‘Even as we grieved, we grew.’
From “The Hill We Climb” by Inaugural poet Amanda Gorman
On point, Amanda Gorman, and thank you. With only a week before the start of the spring semester, I’m ready to reflect on last semester. But if I’m honest with myself, I needed to experience the events of January 20th and to soak in Amanda’s eloquent poetry to reaffirm optimism. An optimistic mindset is defined as a belief in your own agency to create a different outcome. Studies show that optimism may be one of the most important traits that impact leadership, teaching, and learning. As an educator, optimism gives me hope in the face of many failed attempts, and that yes, there are solutions to seemingly intractable problems (Diefenthaler et al., 2017).
Several factors tempered my usual optimism since this summer. I never imagined that I would experience housing instability. This impacted my decision to defer my graduate assistantship and become a part-time student. I enrolled in two online courses: one at William & Mary (Designing for Learning) and the other at Liberty University (Curriculum Evaluation). So in the midst of three relocations in a six-month period, a pandemic, the movement for racial justice, political upheaval, and juggling classes and work, I became an advocate for designing for learning. Stavros Yiannouka (WISE) offers that disruption in education presents opportunities (Diefenthaler et al., 2017). There is opportunity in disruption to improve my teaching and learning practice through design thinking. I participated in the Designing for Learning (D4L): Issues & Approaches Virtual Symposium which was attended by educators from Hampton Roads school divisions and William & Mary’s School of Education. You can check out my session and resources on culturally responsive teaching in the K-12 classroom here. And to those who believe that “multiculturalism, all the -isms — they’re not who America is”, I offer a resource on the dimensions of equity: multiculturalism, social justice, and culturally responsive teaching by Zaretta Hammond (see Slide #18).
Learning Through Work
Last fall, I accepted a term-limited Graduate Fellow position with the Studio for Teaching & Learning Innovation (STLI) working 20 hours weekly supporting STLI’s Student Partner Program. Student Partners are undergraduate students that assist W&M faculty as they embrace blended teaching and learning strategies in their courses. I was star-struck when I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Alison Cook-Sather, a leading researcher in student-faculty pedagogical partnerships.
I continued my position as a fitness and wellness instructor with Campus Recreation, teaching group fitness online. Even Tiger (my classmate Frances’ cat) joined in! Look at his tongue! LOL
Staying Connected Through Volunteering
This fall I become a lead reviewer for The William & Mary Educational Review for Team Orange, and I continue to participate as a Holmes Scholar. A highlight was meeting with my fellow Holmes Scholars and Dean Knoeppel in November.
My volunteer efforts – all online, ranged from getting to dive into qualitative analysis through EAGER, to leading a cardio dance class for the W&M School of Education’s Admin Team (The Ugly Sweater/Shirt/Pants Workout). I volunteer with The Arc of Greater Williamsburg’s new Pen Pal Project and shared my robots with them virtually. I serve as a Virtual Learning Partner for a local elementary student from WJCC Public Schools. It is such a joy to work with Katie and Ariana.
This November, my husband and I quietly celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, and after numerous court filings, hearings, and delays due to the pandemic, we were back in our home by Christmas. The work continues. Healing. Restoring. Unpacking. Purging. Preparing for comprehensive exams. Studying. Working. The more I learn, the more I’m convinced that we know how we learn, and we know what really works in teaching and learning. We need knowledgeable and skilled leadership in implementation.
Diefenthaler, A., Moorhead, L., Speicher, S., Bear, C., & Cerminaro, D. (2017). Thinking and acting like a designer: How design thinking supports innovation in K-12 education. WISE and IDEO. https://www.wise-qatar.org/2017-wise-research-design-thinking/