Almost everyone acknowledges you learn best when you teach another and that your learning is internalized when you live it.The book seeks to help the reader learn how to find his or her voice and inspire others to find their voice. In order to accomplish this, the reader is asked to do two things: find two people to share the contents of the book and take it slow - a chapter per month.
Part 1 - Find Your Voice
I am going to be sharing my learning in this space. So far, it fits nicely with the blogging I've been doing for the last nine months or so.
I've been on a quest to discover my voice within my blog. I'm starting to understand what I enjoy writing about. I like to hear how teachers accomplish certain objectives and lessons with students. I've been sharing some of my experiences in this space. The posts that people seem to come back to include:
- Using Google Earth with the book Make Way for Ducklings
- Using Voicethread in the math classroom with a class from Canada
- Creating projects in Scratch with middle school and elementary students
- Using Starfall.com with Kindergarten and first grade
- Using Panwapa.com with first grade
Chapter 4 - Discover Your Voice
I am just starting this chapter. We are going to be learning about the gifts all humans are born with that should give you the power to discover your voice. I have re-learned something that I came across in another book within the last year. Mr. Covey conveys the following statement:
Between stimulus and respnse there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In those choices lie our growth and our happiness.How powerful is that idea? Whether we are in a classroom full of students, a room full of teachers, an office with the principal, there is a choice. As I continue through chapter one, I will be watching how wisely I use that space and look forward to his ideas about discovering my voice.
Finding your own voice within the confines of the blog format does take a while - I can vouch for that, and even after over two and a half years there are times I wonder if my true voice is coming through or whether I still lapse into what I think others want to read. So your observations really make sense. You see, read or experience something that makes you think and you reflect on that in this space. But it is good to let time fill up that space sometimes so that you can properly formulate where your questions, your theories, your expertise can be effectively expressed in words. But I would also say that your voice is not about what others want to hear - so, while it is nice to see which posts resonate with others, don't let that dictate your own blogging priorities. Your own voice is too important to be hijacked by that!
ReplyDeleteI hear what you're saying. I think my first 90 or more posts were more of what I thought people wanted to hear. The last 10 or so are more about what I find useful in class and in my life that I want to share.
ReplyDeleteI'm grateful that I have found these various outlets in the educational world. Thank you for your additional thoughts.