After reading these articles, I completely agree that as teachers we need to make learning, “irresistibly engaging” for students (Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M. (2014). A rich seam: How new pedagogies find deep learning. London: Pearson.). It is our job to create real life problem solving for students so that their learning is connected to the world around them. In my teaching philosophy, I talk about how the goal for my students is to become lifelong learners. In my opinion becoming lifelong learners is way more important than just memorizing spelling words. Technology is opening doors in the classroom for higher engagement. Technology allows students to create, explore, and research all at their fingertips. This is why the role of teachers and students is changing in the classroom. In order to engage students, we have to know what students are interested in, and build on their knowledge from there. I understand you can’t let a student who only wants to learn about sharks, research them all year, but you can create a math PowerPoint or google classroom activity with a shark on it, and all the sudden the student’s engagement has went up tremendously. Technology opens these doors and expands resources for students and teachers.
Anyone who has ever been in an education class knows about Blooms Taxonomy, but technology allows us to take mastery into any even deeper meaning. Technology allows us to not only see that they have mastered a skill on a handwritten test, but it also lets us see how they apply that skill in the real world. Digital tools have taken Blooms Taxonomy to a different level.
In the article, “The Adoption process”, it talks about change. Some people are for it, and others take longer to accept it. In my classroom, I have started ‘Genius Hour”. Some people have made comments about it “taking away from curriculum time”, or “why teach it if we don’t test on it”, but my students absolutely love having control over their own learning. In reality this isn’t taking away from curriculum at all, it is actually just allowing them to have a deeper understanding into the standards we are supposed to teach. I am not standing in front of the class and having them memorize the parts of a plant, they are growing a plant, and researching it all on their own. Slowly other teachers have jumped on board with it this year, and I have even held a technology PD in my room discussing the topic.
Education is always changing. I think as educators it is important that we are flexible and that we adapt and change with it. We have to remember that we are teaching the future. We are preparing students for some jobs that don’t even exist yet. It is our job to teach children to be lifelong learners, and for us to be lifelong learners ourselves. I love the way that technology has opened doors in my classroom. Some lesson have bombed, and some lessons have soared, but the importance is that we try to teach to the adapting and changing world that our students are growing up in.
I love this! Your view point is very similar to my own. I think being a life long learner is very important. It is a concept that is very hard to instill into the students in our class. Technology has helped me engage students in every subject. Their drive to learn more about technology and how to use it, makes teaching them to become life long learners much easier.
ReplyDeleteYour idea for “Genius Hour” is spectacular! Something I think my 3rd graders would really enjoy. Giving them hands on activities to learn a topic is extremely meaningful to most of my students because those things, such as your example above with the flowers, are thing some of my students will not get the chance to experience anywhere else. Thank you for the great idea.