While watching the brief video of A Vision of Students Today, I was able to reflect on my own learning experiences.
Some of what the college students identified as a need/ want in their learning were some of my own unmet needs, such as too much busy work, but not enough time. Or being enrolled in large industrial size classes where inquiry is not expected or wanted. It is tough to feel enthusiastic about a particular subject when even the professor is not interested in the subject matter. (As in, they would rather be teaching their own favorite class or one at an advanced level with smaller students.) Next, I watched A Vision of K-12 Students Today (https://youtu.be/_A-ZVCjfWf8). What I found was that I do need to be actively engaging my students more. I do need to ask them to create things using a computer as a tool, rather than me having them following a link I created or used. I need to be actively engaging these students in applying their critical thinking skills while using the internet. I was able to watch a short video on Best Practices ( http://www.teachertube.com/video/best-practices-workshop-classroom-activities-22056). In this vignette, the speaker is able to give several tips on how to engage students in aspects of their learning. One teacher spoke about how she uses information gathering, similar to what many of us do at the beginning of the school year. Another good idea shared might be to use current events, to get students interested in their learning. Finally, I watched Projects that have been Put to the Test. (https://www.edutopia.org/article/projects-have-been-put-test-anne-lise-halvorsen-nell-duke) I found this to be the most interesting, as I considering this as my driving question. The teachers discuss that students test scores have improved since adding PBL to the curriculum, compared to students who have not experienced PBL. The video focused on students solving the problems at their local park. The enthusiasm is evident with the students peer collaboration, final outcome, and overall engagement. In terms of my own teaching, it is evident that I need to allow more time for students to create their own examples of learning.
5 Comments
Amanda Olson
9/10/2017 01:31:54 pm
I can also resonate with the idea that is essential to allow students to be the creators and facilitators, especially during their interactions and collaborations with technology. I often take on the role of the creator and the facilitator, and my students are simply the users of the technology we use in class. I believe that even in Kindergarten I can switch these roles as their technological abilities progress (although, I often think they can use technology more effectively than I can as incoming kinders) and allow them to become the creators and facilitators, and I can become the viewer or user of their creations. If I am able to do this, I will be allowing them to foster the growth of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity skills that will prove to be of the utmost importance to them for the rest of their lives. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, and I look forward to hearing about your research!
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Jose G. Cerda
9/10/2017 05:34:50 pm
Yes! It is hard to be enthusiastic about a subject when the professor is not enthusiastic. I have thought about this many times. It's very important to have that motivation and enthusiasm as teachers so we can instill that love for learning in students. That makes me think of what Hammond mentions of countries like Finland and South Korea that support their teachers in ways that I think help foster that enthusiasm.
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Kayla Bryant
9/10/2017 09:50:08 pm
I appreciate how easily you connected this content to your own classroom environment. It seems like you have a few little things you can try to enhance the learning the students are already doing! It can definitely be a challenge, especially when we are so pressed for time to teach the curriculum, and the curriculum doesn't include any of these rich learning activities! It ends up being an extra thing that often gets left off because of time. I was wondering about this in my blog as well, and am hoping that I can start to incorporate more of these type of student led/ created activities into their daily curriculum to enrich their learning, because, as I was reminded in these videos as well, it is really so important!
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Lisa Gottfried
9/11/2017 06:33:11 pm
Wow, I hear you about not being in an ideal learning environment yourself. So, you are asking yourself to teach in a way that has not been modeled for you. It takes guts to look at a system and decide that it needs changing. A lot of what we do as innovative teachers is trying, failing, trying again. So that WE can model new and meaningful education to the next generation. It really ties into Design Thinking, which we'll be talking about next class!
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An Truong
9/12/2017 04:15:02 pm
I do see concern on student's body language how there is so many assignments to do in such little time. It is even difficult for students to be motivated where the teacher is not even enthusiastic about the lesson plan. I can relate with the video A Vision of Students Today. For example, during staff and department meetings, I am multitasking by grading or responding to text messages.
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