August 20, 2006

In moving into working with a new group, I definitely believe in finding the positive deviants then building on those deviants by adding tried-and-true strategies/skills as needed. What is difficult in education is that there are so many pieces in the puzzle. I never stop being amazed at what I don't know and/or what I cannot easily explain. How does a good education know where to begin teaching? How does an educator balance all of the pieces of a lesson so it blends together seamlessly to gring a relevant piece of learning to students who may, or may not, wish to apply themselves to the learning.

So it is with the current tasks. How do you go about asking teachers with varying understanding of the planning process, plan in depth? How do you assist teachers in choosing the correct place to begin when they look at a standard? How do you assist them in building a deeper understanding and love of their content through the process of planning?

This is what I will wrestle with for the next few weeks... Starting at the beginning even though some seem to understand the previous teaching but many do not...