After reading the Knewton info-graphic, I found the information very similar to the commercials for the K-12 online home-school;California Connections. It is was similar in that students do the majority of the reading, exploring, accessing information on their own, then meet with the teacher to discuss big ideas, or ask for clarification. But, personally, I have two big problems with online only learning- technology, specifically social media exists, and maintaining motivation. As Dan Pink pointed out, the old ideas of if/then scenarios no longer (if they ever did) work in the classroom, so how do you motivate students? So how do you capture students attention, both in the actual classroom and inside their homes? As the video from Australia pointed out, you need to make the PBL/CBL/PrBL/STEM relevant and important to the students. It worked well for the Australian students, because it was a project that was close to them, as in, they felt it was an important topic that had endless solutions that they could tackle.
In my own teaching, I agree that students should feel connected to their learning, as well as a sense of belonging to a bigger picture. It is what guides the PrBL's I create with my colleagues. I do also agree that students can and should bear some of the responsibility of learning and researching further on their own. However, we are in a current state of education where parents are complaining about the amount of homework that students have already. So how much is too much? When is the appropriate time or age to say that students are ready to learn on their own at home? How do we, as educators make that shift? How do we as a society, make education a priority, as the shift has been a constant blame game for the past 50 plus years? In the coming semesters, I am hoping to answer some of my own questions regarding how to make learning a priority for all students. How can I make the learning environment more accessible and relevant for all the students I am entrusted with daily? I know that when I began this journey, I did not feel comfortable with many aspects of technology, and the road has been bumpy. I hope to continue working on gaining more insight into technological tools that are useful in the classroom. I also appreciate learning from my peers and hearing about the tools that they find useful in their teaching.
4 Comments
Kayla Bryant
11/26/2017 02:46:18 pm
I think helping students make learning a priority is a huge but important task! It will definitely be more of a challenge than it sounds at first- but if you can explore little ways to get students motivated and interested in their own learning you will make a huge difference. I bet your students appreciate you trying out new tools, and valuing their learning environment. I also have issues with flipped learning- but I know we will eventually head there and I'm okay with that- I just don't think our schools and families are equipped for it to be equitable yet!
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Jose G. Cerda
11/26/2017 07:03:12 pm
I agree, that is the big challenge. I have the same question, how can we make learning relevant and interesting to them? I have tried making those connections in the classroom as much as possible, using culturally relevant texts, and trying to find what students click with. Even though the flipped classroom may encourage motivation, I think it can also be challenging for the reasons you mentioned. It is easy to get distracted with other things happening outside of school, and there are other factors that play into this as well. As an adult in this program I have though about how the way class is structured is motivating me, and what are the aspects that may not allow me to stay focused so that I can understand my students a little better.
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Heather
11/29/2017 02:15:03 pm
I couldn't agree with you more! How do we "get" students motivated? How do we make more connections in the curriculum we are required to teach? There are more and more studies showing that homework, other that reading, is not beneficial. Also, I agree with your technology point. We can't just technology to say we have use it. We need to make it a beneficial part of our students daily learning.
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Lisa Gottfried
11/27/2017 06:57:05 pm
"How do we as a society, make education a priority, as the shift has been a constant blame game for the past 50 plus years?" Powerful question. What conversations do we need to have with guardians and parents so that we are more in partnership with them? I wonder sometimes if we are needing to do more bonding with parents or set expectations together as a community so that parents have more buy-in. A teacher friend in Mexico was talking about a mandatory class that parents have to take to learn how to best support their children in school. I wonder if that's what it's going to take.
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