Samimi-Moore, S. (2013, May 9). 7 talks for inspiring transformed education [Web log entry]. Retrieved from http://blog.ted.com/2013/05/09/7-talks-for-inspiring-transformed-curriculums/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TEDBlog+%28TEDBlog%29
Compiled for Education Week 2013, this blog showcases seven TEDTalks that discuss innovative ways in which schools and curriculum are being transformed around the world.
Dan Meyer: Math class needs a makeover; March 2010 (11:39) - Meyer discusses why students in the US do not retain math processes, why that is detrimental to society as a whole, and what can be done to combat it.
Mae Jemison on teaching arts and sciences together; February 2002 (21:25) - Former US astronaut Jemison says that "The arts and sciences are avatars of human creativity."
Liz Coleman's call to reinvent liberal arts education; February 2009 (18:41) - Coleman postulates that traditional educational systems be transformed into cross-disciplinary, hands-on learning environments.
Shimon Schocken: The self-organizing computer course; June 2012 (16:26) - In his talk, Schocken discusses the power of self-learning. He, along with Noam Nisan, developed curriculum that later moved online and became the first MOOC. Schocken states, "Self-study, self-exploration, self-empowerment -- these are the virtues of a great education."
Geoff Mulgan: A short intro to the Studio School; July 2011(6:16) - To combat student drop-out rates and dissatisfaction of employers on employability of people coming out of school, the UK developed a school where 80% of the curriculum is taught through practical projects. Mulgan says that, "You work by learning, and you learn by working."
Tyler DeWitt: Hey science teachers -- make it fun; November 2012 (14:11) - DeWitt noticed that students in his science classroom were not understanding the material presented in the textbook. He found a way to bring the material to life by means of demonstrations and stories. Through this method, students are more apt to understand an retain the information.
Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge; November 2009 (9:32) - Sethi, founder of a school in India, declares [I'm paraphrasing her here] that when learning is embedded in real world context -- when the boundaries between school and life are blurred -- children go through a journey of aware (see a change), enable (be changed), and empower (lead the change).
Showing posts with label boredom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label boredom. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
20% Me Time
Gualano, Gabriela
Juliani, A. J. (2013, June 25). Why “20% time” is good for schools. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/20-percent-time-a-j-juliani
Google has a policy where their employees are given 20% of their work time to spend on something else other than assigned projects. The article proposes carrying this idea over to schools, and giving students 20% of the day to work on something that fits their interests. The 20% time gives students time to work on their own projects while still meeting standards and grade level skills.
I think this model, if used properly, could go a long way in making school more applicable for students. The idea is also rather revolutionary for schools, and I wonder how it works for various subjects. Thinking back to my own school experience, I would have loved having 20% to myself in history or English, but would have been utterly lost in science or math. I could follow a lecture and memorize information, but I would have hated having to devise my own project and learning outcomes. Without an interest in the topic, I would not have been able to come up with something to learn. Even now I often equate success with an “A” on a test. Success in high school was earning an A on my report card; not creating some project that may or may not be successful. On the other hand, some might argue that by being able to create my own assignments I would gain an interest in these subjects. Perhaps so…the only time I remember being truly invested during science for its own sake and not a grade was in 7th grade. We were supposed to trace hemophilia through Queen Victoria’s family. The genetics and historical implications were endless fascinating! Would more assignments like these piqued my interest more? Giving students 20% of the time also allows them to work at their own pace. Differentiated instruction is a key buzzword, but it is difficult to achieve meaningful DI in practice. 20% would inherently solve DI. Some would speed ahead, while others would be able to take their time until a concept was truly understood. Plus, students who are invested and interested in their work will actually learn something. My biggest concern is for the students who, for whatever reason, do not care about school in any capacity. Will 20% reach them, or will it be just another opportunity to waste time?
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Why Teachers Should Be Trained like Actors
Duncan, Laura
Schwartz, K. (2013, July 1). Why teachers should be trained like actors. [Web log comment]. Retrieved
from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/07/teaching-as-acting-a-performance-profession/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29
The author makes the argument that, although performance is an essential component of teaching, there is little professional training for teachers on this particular skill. As school director Ken Lemov notes, "Knowing what you want to do is a long way from being able to do it." Lemov has started providing teacher workshops in which beginner teachers can role play and practice teaching in front of one another, while the group acts like a class of students. Lemov believes in encouraging teachers to respond in "real time," learning how to think on their feet, receive feedback and use that feedback immediately to adjust their approach. He notes, however, that teachers often have trouble letting going of old habits. He notes that there is an apparent correlation between the quality of instruction and the quality of content. He says that a "A teacher who pays enough attention to make instructions clear is probably also paying close attention to how academic discussions and projects are structured."
These points all rang true to me. I've met many school librarians who say that their biggest complaint about their MLIS/school librarian education was the lack or limited amount of focus on behavioral and classroom management. Being comfortable in front of a class of students, sometimes unruly, sometimes bored, sometimes confused, is one of the foundations of excellent teaching, and yet it's something that teachers - and school librarians, especially - have little training on. This article is worth the read, as it encourages you to reflect on your own teaching style and presence in the classrom, and to keep an open mind about your approach.
