I love to learn!
I want other people to love to learn as well.
Yet, we set up our classrooms in a way that faces all kids in one direction and tell them to listen to and learn from one person... and, more often than not, that one person is someone who is much older than them and does not have a grasp of the new technologies out there.
What are we doing?!?!
We are teaching yesterday's news...and aren't even doing "that" well!
We can't keep teaching like we did 10 or 20 years ago. We have got to be creative in our approach of facilitating our students' learning. Otherwise, in another 10 or 20 years, our students and our society will be worse off than it is now.
We have got to teach children to interact and learn in this rapidly changing world. There is only one concept they really need to learn throughout their entire high school career:
Learn how to learn.
Once we've equipped our children with that skill, the sky (and beyond) is their limit. Check out this video. This is what I'd like to see going on in our After-School Academy as well as in our schools:
2 comments:
Believe it or not, this philosophy is something that Dallas ISD is theoretically trying to move our district toward...the rigorous, project-based learning, in which students are "apprentices" in each content area. Math teachers aren't teachers...they are mathmeticians and the students are apprentice mathmeticians, etc. Our whole district's curriculum is based on research from the University of Pittsburg on the "Principles of Learning" some of which include academic rigor, socializing intelligence, accountable talk, etc. Projects with real-world applications are strongly urged. On CILT last year I went to a million trainings on these concepts and I was very excited about the direction the district wants to go. HOWEVER, the problem is that we are not equipped with all the resources we need to make that kind of learning approach a reality. Our technology situation is pathetic in my opinion, at least at my school. Then, it is so difficult to train the number of staff in this district throughly enough for them to have a real grasp and ownership in this philosophy. On CILT, I had the opportunity to receive some training and just an inkling of these ideas, but for the majority of the staff, these terms are just thrown at them with no real explanation or foundation for them to really catch the vision. Therefore, they are frustrated because they feel its just "something else the district is requiring them to do," not realizing that its not a checklist, but a whole transformation of your instructional approach...which many teahers are not willing to do. So many are set in their ways and completely content with the way they have been teaching for years. I have to admit, after teaching last year and trying to remold my own teaching...its very very tough. It take a huge amount of creativity and planning and especially expertise in your content area to be able to design this kind of instruction. But for those who are willing to put in the effort...it has the potential to be phenomenal.
I guess I say all this to say...its on the horizon in Dallas. We are being trained and coached toward this type of model and curriculum is being written along these lines. But whether the training is adequate enough and the resources are adequate enough for the district to be fully immersed and functioning in this philosophy is the question. And whether staff will fully buy-in is another.
www.debrennersmith.blogspot.com
interesting concepts
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