My friend Leigh Anne put forward a challenge on twitter to help build our writing life. I tend to be a pretty faithful blogger. I pluck away at an idea for a book when I have spare time and I spend some time “dogfooding” bigger assignments with my students but the purposeful approach isn’t always there and I look forward to something to keep me writing daily.

Lessons learned at the Zoo

Today we went to the San Diego Zoo. It was a beautiful blue sky day and basically tropical for this Canadian Boy. I wandered the zoo grounds in my shorts and T-shirt and marvelled at all the winter coat scarf wearing folks that joined us at the Zoo and again later while we walked the beach and laughed as people were all bundled up. I couldn’t understand why people thought it was so cold. I am use to below zero, freezing winds and snow. My experience is so different from those from San Diego.

I can’t help but make the connections to our students and differentiation. Our experiences mould us in ways that we don’t always see but because of them we need different things to be comfortable as learners. If I think all my students should react the same way to a situation I am not respecting their differences. It doesn’t always have to be a huge hurdle to overcome. Simple differences that are ignored can impact the learning environment.

Loose connection for sure but as a reflective teacher I can and should ask “What has influenced these choices/behaviours/thoughts of my students?” And adjust to fit those needs rather than question why the heck they are wearing a winter coat and scarf at plus 16.