When I first saw this class on my schedule and it was Monday nights for 3 hours, one might say I was a little peeved. I quickly got over this once the class began, because I looked forward to it every week. I looked at Amber's website before the class began, and I was a little intimidated, but also excited. She had published books and did speeches for other teachers. But, she also has some non-conventional things on there that I was excited to learn about. Like the flexible classroom and socio-emotional learning.
I really enjoyed this class overall, and everything we talked about. I especially loved getting to know my class. The environment of the classroom was very different from most of my other classes. It could have been because it was a smaller class, but I don't think that was the main reason. I could tell you something about every one of the people in there. There really was a sense of community. I'm going to miss seeing some of those people every Monday from 4-7. I didn't ever feel anxious or self-conscious. I always felt like it was such a welcoming learning environment, which is something I want to remember so that I can make my own classrooms this way. I was never afraid to share, or afraid that my opinion was unworthy.
The final project was a presentation for the class, on my choosing. I am not a nervous presenter usually. I took public speaking in high school, and I really loved it. I can't say that I was overly nervous for my presentation on Grit (which you can review on my website), but I wanted to impress the class and my professor. I think I felt this way because they weren't just nobodies in a room. I cared about their opinions on my project, and I wanted them to enjoy it. The final presentation was a great project. Everyone can showcase what they know, and it's really very interesting to watch their unique presentations. I loved how open-ended it was, so that each one could be its own.
During the semester we did a rotating chair almost every class. This was a way for us to talk about certain issues in the classroom, while also sharing our opinions in an organized way. I liked these for the most part. Some topics I liked better than others. The only negative I can say is that after doing them for about 5 weeks I would have liked a little change. Maybe just one class where we do something different, and then go back to the rotating chairs. I thought they were a great way to facilitate discussion, and I enjoyed some of the ideas and opinions of my classmates. It was interesting to not only be able to learn from the professor, but also from my peers. They were about very realistic things that will go on in the classroom, and I will be using some things we discussed one day in my classroom.
Overall, the class was very practical for teaching in the new age and a lot of fun! I loved how Amber graded everything. If you put a lot of effort in, and really care about what you're working on then it was easy to do well in this class. I really appreciated that, because some professors have made it extremely difficult for me to do well even If I worked my butt off. I really did care and want to do well on every assignment. Maybe this goes back to the whole sense of community, and wanting to impress my peers and professor. To me, this made the class more important because I wasn't just doing work for a good grade. I was doing it because I wanted to, and I wanted it to be good.
I loved, loved the blogs! I am a fan of writing down my thoughts, and I liked being forced to do it or else I wouldn't have. When I am a teacher one day, I can go back and look all my blogs to see what we talked about. Reading other people's blogs was interesting, because I got to take a look into other their minds. We all heard the same ideas, but everyone has their own perspectives. I also love how the blogs are all on my website. I thought this was a great project. I will be using my website in the future, and when I apply for jobs it will be on resume. It's a really neat way to run a class where every person makes and maintains their own website. I might steal this idea one day :)
This was an amazing class, and I will be sad when it's over. Thank you so much Amber, for the class. I will be keeping in touch!
Nicole Newton