On the upside

Today I actually felt pretty good about what I am doing with my kids in class. After school two other teachers and I sat down to look at what we were going to teach this month and the next, and the coolest part was that they were both clambering over my materials to use with their kids. I believe that the key to effective teaching is not thinking about WHAT we teach, but HOW we teach. Coinciding with this belief is the idea that I have to make their learning engaging, authentic and not contrived. Now of course we could all argue that much of learning is contrived, but in actuality, I always tell my kids why they are learning what they are learning. I think that kids deserve to have justification for what they are learning. So, when I teach them, for me, it's not about the what, but its about the how. So it actually felt nice to have other teachers trying to grab what I had and use my materials in their rooms. I could be territorial and protective, but I think it's cool to see this happen! That, and it's very gratifying. :)