In my classroom, I encourage students to take risks.
In my design classroom, I challenge them to stop centering everything and explore the beauty of sans serif fonts (that aren’t Arial, Helvetica, or *gasp* Comic Sans). They take risks as they learn to use adjacent, analogous, and monochromatic color schemes.
In my Pop Culture classroom, I challenge their long-held beliefs about race and gender stereotypes as well as encourage them to think about the media they consume instead of just passively accepting what they see and hear.
In my Journalistic Writing classroom, I challenge my students to trust that with a bit of hard work and focus, they can write. They take risks as they interview people they might not know and they surrender their egos when I ask for another draft. And another. And sometimes, one more draft, so it’s publication-ready.
In my Newspaper classroom, I challenge my students to report stories that impact the community, not just the school building.
In my classroom, I don’t challenge myself often enough. So when I saw a daily blogging challenge pop up in my Twitter feed, I decided that if I constantly challenge my students, it’s unfair if I’m not also being challenged.
So this month, every day (I hope!), I will blog about various educational topics. This timing is apt, since April tends to test my patience on all fronts. Perhaps this challenge will keep me focused on why I am a teacher, and help me see all the good things that happen not only in my classroom, but also in my building.