To be honest, I had a really hard time thinking about what I was going to write about for this blog. After our March session with George Couros, I left there feeling frustrated and confused. I guess I was expecting it to be heavily focused on technology in the classroom and it wasn’t. I should have gone in with a different mindset.

So I thought long and hard about what did resonate with me that day and it was the idea of whether or not I would want to be a learner in my own classroom? I thought about that for awhile and I’m happy to say YES! I am very open and honest with my students so they can see me as a learner too. They know that I don’t have all the answers to their questions and that I’m not the best speller in the world but that doesn’t stop me from trying my best and taking risks. I feel that my students have a lot of say as to the learning that goes on in our classroom and that they have a voice. I try and make our classroom as comfortable and inviting as possible with many different types of workspaces around the room for students to use. Everything in our classroom is communal. My students know that they can learn from each other and that they are teachers too!

I feel that what goes on in my classroom is very different from what I grew up with and that if I had the opportunity to be in a classroom like mine, I would have enjoyed school a whole lot more and would have been more successful at it.

 Shayla Solomon

Lord Selkirk School

Cluster 1965