Schwartz, K. (2013, July 1). Why teachers should be trained like actors. [Web log comment]. Retrieved
from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2013/07/teaching-as-acting-a-performance-profession/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+kqed%2FnHAK+%28MindShift%29
The author makes the argument that, although performance is an essential component of teaching, there is little professional training for teachers on this particular skill. As school director Ken Lemov notes, "Knowing what you want to do is a long way from being able to do it." Lemov has started providing teacher workshops in which beginner teachers can role play and practice teaching in front of one another, while the group acts like a class of students. Lemov believes in encouraging teachers to respond in "real time," learning how to think on their feet, receive feedback and use that feedback immediately to adjust their approach. He notes, however, that teachers often have trouble letting going of old habits. He notes that there is an apparent correlation between the quality of instruction and the quality of content. He says that a "A teacher who pays enough attention to make instructions clear is probably also paying close attention to how academic discussions and projects are structured."
These points all rang true to me. I've met many school librarians who say that their biggest complaint about their MLIS/school librarian education was the lack or limited amount of focus on behavioral and classroom management. Being comfortable in front of a class of students, sometimes unruly, sometimes bored, sometimes confused, is one of the foundations of excellent teaching, and yet it's something that teachers - and school librarians, especially - have little training on. This article is worth the read, as it encourages you to reflect on your own teaching style and presence in the classrom, and to keep an open mind about your approach.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Powering Down for School
Crompton, Marc
Prensky, M. (2008). Turning On the Lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40-45.Retrieved from ERIC via EBSCOHost.
Prensky presents a straightforward argument where school used to be a place where students were enlightened with new knowledge of the world outside of their immediate experience and students today actually "power down" for their in-school time. The school used to be the fountain of knowledge and the teacher was the one who introduced new ideas to students and explained how the world worked. As the students are exposed to an ever increasing amount of information through TV and digital sources, the teacher is less needed to introduce those new ideas. Unfortunately, the education system has remained stuck in the content delivery mode, giving students information that they already have or have no interest in. The role of the education system needs to become more one of helping students build context and meaning around the information that they already have.
This article was published 4 years ago and while the basic idea that education needs to be process not content focused is no longer new to anyone who is paying attention, the idea of students actually "powering down" as Prensky calls it is a concept that is new to me. I love the way he uses the light bulb analogy to bring a sense of urgency to the issue while explaining a component that is not necessarily evident to all. The concept that the majority of students are shutting off for the school day simply because of a lack of relevance is scary. His claim is that 50-70% of middle and high school students are bored. It means that not only are schools not doing their job, they are actually harming students. This is unforgivable.
K-12 schools, especially those like the university-prep school that I teach in, hide behind the need for quantifiable measures to get our students into the competitive universities that they are applying to. If student X needs to get into Ivy League University Y, they need to have a GPA of Z and have received a 5 on at least 4 AP exams. Then we say that if they want to succeed at said university, they'd better be experienced at writing intense standardized tests. My feeling is that this attitude is less and less true. The universities aren't stupid. They're dealing with the same issues that we are. Students need to know how to build knowledge not regurgitate facts. Their assessment and evaluation methods will have to shift just as ours do. I'm sure in many instances, they are way ahead of us. So let's encourage inquiring and help students to build their own knowledge. Worry less about content and let's get the students powered back up!
Prensky, M. (2008). Turning On the Lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40-45.Retrieved from ERIC via EBSCOHost.
Prensky presents a straightforward argument where school used to be a place where students were enlightened with new knowledge of the world outside of their immediate experience and students today actually "power down" for their in-school time. The school used to be the fountain of knowledge and the teacher was the one who introduced new ideas to students and explained how the world worked. As the students are exposed to an ever increasing amount of information through TV and digital sources, the teacher is less needed to introduce those new ideas. Unfortunately, the education system has remained stuck in the content delivery mode, giving students information that they already have or have no interest in. The role of the education system needs to become more one of helping students build context and meaning around the information that they already have.
This article was published 4 years ago and while the basic idea that education needs to be process not content focused is no longer new to anyone who is paying attention, the idea of students actually "powering down" as Prensky calls it is a concept that is new to me. I love the way he uses the light bulb analogy to bring a sense of urgency to the issue while explaining a component that is not necessarily evident to all. The concept that the majority of students are shutting off for the school day simply because of a lack of relevance is scary. His claim is that 50-70% of middle and high school students are bored. It means that not only are schools not doing their job, they are actually harming students. This is unforgivable.
K-12 schools, especially those like the university-prep school that I teach in, hide behind the need for quantifiable measures to get our students into the competitive universities that they are applying to. If student X needs to get into Ivy League University Y, they need to have a GPA of Z and have received a 5 on at least 4 AP exams. Then we say that if they want to succeed at said university, they'd better be experienced at writing intense standardized tests. My feeling is that this attitude is less and less true. The universities aren't stupid. They're dealing with the same issues that we are. Students need to know how to build knowledge not regurgitate facts. Their assessment and evaluation methods will have to shift just as ours do. I'm sure in many instances, they are way ahead of us. So let's encourage inquiring and help students to build their own knowledge. Worry less about content and let's get the students powered back up!
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