#30DaysofLearning Day 2 - I Saw You (and Him), Walking in the Snow...

Day 2 was an interesting day for me.  I made plans for visiting classes and questioning kids about their learning processes.  Here are some questions I came up with, so let me know what you think:

• What are you learning?  How are you going to share your newfound knowledge and with whom?
• Why are you learning this?
• In 1/3/5 sentence/s, summarize your learning experience here in this class/grade/school.
• Based on your experience, what do you think this teacher/leader/school believes about learning?

But some days are not built for curiosities and questions to be easily explored.  There are other lessons to be learned, deeper questions to consider about systems and structures.  Sometimes people just have a bad day.  Today was busy, and it served as a reminder of the life I used to lead on the front lines of teaching and leading at my old school in East Harlem.  It's like learning to ride a bike again, or walk in the snow after Winter's first dusting.

Every Winter, after the first snow, especially if, like me, you get caught in it on the way home in the wrong shoes, you quickly remind yourself of past lessons learned treading through snowy sidewalks and streets.  But until you've done it once, and especially until you've done it in the wrong shoes, you probably won't get it.

I was on my way home from work at the end of last week.  The snow came down on me right as I stepped out the door to quickly get home.  And as quickly as I moved, the snow was falling quicker.  And then it happened, the harsh reminder - a foot suddenly slips beneath you!  Thankfully, I caught myself.  I righted my footing and left the streets for the subway.

After arriving in Brooklyn, I patiently made my way uphill and then down the 12 block direct path to my home.  And each block offered a different type of path, and I had to make a plan for each.

• Was the trodden snow already to ice packed for me to safely walk in these most slippery of dress shoes?
• Can I aim, as I often do, for the still fluffy snow on the side that offers me surer footing, but an unknown depth with potential presents left by my community canine company?

There are a lot of options, and after about 5 blocks, I found my rhythm, my snow-step, that I had forgotten over the Spring, Summer, and Fall months past.

It doesn't take long to get back on track when you have the experience of learning and interacting and creating memories, especially when they get to be coupled with new learning that you start to integrate into your mind's pathways for making sense. 

This "learning to walk in the snow again" was my guiding sense today as I tried to tackle new events that I had never encountered before and juggle the typical events of a day in a school.  It took a little while, but I have my footing now.  I can't wait to get back in there with these young people that have me so deep in thought each day.