This week I really enjoyed getting to know everyone. I feel like, of all my livestream and online classes, I know my classmates in this class the best. It was fun to learn about Trevor and see the human side of him.
We had some great discussions Thursday. I came away knowing how important it is to acknowledge what is happening in the world that may be affecting my students. I also feel strongly that unless it is a single defining event, such as 9/11, you have to find ways to acknowledge and then move past it. Especially in Math. While the events of today: Covid, riots, protests, election drama, etc, lend themselves to great discussions in history and English they can quickly derail a science or math class and nothing will get accomplished. Especially since they are ongoing and not going to go away anytime soon, there has to be a way to learn content and not spend all the time on current events.
I also enjoyed the discussion about what needs to change in education and what educators can do to instigate or move those changes forward. We talked about expectations of teachers and how if we don't speak up and just continue meeting expanding expectations without complaint or disagreement we will get burnt out and leave the profession never accomplishing what we set out to do. We talked about how a lack of respect and pay for teachers will lead to not having teachers to educate children at all.
It gave me a lot to think about and consider, what means I can use to be heard and when to speak up.
