After watching many videos and reading the next few chapters in The Flat World and Education. There were two videos that really caught my attention: Adora Svitak's Ted Talk and Ken Robinson's talk about changing the educational paradigm. These video's have made me think about how I am teaching my students everyday and how I have my classroom set up for their future success. The past few years I have focused on making my students collaborative and independent. I have my students partner and group talking throughout the day, bouncing ideas off of each other and coming together as whole group to discuss what they talked about and see what other groups discussed. I think a large part of this shift in my teaching is due to the new curriculum that the district has adopted, but I also know that since I have had this shift in my classroom, I enjoy language arts better and I believe my students enjoy it more also. I really enjoyed these video's because I think that I am headed in the direction that they are trying to push us. I do not know of many professions where people do not need to collaborate with one another. I also know that collaborating and having people skills is not an easy task. I have had students push back at the beginning of the year because collaborating and sharing ideas is a scary task for people. As the year progresses and students become more comfortable with each other, it is more difficult to get them to stop collaborating. It is easy to give students a worksheet and have them fill it out on their own, while yes students need to be able to work independently and show what they know. We need to test kids to assess their learning and plan for future lessons. However, I think it is just as important that students can work together, share what they know with friends, and learn from their friends at the same time.
3 Comments
Melissa Newman
9/10/2019 10:52:44 pm
I agree that the newer adaptations for Math and Language Arts, allow for so much more collaboration, and critical thinking. Teaching and modeling life lessons can be just as important as the curriculum.
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Joel Kriner
9/11/2019 07:24:05 am
Thanks for sharing. I like your thoughts about student collaboration. I think this classroom practice goes right along with the "growth-mindset" movement that is currently taking place. Collaboration shows students that it is okay not to know something as long as they are willing to be honest with themselves, work at it and look for other resources (including classmates) to comprehend the information. I agree with you, collaboration is important to all careers and it something we should focus on beginning at a young age.
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Megan Burton
9/22/2019 12:26:10 pm
I appreciate your focus on student collaboration and independence. Yes, it can be scary for students, but it's clear that you're preparing them well.
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