The "wonder" of trying something new!

When I came back to Williams I was certainly not at a loss as to what to teach the students in my charge. I have so many K-5 lessons that I have loved over the years. Most years I don't get to them all. For my two month stint here I felt free to choose the ones I had the most fun with, were meaningful, and fostered a love of the library and reading. I had a blast. I had more time to peruse Twitter and Facebook this winter, and a funny thing happened as a result. Even though retired, I found myself gravitating towards the education posts and actually having the time to read them!! I looked at many library ideas, pedagogy, general education philosophy, assessment, testing, and integrating technology to name a few. On one occasion in February I came across a twitter chat that discussed using Wonderopolis.org to foster inquiry and motivation based on students choosing what they wonder about. It is a great website that leads kids to be even more curious and provides a deeper learning opportunity by offering choice. There are unbelievable wonders out there. I used the FREE Wonderopolis brochure template that was offered by Teachers pay Teachers to guide the students. It was an end of the year activity with fourth grade. I wasn't sure I could get them to be excited about doing research in June, and at first I think they just wanted to get through it, but before long they were doing exactly what I hoped would happen: They dug deeper into the website and came up with more questions about their topic. Their enthusiasm grew and they all wanted to share what they learned with each other. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. So kudos to the 4th graders at Williams for helping me try something now. We all learn together!!