Fantastic Mr. Fox Reflection Prompt: Theme A

As I was watching the movie I immediately recognized the first scene of Mr. Fox and his friend infiltrating the chicken coop as relating to education. Mr. Fox had a plan all ready to go, thoughtful, detailed, and when he explained it to his friend, he was met with a blank stare. I thought it was funny because this happens so often in the classroom; you put all this time and effort into organizing and explaining a task carefully and there are still some students who either just don't get it or don't show any kind of response so it's hard to know how they feel about the directions.

I also related to the moment once they were inside the barbed wire fence, when Mr. Fox was explaining all the tricks they'll need to do to get from Point A to Point B, and then his friend just says... hey, why don't we just go that way instead? The camera pans over and it's the same path, just without any of the obstacles. I felt this related to teaching because we are so quick to figure out ways to help ourselves and our students overcome obstacles that sometimes we miss the easier route. Sometimes it's also fun to take the more obstacle-ridden path and have an adventure.

I also appreciated how thoughtful Mr. Fox was with his directions. It reminded me of a teacher trying their hardest to have a plan in place to help every one of their students learn.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Presence and LaSallian Virtues

“There are men whose presence infuses trust and reverence.”    -T.S. Elliot Educator: I chose this quotation because I feel that with my calm, supportive personality, that I can infuse trust and reverence in my classroom. I'm not a super out-there teacher; I don't get loud, I don't jump into the middle of things, I keep my cool, stay back, and offer my services by being there. I'm reliable and people seek me out for support. I may not be a boisterous individual, but people know I'm there. Community: I feel a similar way here as I do as an educator. I do not speak up often in class, but I am present. I may not seek out ways to impress my knowledge of the material to the room, but if I'm asked, I will gladly share my thoughts. LaSallian Virtues: Calmness: I am calm but aware. I sit back, observe, and evaluate my surroundings but do not always readily engage outside of my cognition. Prudence: I am reasonable, straightforward, and accomm...
Read more

Molder of Dreams

Takeaways I feel like I resonated with his ideas about relationships. It's easy to get sidetracked by curriculum, standards, and teacher drama, but it's important to remember who you're working for: the students. Yes we all have a passion for our content areas, but teaching K-12 is about finding ways to encourage our students to care about our content. In some classes or with some material, the substance is engaging enough for some students, but in more polarizing environments, it takes more effort. Poem Sometimes I do feel like a molder of dreams because one of my favorite parts of my job is helping students identify their passions and coming up with ways for them to act on them. Teacher Impact Mz. Dennis and Ms. Valesano had the biggest impact on me in middle and high school, respectively. They encouraged me to follow my passions, found new ways to bring me into the conversation and activities, and were knowledgeable in their content areas. Coincidentally, they wer...
Read more

Teach Learn Lead Application

I attended a session on personalized learning, and I was intimated by just how scheduled and organized her school was that she could offer several different sessions at different levels all in one three hour block. My school is not structured that way, plus I didn't even know where to begin that mess, so I just took some of the basic ideas and implemented them in one lesson. In LA 9 we're reading Animal Farm  by George Orwell and I always do a lesson on the Russian Revolution since it's the whole point of the book. In the past, I've played a video and given all students the same questions, without any scaffolding. I always have some students who succeed and some who give up/don't start because they have such little background knowledge that it's too much for them to handle. This year I'm taking a more personalized learning approach. Students will choose their pathway to success - a Youtube Video or an Informational Text. Youtube Video This pathway c...
Read more