Sunday, March 21, 2010
Reform
To me it is simple: Students must come before content. I am very passionate about getting to know my students and treating them with respect. This is one way I plan to reform education. In my opinion, teachers too often become preoccupied with becoming the authority that they forget their students are people too! I think kids feel threatened by authority and a lot of them choose to shut down. I have found in my experience so far that kids who know their ideas are respected and valued are automatically more interested. Also, by showing interest in your students on an indiviudal level helps you find their strengths. Then as teachers we can plan lessons that will allow different students to shine. One of my top priorities as a teacher will be to empower my students, give them the confidence they need to succeed, and help them discover their strengths and interests. Basically, I think reform starts with creating a community of learners. This also relates to inquiry because I have also found that students really do enjoy "thinking." Inquiry stimulates children's minds and can make even the most boring subject interesting, because there is a probelm or puzzle to solve. Our students will often blow us away with their knowledge, ideas, and creativity if we let them. Teaching through inquiry is the second way I plan to help reform education. It is going to be a challenging road, but that is what makes our job exciting!
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I agree with what you say about getting students to think and planning lessons that will allow different students to shine, but it's hard to cater to every different need. I want to do that too, but it's near impossible. What suggestions do you have on time management for trying to cater to all those needs that you want to meet?
ReplyDeleteFor example, we are doing a biome project during my unit and I am allowing the students to choose how they create their presentation. I know a lot of the students in my class love to draw, so they will probably choose to create a poster or flip book with a lot of art work. This will allow them to "shine." Another example is just as simple has choosing students to explain concepts to the class that they know a lot about. For example, in our class their is an autistic boy who loves animals! Before a demo one day he came over and started talking with me about how Daphina were water fleas, so during class I called on him to talk about what he knew to the class. As far as time management goes, I have found that a really effective strategy is to hard back paper to students as they come into class. This saves a lot of classroom that would otherwise be spent on administrative tasks. Hope that clarifies!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your response. It was ver uplifting and motivating, which I think we all needed after the article/video. It is important for us as new educators to strive for the highest acheivement out of ourselves and our students. I agree that getting to know the students on a more personal level reminds us that they are just kids. It also reminds them that we are people too. That we are not out to get them using our "power" and "authority".
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alex. This post if uplifting. It is also how I feel about education. We are helping the future citizens. If in the classroom all we have told them that is important is multiple choice tests, when the enter the "real world" they will only know how to answer multiple choice problems. Open ended problems will be un-solvable.
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