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Weekend 2

There are so many things that I could talk about after our second weekend of class, but for the purpose of this blog and reflection I want to focus on what it was like to take the role of 'student' rather than 'teacher'.  On Friday evening we were introduced to 'quizlet live' and then on Saturday morning we were able to participate in a mystery location skype.  Quizlet live was a brand new tool to me and even though I have led mystery number skypes in my classroom before I have not had the chance to do a location skype.  Although both activities would probably not be an activity I would do with first grade students (I want to try quizlet - but not the live version) my take away was still large.

First, both activities were FUN!  As often I as I try to make learning fun (and I try a lot) I still think that I miss the mark quite frequently.  For me, I knew these were fun because I wanted to keep going.  At no point did I ask myself, 'when will we be done?'  I want to keep reminding myself that learning should be fun at all stages of life, but especially with our youngest learners!  If I really want to help foster 'life-long learning' it needs to be fun from the onset.

Additionally, both activities took me out of my comfort zone a bit.  I felt comfortable because I was able to collaborate with others and tap into their strengths, but if I had had to do both activities on my own I would have been quite overwhelmed.  This was a good reminder about how many of my students feel at different points in our day.  It is good to be humbled and remember what learning new (truly new) information is like.

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