How is it possible that I could experience a creativity block and a learning curve simultaneously? Why is it happening at a time when it would be nice if one of them would just back down? Maybe it is a good thing that they have both decided to take over at the same time because that will require me to truly understand how to be in the shoes of a student again. These two seemingly negative things will actually give me the opportunity to take on the role of a learner, to work hard to understand concepts, make real connections, and be able to apply it to my life and my career.
The Learning Curve (dum dum dummmm)…
Throughout the next two years I will be working collaboratively with 8 other teachers as part of the Kenan Fellows Food Safety Project. We will be working with three labs (two at NC State and one at UNC) in order to research and investigate salmonella. Our team will be working with our mentors at the labs and also with mentors at 4H in order to develop a k-12 curriculum to use across the state and eventually the nation.
So with this opportunity comes the learning curve. After being in the lab for a day I realized that maybe I need to quickly apply to a biology 101 course in order to refresh my knowledge of biology. It seems as though I didn’t think I would ever need the information again so I stored it in some unknown part of my brain. Luckily all of us working on this project truly understand what it means to have each other’s backs. Let me categorize the levels of support within the fellowship into 3 categories:
1. High School teachers (all AP teachers, thank goodness!!)- They have PATIENCE. No I don’t mean that they have the patience that is required of teachers who work with elementary students, I mean the patience required to teach the elementary school teacher. As soon as the words and codes were beginning to come out in the 1st day at the lab, the AP high school teacher in my lab recognized my glazed over eyes full of fear and confusion. She quickly gave me the teacher look that reassured me that she would take care of my learning curve later. Want a quick glimpse of these words? Neutrophils, B-cells, T-cells, CD8+, CD4+, cytotoxic, IgG, IgA, LPS, etc. Now if you actually understand these so called “words” and you are not an AP science teacher, please don’t let me know. So luckily in the design process of this Kenan fellowship some people were really thoughtful and decided to include an AP science teacher in each of the labs. These teachers have saved me from wanting to knock my head on several hard objects hoping that past knowledge of biology would soon come back. Without these 3 HS school teachers there would be no hope to curve my learning in another direction.
2. Middle School teachers- The three middle school teachers represent stability to me. These teachers are the ones who are honest with me, the ones who will admit that they have “absolutely no idea” either. They are able to continue to break down the information with me from the college level, to the high school level, to the middle school level. So at that point I am only left to break down the ideas of immunology and salmonella down one more level in order to apply it elementary school students.
3. Elementary School teachers- So luckily there are 2 other elementary educators working on this fellowship with me and together the three of us have learned how to maintain sanity. I do not think that we had any idea how challenging it would be to step into the world of salmonella in order to create lessons for k-5 students. My learning curve already made it difficult to take information and break it down for myself but now I have to figure out how to break it down for my students. I was feeling quite helpless until I had the chance to talk with my fellow elementary teachers and they reassured me that this was all possible. We have become a little support group for one another in order to work through the levels of learning.
Creativity Block… maybe we will come back to this one later once I have made a little progress with my learning curve.
Your honesty is refreshing. On my way home from my first day at my externship, I called my husband and said, “Yeah, I’m not sure I can do this.” It is SO uncomfortable to be in a situation where I don’t know what I’m doing! I’m so used to being in control of my own classroom, where I’ve been teaching for 8 years. It’s tough to be completely out of my comfort zone now. I like your spin on it though – that it reminds you how your students feel. Sometimes I need to put myself in their shoes so I can be a more understanding teacher for them.
I feel the same way! It turns out I will be doing some data analysis and I have taken NO statistics classes EVER. I’m having to find materials for a crash course so I can be successful. Keep at it; the learning curve is steep, but I love the feeling of a new challenge.