Andi McNair - A Meaningful Mess : A Teacher’s Guide To Student-Driven Classrooms, Authentic Learning, Student Empowerment, And Keeping It All Together Without Losing Your Mind

Copyright 2019, Prufrock Press Inc.

Edited by Katy McDowall

Cover and layout design by Allegra Denbo

Cover illustration by Micah Benson

ISBN-13: 978-1-61821-928-2

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER The 3 Es:
Designing Meaningful Learning Experiences

CHAPTER The 4 Cs +1 R:
Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Reflection

CHAPTER Learning by Doing:
Genius Hour and Meaningful Makerspaces

Acknowledgments

I am so thankful to so many people who have helped me learn and grow as a person and an educator. I believe so many of the things that I believe because of people who have taken the time to invest in me. This book is a result of those investments. I could never put into words how thankful I am for my sweet family, friends, and colleagues who have held my hand on this journey.

My husband, JohnThank you so much for always listening to my crazy ideas and supporting me in every single dream that I pursue. I love you more than youll ever know!

My children, Cory, Eli, and KatyYou are the reason that I do what I do. I cant wait to see what your futures hold and how you use what youve learned to be amazing!

My parents, Ann and Ronnie RichardsonYour love and support means everything, and I could never do what I do without everything that youve taught me along the way.

My sister, Mandi KilloughThank you for listening and being my best friend. I am so thankful for our conversations and the relationship that we have as adults.

Kari Espin and Jaime DonallyYou girls have no idea the impact that you have had on me and my career. Just knowing you is an inspiration and I am so thankful for our friendships. I love our conversations about change and the passion that we all share for creating real change that will impact classrooms all over the world!

My PLNI learn from you all every single day, and the connections that Ive made on social media have changed so much for me. I think of all of you as friends, and Im grateful for your passion and willingness to share what you do and why you do it.

Katy McDowallThank you again for your patience and guidance. Your flexibility and attention to detail makes this process so much easier!

My Region 12 FamilyI am so thankful to work for an organization that supports me in all of my endeavors and is passionate about doing what it takes to provide real, relevant professional development for educators. Your support drives so much of what I do, and I appreciate every single one of you!

I am also so thankful for Gods grace and blessings, as it is only through Him that my mess is made meaningful.

What Makes a Mess Meaningful?

THIS is a mess! Those were my exact words after I decided to allow my classroom to be not only student-centered, but also student-driven. I made the decision to allow my students to learn by doing and to give them opportunities to learn by pursuing their own passions. In doing so, everything looked differently than it had before. Managing the classroom was no longer easy, predictable, and comfortable. Instead, it was difficult, risky, and uncomfortable. I wondered if I had made the wrong decision and considered going back to expecting my students to sit quietly, listen while I taught, and then regurgitate on a worksheet or a unit test the information that I had shared in order to prove that they had learned the content.

The reality is that I was way out of my lane and felt like I could lose control at any moment. The new strategies I was employing in the classroom were unfamiliar and not as easy as what I had done before. To put it simply, I was outside of my comfort zone, and because of that, I felt vulnerable and questioned my decision. But the truth is, none of us should be comfortable in education right now. If educating todays students is comfortable and easy, something is wrong. Considering the skills and strengths of todays learners and the access that they have to the world, we should be doing things in the classroom that are different and beyond what we have always known.

Thats the purpose of this bookto provide you with strategies to empower todays learners. How? To get started, you must be ready to take risks in the classroom, practice messy learning, seek meaningful work, and find meaning (and fun) amongst a mess.

Take Risks in the Classroom

Allowing students to learn by doing while pursuing their passions requires risk-taking. Taking a risk can be very scary, but the reality is that if we never take the risk, we will never see the reward. Comfort zones can be a scary place where nothing ever happens. They are very easy to fall into and very hard to get out of. It is only when we begin to push past our comfort zones and take risks that we will begin to give this generation of learners what they need to experience real learning. Continuing to teach the way that we have in the past simply will not work for todays students. And why would it? We are preparing todays learners for a completely different society and completely different real-world experiences than students from even a decade ago.

You dont have to look far to realize that things are changing. When we eat out at restaurants, we no longer have to wait for a waiter to bring us our ticket. Instead, we are able to pay immediately using the mini-kiosk on our table. Self-driving cars are no longer things that are just talked about; they exist. We can interact with images and text using augmented reality, bringing images to life. Theres no denying that things have changed, and because society has changed, so have our learners. Never before have learners had instant access to information and the opportunity to instantly share their learning with others around the world. That, in and of itself, is reason for change. For so long, our role as educators has been to deliver information. Because students now have instant access to that information, it only makes sense that what we do as educators must be reconsidered.