compassionate educator
This spring, my main professional goals have been focused around discussion facilitation with students. Before IslandWood, as a 4th grade math teacher, I had a bit of experience facilitating student discussions, but not enough that I felt super comfortable embracing them in the IslandWood context. I decided to center my spring professional growth plan (PGP)… Continue reading Embracing Feedback for Professional Growth
This past week, I decided I wanted to see what would happen if I gave the students the reins for the week, letting them tell me what they most wanted to learn about and then taking the planning from there. When the students arrived Monday, one of the first things we did was head into… Continue reading A student-led week in the woods
This spring, I've been in a class called Collaborative Projects in Educational Leadership: Nonformal Education. This class has been a unique experience for many reasons, not least of which being the experience of collaborative lesson planning. For the second half of the course, we've been workshopping lessons together as a class. An individual will bring… Continue reading Collaborative Lesson Planning
Whenever I'm asked about my priority in teaching students at IslandWood, my answer is always stewardship. I want my students to walk away from their week in the woods with me with a greater sense of respect and care for themselves, their human community, and their natural community. I want them to go home feeling… Continue reading Stewardship & Social Marketing
Throughout our time at IslandWood, we've had many conversations as a community about implicit bias. Sometimes, we discuss bias coming through our information and discussions. At other points, the conversations shift to bias with regards to our students and our expectations for them. Ultimately, it is vital that we, as educators, examine and reflect upon… Continue reading Implicit Bias
Peer observing is the part of our AIS class we'd heard about the most before starting the class, so it goes without saying that it is one of the most influential parts of the class as well. In examining this practice to determine what we gain through it, I've more fully bought in to the… Continue reading Peer Observing & Advanced Instructional Strategies
Recently, I went back and watched my first observation video from my time at IslandWood. The video consisted of me leading a solo walk debrief with a group of students that I remember felt particularly challenging during my first solo teaching week. In the video, the main thing that jumped out at me was the… Continue reading Back to the beginning
In my Arts Integration class, we were tasked with creating an original arts integration lesson and testing it out in the field with our students. My major focus this quarter has been transfer of learning, and I really wanted to combine that with my frequent theme of stewardship. Check out the full lesson plan here,… Continue reading Original Arts Integration Lesson – Personal Stewardship Books
I struggled for a long time to think of ways that I myself had named the steps while rolling out a new concept or instructions in these past teaching weeks. Instead, I have settled upon sharing a time where I encouraged my students to name the steps to solidify their learning. While I didn't hit every component… Continue reading Naming the steps
This past teaching week, we discussed the gradual release of responsibility model (GRRM) in our practicum session. I had learned about this model before in my undergraduate education, but was excited to more purposefully and thoughtfully utilize it in the field this week. A specific activity where I felt like I had great potential to… Continue reading Practicing gradual release of responsibility
Julia Tandy Harnick 