:

"Our natural state of being IS not knowing"                                                                                         - Danny

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Also, fun fact: After doing the pre-work for this PD, I have gained more confidence in being able to do HTML.  The hr above and some of the formatting I did in the HTML composure screen... successfully!