Two grade 7 learners stopped by my classroom this week to ask if I was willing to supervise a photography club. My initial response was, "AHHHHH, how will I fit this in?" I didn't say no, but asked for time to think about it. As we walked down the hallway it hit me, "There it is - our new model of learning."
1. These students have chosen a challenging and interesting task - learn photography.
2. All the necessary resources are currently available on the web - youtube videos, livebinders, websites, blogs, twitter, .....
3. Science, math, language, history, geography, technology and other content subject areas are all present. 4. The role of the teacher is co-learner and facilitator.
5. Direct access to experts is available through Skype, and other forms of social media.
6. Learning can be shared through a social media site such as http://www.collaborizeclassroom.com/
7. Learning goals can be set independently and tracked by many people, experts, teachers.
8. Creativity, exploration and problem solving are central to the task.
9. As they learn they may document the process so that others can learn.
Two problems:
1. These students are limited by the structure of school and have to pursue their learning goals outside of classroom hours. Why, if they've identified how and what they wish to learn next, is this so?
2. Mandated curriculum.
How should our school systems adapt? As educators we are caught between two worlds - the old one of mandated curriculum and the new one of any time, any place, any tool, any topic learning. Educators who are oblivious to this building pressure are, as I've said many times, going to have the rug yanked out from underneath them. At a certain point, learners are going to demand to have control of the learning process, because they will already have experienced this mode of learning outside the classroom - at home, with their friends, online. This is already happening in scattered parts of the world, but momentum is building.
http://www.uncollege.org/
http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.com/2011/09/waynes-world.html
I'm looking for feedback on this one, most of all from the Ontario Ministry of Education: What is your plan? Will you drag your heels or leap forward? Given how few education decision makers I see participating in Social Media as a learning tool - not just sending one-way messages - but actually engaging in this very important conversation - I am not optimistic that this will occur as rapidly as it needs to. It's election time in Ontario. It would be prudent for parents of learners to investigate the educational policies of the parties. Are they looking to the future or to the past?
Hello, my name is Tyler Davis and I am a student in EDM 310 at the University of South Alabama. I found this topic is curriculum dead? very interesting. I know as teachers taking on an extra assignment can be tough and a lot more work, but I believe that you are doing the right thing. You are right, those children want to learn and we as teachers ( me as an inspiring teacher) have a responsibility that these children get the education they need.
ReplyDeleteI believe that i will have to leap forward like you said and stay ahead of the curb and be a lifetime learner as well as a teacher. I just want to make a difference in these students lives. I just wanted to say thank you for this topic and I really enjoyed reading it.
Hi Tyler,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for taking the time to comment and I'm glad that you found it thought-provoking. These are changing times and there really is no point in teaching to the past because that is just not the world our students are going to be living in. It will be interesting to observe how it all unfolds.
I thought I would be able to be like some of my teachers in high school, but it seems like today there is no point in trying to do that because there seems to be more effective ways of teaching todays youth.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say there was no point, but I would say to think critically about what techniques worked well and led to rich learning and higher order thinking.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I will still teach a unit on explorers, but the way I approach the task will be very different. Instead of merely learning the facts about early explorers, students will use all the tools available to assess the validity of what they are reading/viewing. If you look at the work my students did on Ice Age Columbus and with Dr. Bruce Bradley, the process is described in detail. Through the process, content is still learned, I would even say better learned.
Heidi,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Blogger has switched this to plain text. What mode are you editing in? Are you in compose mode, or html mode?
David