Reflective Essay On My Mentor Experience

As my students stood in a giant group hug in support of a distressed classmate, I knew I had been successful in transforming my practice!

Six years ago, I left a teacher centered class, and was challenged by a mentor to develop my vision of student directed learning and student voice. Upon returning to the classroom, my new class was rich in collaboration and curriculum that embraced a forward thinking pedagogy and included Google Classroom, collaboration, NGSS, coding, 3D printing, hands on science, 1:1 chromebooks, and projects. Students were developing skills to move to a self directed model of learning. Most importantly, I was open to new ideas in order to advance my students.

My experiences of the last 6 years have forever transformed my practice, and in my current position (as of

Not all ideas are good the first time around. Iterations help to refine ideas, making them better and better with each passing round.

If I could have coffee with one person who would be my mentor, I would choose Ken Robinson. Creativity and the ability to solve problems is not just about art and it isn’t just a job skill, it is a life skill that everyone needs to survive in today’s fast paced world.

I would like to ask Sir Robinson about his experiences as a child and why he has become such an advocate for creativity. I would also like to learn more ways to support teachers on limited budgets and resources in how the they can support their student’s creativity in all curriculum areas. How does student choice play into developing creativity? Where can teachers connect to learn more about fostering creativity? And what kind of feedback could he give my project to allow for more student creativity?

I want to make sure that my project embodies creativity in children and I believe that Sir Ken Robinson would be the person to provide insights in how capture that creative