Incubation

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As I sit down to write this, I wonder what stage of the creative process I am in. Incubation, feels wrong. It implies that something will happen, that the possibilities will birth into something that I can create and share. Maybe I am in the evaluation stage,
, or reflection, of the new practices I tried this year.

 I feel a bit like a failure. I started a lot of things in my class. Most of the ideas came from other cadre member's blogs but I did try some things from my RSS feed. Some of the ideas worked with different levels of success. I should try to focus on the successes.

 I went from a paper based classroom to a paperless classroom. Instead of grading labs, students completed check-ins online. This has been an awesome change. Students receive feedback in moments rather than days. They know where they are at in their learning before they leave the class that day. This is a use of technology in my classroom that feels not only permanent but integral to the class now.  

 The use and creation of infographics in my classroom felt like a miss. Perhaps, I had my expectations set too high. My students used Canva and Piktocharts to create their own infographics. Most looked amateurish and slapped together. I am willing to try it again; perhaps the few exemplars I have will spur the next classes to a better result. I listened to cadre members talk about the students' use of visuals to explain their learning. I have taken baby steps but need to learn how to teach this skill to my students. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/ccia-10-visual-literacy-strategies-todd-finley

 My failures lay more in the cadre than in the classroom. I completed many readings. I didn't blog about them. I tried new strategies. I didn't blog about them.  I had successes and failures. I didn't share them. The primary excuse I gave to myself is that I didn't have the time to blog. The truth is something else. I don't feel like I know what I am doing. I don't see why anyone would want to hear what I have to say about the classroom or my journey. 

 This seems like a difficult time in teaching, in society, in life. When even the facts are nebulous, when our worldview can be affirmed with a simple change of the channel or website, it's hard to push our students into new ways of thinking. It's hard to push ourselves. When challenged, click, find another distraction. I still struggle to find what I want to say to my class, to you the reader. I need to incubate on this for a while.

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