Learning from Students

I have a confession to make.  I learn from my students many, many times a day.  And, because of that, I have a feeling I'll be writing some version of this particular blog many more times during my blogging lifetime.

What's amazing to me remains that surprise and excitement seems to always accompany my learning from them.  Last week (and this week) finds students focused on finding the NEXT Blue Zone (@BlueZones).  It's a fun project that allows students to examine what makes a happy, healthy life.  Along the way, they learn a lot about healthy diets, healthy lifestyles, geography, how to research, etc.

So, as usual, I'm walking (or sometimes rolling now that I've got some pretty nifty chairs in my class) from student to student checking in with progress and sharing in their highs and lows.  I come to this student who has this map up on his computer with these black background.  He found a map site that shows everything you'd ever want to know about our populations around the world (birth/death rates, cancer rates, etc.) and was using it as his guide to show life expectancy.  Such a great way of looking for the "right" place.

Of course, he got his chance to share the maps he discovered with other students and that reinforced not only his thinking but also the fact that sharing is good (or, as I often quote Barney as saying, "Sharing is caring!").

I want to grow old with these kinds of people in the world.  And, part of the way I'm going to assure that happening is by making sure my students understand how important thinking and sharing are.

Every day I'm hoping for more from me and from my students.  This just goes to show that my hope isn't far from reality.  Thanks for reading!