This week the Internet for Educators class had two fantastic speakers. Dean Shareski was our first virtual speaker and brought several interesting concepts to our class. How is learning different in 2014? Why is learning different in 2014? These two questions were simple, but extremely difficult to answer. Through my teaching experiences so far, a few of the cooperating teachers I have had have been from a different era of teaching. They would concentrate more on sports and skill development. It was interesting to experience, but I would personally take a different approach. Educating students on being active, and giving them the knowledge on how to live a healthy lifestyle is going to be my goal as a teacher. It is not so much perfecting a sport or activity, but giving them the tools to use to become a healthy individual. I believe that the philosophy of teaching is beginning to change and why? I think it is because of the new generation of teachers that are rising.
Dean talked about the three things that need to change in order for the children of our generation to be successful.
Content, Assessment, and Community.
I agree with each of these ideas. A new way of conveying the content to our students is crucial. Teaching kids how to read and write will not teach them literacy. Teachers have to come up with different ideas and ways of getting that student to show they are competent and understand the material. Assessment needs to be more about conversation and understanding of the students rather than a spreadsheet of numbers that the teacher randomly came up with. Community is extremely important as well. Students should not only learn from their teacher, but learn from their peers as well.
There are still some teachers out there that follow an "older style" of teaching. However, I want to be one of the teachers that changes the way students learn and changes that frame of mind. It's not about teaching kids "what" to learn, but teaching them " how to learn".
Jon Finch was another guest speaker this week. I knew Jon as he had worked for the Mountain View School Division and I went to the high school in Dauphin. The one important tidbit of information that I thought was the most beneficial was when he talked about copyrighting music, pictures and movies. I had no idea that there could be big trouble for teachers who had been given no prior knowledge. Being given the Copyright book by Jon will give me good idea of the do's and don'ts when it comes to these three resources. It is a resource I can use for the rest of my teaching career.
The first week was exciting, and I can not wait to see what is in store for the next week!
"Assessment needs to be more about conversation and understanding of the students rather than a spreadsheet of numbers that the teacher randomly came up with"
ReplyDeleteYes! That is exactly where I'm at. Assessment needs to be about making sure that the teacher, student, and parents all understand the progress that has been made, and where to go from there. It is about the betterment of the student, helping them to learn and grow and develop, not about identifying them as a "B Student" or an "average student" or anything like that. Teachers and students can get all caught up in the grading system and forget the purpose of assessment altogether.
I hope that as we step into our roles as teachers, we can help keep the focus helping the student to grow and become more independent in their learning. There is so much information available to the students - why would I give them a lecture and test them on it, when I can ask them about an issue that they care about, and then ask them how they would solve it? Education is changing and we need to be prepared to make the steps necessary.
Great first post, Stuart. I like your thoughts on the changing role of teachers. Phys Ed is increasingly important an I agree that it is more than certain sports, but instilling an ideal of healthy living and activity.
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ReplyDeleteI like your comment on do's and don't's with regards to music, pictures, etc. Truly something you do not think about. It's nice to know someone is looking out for us so we can focus on teaching and not the law. Although I don't think much would ever come about this, it's good to know.
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