Last night my wife and I had a great dinner with two of our friends. While the wives conversed, my buddy (@mrbrownhistory) and I inevitably ended up "talking shop" (he is in education as well), and as I reflected upon our conversation I was happy we did.
We were talking about new and innovative ways to restructure the classroom so more accountability and responsibility were placed on the shoulders of students. We envisioned a classroom where students and their journey toward their own individualized learning were the focus. We envisioned a classroom where the teacher was no longer the center of attention, and the role of the teacher became more of a guide or facilitator. We envisioned a classroom that didn't just focus on content, but used content as a way to enhance and develop transferable skills that would put more relevancy into education. We envisioned a lot...
Then, this morning I read this great post by @stevemiranda, titled "The students who were happy when I handed them a textbook." This post describes a scenario where students were unresponsive and disillusioned at best when it came to learning...unless they were given explicate directions for bookwork and worksheets. This is something I personally have experienced and blogged about in my post titled, "How do you define learning?"
In the Twitterverse and Blogosphere it is nothing new to talk about more individualized learning and autonomy in the classroom, but that's not enough. We know many students will thrive in an environment where they have more say and control over their learning, but we can't ignore or forget about those students who have had the love of learning beaten out of them. We can't forget about those students who don't know how to learn on their own. We can't ignore the fact that as many students get older and progress through the educational system they get more reliant upon us to provide each and every step for them.
Most importantly, we can't forget or ignore the fact that for every student we prepare for a 19th or 20th century world, we are robbing them of the opportunity to be successful in the 21st century world in which we currently live. Children love learning the moment they are born, and at some point in time that love of learning is stolen from them. Let's do our best and make sure we keep that passion and love of learning alive and strong, and help those who have lost it, find it again...
We were talking about new and innovative ways to restructure the classroom so more accountability and responsibility were placed on the shoulders of students. We envisioned a classroom where students and their journey toward their own individualized learning were the focus. We envisioned a classroom where the teacher was no longer the center of attention, and the role of the teacher became more of a guide or facilitator. We envisioned a classroom that didn't just focus on content, but used content as a way to enhance and develop transferable skills that would put more relevancy into education. We envisioned a lot...
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In the Twitterverse and Blogosphere it is nothing new to talk about more individualized learning and autonomy in the classroom, but that's not enough. We know many students will thrive in an environment where they have more say and control over their learning, but we can't ignore or forget about those students who have had the love of learning beaten out of them. We can't forget about those students who don't know how to learn on their own. We can't ignore the fact that as many students get older and progress through the educational system they get more reliant upon us to provide each and every step for them.
Most importantly, we can't forget or ignore the fact that for every student we prepare for a 19th or 20th century world, we are robbing them of the opportunity to be successful in the 21st century world in which we currently live. Children love learning the moment they are born, and at some point in time that love of learning is stolen from them. Let's do our best and make sure we keep that passion and love of learning alive and strong, and help those who have lost it, find it again...