In March, I went to my first in-person conference since the start of the pandemic. I didn’t realize how much I missed having the opportunity to connect with other academics in the same physical space. Going to a conference allows you to immerse yourself in a community in a way that is more challenging to…
Play and Pandemic Teaching
During my sabbatical, I worked on revising Play and Learning in Early Childhood Education (ER 2155), a Wellness Connection (WECO) course that is part of the General Education program at Plymouth State University. In previous posts (See posts in Sabbatical Spring 2021 category), I articulated my initial plans for this work. In the fall, I…
Empathy & Tackling a Wicked Problem
This spring I decided to focus on revising my section of Tackling a Wicked Problem (TWP), one of first year courses offered in our General Education program at Plymouth State University. Each section of TWP focuses on a wicked problem. The last several times I taught this course, our focus was the climate crisis. When…
My Emerging Thoughts on My Readings about Play
We play because we are human, and we need to understand what makes us human. (p. 15) Play Matters by Miguel Sicart I spent a considerable amount of time reading and learning about play during the last several months. I articulated this as one of my goals in my plan for my sabbatical. I will…
Stuck:
My current focus for my sabbatical work is to revise and reimagine the course assignments for Play and Learning in Early Childhood (ER 2155). I know that I want students to have more choices as they select activities to support their learning. I think that this mirrors how I approached the Open Education Resource (OER)…
Using Pressbooks to Curate Course Readings
As I mentioned in previous posts, New Year, New Blog & 2.5 Weeks + 7 Books= Emerging Ideas About Play, one aspect of my work for sabbatical focuses on learning more about play and considering how this information will influence my approach to the course Play and Learning in Early Childhood (ER 2155), a Wellness…
2.5 Weeks + 7 Books = Emerging Ideas About Play
I didn’t really know what to expect when I started my sabbatical earlier this month. I submitted my project proposal in November 2019 for review. What a long time ago! As I mentioned in my recent post, New Year, New Name, my focus is learning more about play. I decided to start this work by…
New Year, New Name
I am two weeks into my sabbatical. As I read and work on my project, I know that there will be times when I will benefit from sharing my emerging ideas with others. I started this blog as a way to process my thinking from my involvement with the Cluster Pedagogy Learning Community (CPLC). My…
Some Thoughts about my Journey with the CPLC
My learning with the Cluster Pedagogy Learning Community (CPLC) began in May of 2019. Although this is just a year and half ago, my perspective about teaching and learning has shifted greatly during this time. Of course, the pandemic has forced me to think about my teaching, but it is much more than this historical…
ACE Framework: What I needed without realizing it
I have done my share of worrying about the fall semester. There are many things that I don’t have control over and this can be very challenging in the midst of a pandemic. The uncertainty makes it difficult to focus on planning for the fall semester. The more I read about teaching during this crisis,…