Reflective Teaching Blog Challenge: Day 21

I haven't been blogging every day.  I hit a little bump in the road (I'm tired of my baseball pitching analogy) that came in the form of a major schedule and philosophical change at my school.  I'm still reflecting and adjusting with that.  But, I'm also moving forward, as all of us must do.

TeachThought initiated a 30-day blogging challenge this month to get teachers writing and sharing.  Besides linking back to their page, I don't really get how to connect with them blog-wise.  So, for now, I will be content to draw inspiration from them.  

Day 21:  Do you have any other hobbies / interests that you bring into your classroom teaching? Explain.  

First and foremost, I have to state that I think educators are some of the most fascinating people around.  When I have started working at new schools I have always felt confident that I would meet people I like because, geez, teachers are just the best, aren't we?!  So, this prompt almost sounds silly to me because:  OF COURSE teachers have other hobbies and interests. We're interesting people!  We do interesting things!  We have interests!!  

But for the sake of the challenge, I'll mention one hobby that I at least like to talk about all the time in the classroom.  Travel.  I love to hike, camp, drive, eat, drink and generally explore all around.  I have made a number of great trips over the last couple years (thank you, summers off!!) and in my last classroom I would return in the fall with a new poster of an incredible location I'd visited.  I don't have my own classroom this year but I have a poster of Landscape Arch by my desk (in someone else's classroom!) to commemorate this year's trip.  

Landscape Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

Talking with students about travel helps them realize there is a much bigger world out there than what they already know. While many of my students' families don't travel much now, I hope that my adventures help them know that travel is an attainable hobby when they get older.  These conversations also help make some of the places or cultures they study seem more real and relevant.  

As some 4th graders were half-heartedly reading about different types of homes in an inclusion classroom last year, I noticed a photo almost identical to one I'd taken of cliff dwellings the year before in Mesa Verde National Park.  "Oh!!  I've been there!" was a super easy hook to get kids more connected to the text.  I described climbing down a ladder to see the ruins and watching as park archaeologists continued to excavate and study sites in the park.  They kids were immediately engaged, asking questions and realized the photo and passage represented REAL people and places.  Places they might one day get to know first hand.  

Many of my conversations about places I've visited end with kids saying either, "I want to go there some day!"  Or "I want to go to ___________________ (some totally random place I've never been nor heard of)!"  To both, I say, "Awesome!  You should go!"