Blog Assignment #12

For this blog assignment, Dr. Strange gave his students the opportunity to write their own blog posts. The instructions for this blog assignment are simple. Explore Krissy Venosdale's blog Venspired and read her post, If I Built A School. Who is Krissy Venosdale? Write a quality blog post summarizing the post and describing the type of school you would build given the opportunity. Send Mrs. Venosdale a thank you tweet (@ktvee) and be sure to include #edm310.

If I Built A School

For this blog assignment, I researched and found the blog of Krissy Venosdale. Mrs. Venosdale has been teaching for ten years and is currently a gifted education teacher. She started blogging when she began teaching and hasn't stopped! She draws inspiration from her students and maintains a classroom that is always busy. She believes in teaching STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. She is very passionate about space science, as well. Her classroom is a place where students can "imagine, create, dream, and explore." Mrs. Venosdale believes in teaching her students how to think, not what to think. I find Mrs. Venosdale to be an energetic and creative educator who loves teaching and learning.

Mrs. Venosdale's post, "If I Built A School" is a creative article that manages to somehow link Willy Wonka to education. She starts off with the whole, "If I had the golden ticket..." and ends up creating a school that reminds me of sunshine and rainbows. Mrs. Venosdale may go a bit overboard in her dreams for building a school; however, it shows her enthusiasm for teaching and got me thinking about the type of school I would build. Actually, to be more realistic, this post gave me some creative ideas for managing my future classroom.

In Mrs. Venosdale's school, there would be a huge neon sign on the door saying, "Welcome: Now Entering an Innovation Zone." The walls would be colorful and the seats comfortable. There would be endless places for students to collaborate, discuss, and dream. She even puts a tree house in the library! The cafeteria has a coffee house vibe and it is open all day long. Grade levels based on age are nonexistent at this school. The students progress through the grades when they show readiness and ability. Mrs. Venosdale's school supports collaboration and project based learning. Technology integration would be part of a normal school day. All forms of technology would be readily available for students to use. The list of must-haves for this school goes on and on! The point Mrs. Venosdale is trying to get across is that she believes in teaching more than the standard curriculum. Se wants to go further with education and teach her students to have dreams. Big dreams. She wants to build character and promote the concept of thinking for oneself. Nowadays, students do as they are told and have little say in how they learn. Mrs. Venosdale is striving to better education for our students.

I highly doubt I can top Mrs. Venosdale's dream school. However, I will imagine for just a moment what my school would look like. I would want for there to be color on all the walls and art work covering every square inch. There would also be lounge areas throughout the school for students to go and work on school assignments and projects. Collaboration is encouraged and creative thinking is a must. I would have a different classroom for each subject and elective. Students are welcome to explore each classroom as they see fit. This means if they feel like going to art class instead of math, then so be it. Of course, they would eventually get to all their core classes each day. I would like to be able to provide an exuberant supply of laptops, iPads, desktops, and other kinds of technology for the students to check out and use. My school would be a place for students to learn and grow. They will build character and learn how to set goals and accomplish them. I have this desire to shape my students into successful human beings, and in doing so, I need to go beyond teaching only the core curriculum and work on their character and development.

Okay, so maybe my idea of a school is not as detailed or elaborate as Mrs. Venosdale's. She thought of everything! My overall thought of Mrs. Venosdale is that she absolutely loves being an educator and works hard to create a classroom full of promise and energy. I can only dream that I someday am able to replicate her teaching styles. Lucky for me, Mrs. Venosdale encourages dreaming big.