Workshopping

I can't believe that the previous model didn't include watching the other fellows' workshops. I think that giving my workshop to this safe community of learners enabled me to get over the jitters. It also gave me a sounding board that was gentle and thoughtful.

I learned a lot about myself and what I know as a teacher by giving my workshop. At the beginning of this summer, the thought of giving a workshop to a group of teachers that were more knowledgeable than me left me quaking in my sneakers. I couldn't imagine what I could teach them. I felt like I was an expert at nothing. I realize now that I have done a lot of research to inform the strategies that I use in my classroom. So, even though my ideas are really a conglomeration of the great thinkers' ideas, I can summarize that research for other teachers to save them some of the pain. I can also give them an idea of what a pie-in-the-sky strategy looks like in the fifth grade classroom, a very real setting.

Maybe most importantly, I learned how to glean information that I can adapt to my classroom from a workshop that may have an intended audience that I don't consider myself a part of.
Each and every workshop gave me more tools for my tool box. I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of this process.