EDMS 4000: Multigenre Project Blog Post

          If there's something I've learned as a camp counselor, it is to expect the unexpected. But you can never anticipate it all- those kids will always surprise you and change your viewpoint. No matter if it is a class on sailing that I've taught numerous times before, something new always happens. That is why I live for long steamy summer days, the excitement in their voices when they talk about their favorite class at camp, and the inevitable camp goggles. Camp is a special place full of learning where I feel most at home. In EDMS this semester, there are multiple ways I see this class is like camp.
          Though there are significantly less adventures 45 feet in the air, EDMS has presented me with new experiences with students that rival those gained at camp. At camp, I learn a lot about how to handle behavioral situations and how to keep students engaged. Through this semester in EDMS, I have gotten to observe teachers and continue to grow these skills, even putting them into action with our sevies. In reading potentially sensitive political articles with the seventh graders, I have grown in the way I word and approach my questions related to the reading. At camp, it is important to be delicate because it may be a campers first time away from home, and they may be more sensitive. In the same way, the students hardly know me, yet they are willing to open up and talk about issues that may be close to them. In class, we discuss many of the same issues, but as adults, it has a different dynamic. Watching how I word what I say while still maintaining integrity and truth to my point of view has been a mountain to climb this semester in EDMS 4000. I am always ready to be honest with my classmates and my students, but being sensitive to their viewpoints and open to vulnerability is something I have really worked on developing this semester, though I am (and will always be) a work in progress.
          Today, I am excited for next semester and for what the future holds. I anticipate to continue to face these mountains and more in my next three semesters as an EDMS student, and I look forward to the climbing challenge.