Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Tracing Routes in the Snow
I must say that I admire this educator for his ability to inspire and motivate his students using technology. He talks about laying out a plan and providing direction but more importantly he asks the students for their direction in where they want to go with the plan. This tells me that he trusts his students to take responsibility for their learning. The students are empowered to make decisions about their educational journey rather than having someone dictated the process. I struggle with allowing my students about making suggestions. I need to learn that it is okay to share your power with the students. I wonder if it would be different if I had older students. I am presently teaching sixteen grade two students in a modified class and I am afraid of discipline problems. I really want to change my teaching style beacause I am seeing different methods and Iknow that there are better ways of teaching. We need to bring technology and enjoyment into our classes. I teach half time and the other teacher does the computer classes. I am going to ask some questions that will give me some direction about what my students know when it comes to technology.
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Getting the children to take ownership in their learning is a process. Clarence's blog shares how he includes the students in decision making. Have students co-partners in the learning partners can happen in several ways by allowing some choice in the learning experience but also in using inquiry learning approaches. The Concept to Classroom resource I included for the Constructivism background also has a great resource on inquiry and a series of examples of inquiry in the classroom you may be interested in viewing.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/demonstration.html
I remember in a workshop once, a Kindergarten teacher stated that if everybody could teach the way many Kindergarten teachers do, allowing choice, discovery experiential learning opportunities, there may be more learners engaged in their learning. I often think of that comment and realize that children often come to school with inborn curiosity and too often, traditional classroom experiences strip children of their curiosity and their interest in learning.
Not all learning environments do this, but many do.
You mentioned discipline problems. I am not an expert in anything but the more students I work with and the more learning environments I visit, I believe that we can turn to this week's brain blurt for guidance. Learning must be meaningful, relevant, and incorporate novelty and emotion. When one of these elements is missing for a child, that is when behaviour issues arise. Children may be working at frustration levels (lack prior knowledge and skills = meaning), don't see why they are learning something or how it relates to them (relevance), it is presented in same old, same old ways (lack of novelty), or perhaps they do not feel safe or are not receiving the positive feedback from their learning success (emotion).
At the end of last year, I produced a final report on a PD program that 160 of our teachers had been involved in and I had helped facilitate. TEachers made connections between these 4 elements and the use of technology:
"I have seen a major improvement in student engagement throughout the year. Technology in the classroom has made content meaningful to the students and therefore student interest is up. Students who have been identified as "struggling learners" and have shown little progress in past years have been very successful this year. Problems such as absenteeism and student behaviour have decreased with the new energy students have for learning with technology."
"I have learned to provide novelty and relevance for my students. Amazing what difference that makes in engaging learners. I teach such a range of students, I have learned now how to further my abilities when it comes to how they need to engage. I can't believe we ever did (or still do) have teachers who stand at the front and teach and somehow don't focus on the learning that is or isn't taking place."
Hope this is useful food for thought.
Marnie