This course was an interesting one to say the least. It was filled with headache, long nights, and a lot of emails but it was worth it. It gave me the opportunity to analyze and reflect on my education system growing up and what i realized is that the State of Virginia has and is continuing to fail its students and teachers by requiring the same broad, general, and shallow information to be taught throughout the years. I also discovered that Expeditionary Learning is an interesting tool to use to connect with students. For it to work fully, it must be introduced at a younger age to avoid resentment. For instance, in my observation of Mr. Simms 10th grade class at Rock Bridge High School, the students did not always partake in the open discussions. Leaving the teacher to lead the class in the discussion and slowly turning the open discussion into a lecture. Another way to reach the students rather than starting the Expeditionary Learning process earlier, is to step outside the comfort box as an educator and try to form a deep connection to each student. For example, I was watching “Freedom Writers” and Mrs. Gruwell, or Mrs. G, began to take an initiative to connect with her students on a deeper level than the general teacher would. She gave them notebooks and told them to write whatever they are feeling in them and if they wanted her to read it to leave it in the room storage closet for her to read. This seems so minuscule and small, but it led to the students responding and respecting her as a teacher because she went out of her way to connect with each student. Going off of that, some EL principles I will continue to spread and embody are “Diversity and Inclusion” and “Empathy and Caring” not because I want to see the world become a better place, but because these are the basic principles to live by. I am not just focusing on color diversity either, but diversity in the mind as well. If we could focus more on these two core principles our education system could change.

Thank you.