Another September means another year of school starting, and
already the projects and readings are starting to pile up. I am a fourth year
concurrent education student (intermediate/senior) for physical education, with a teachable subject in biology. This year is my last year of undergrad, which
is both really exciting and terrifying at the same time. I'm excited this year
because my classes seem really great; the education classes seem to relate to
actual practices and the direction that our teaching will be heading,
and my physical education classes seem like they are going to be giving some
great real life experience as well. However, it’s crazy to think that this time
next year we’ll be in teachers college, getting ready for the real world of
classrooms and teaching.
When it comes to education and teaching, I think it is very
easy for people to get set in their ways-whether they are old teachers or new
teachers. Even as a current student, it’s something we can see all the time;
hearing about how education should be changing, how forms of assessment and the
way we teach should be moving forward. However, we’re still taught in the same
old way, lecture day in and day out, and are still taking exams in the gym with hundreds of other students.
To me, that doesn't really feel like we’re moving forward-it just seems like
the same old story, with the same old classrooms and practices. I'm sure as
prospective teachers, we may even find ourselves sticking to the old ways of
teaching, because, hey, that’s what we’re used to, that’s what worked for us.
Part of the reason we all want to become teachers is because we enjoyed school
and our classes, at least I know I did. However, though we may have enjoyed our
classrooms the way they were run, I think it is really important that we don’t
get stuck teaching that way just because that was what we were used to, or that
was how we learned. We need to look at the best of this old story, and bring it
forward with us into creating a new story when it comes to teaching.
There is always so much change going on in the world, which leaves
the door open for countless opportunities. It’s exciting to hear about so many
different examples of teachers bringing new ideas and practices into the
classroom. There are many different ways to approach learning to get students
engaged, and teachers are starting to use these fun and educational activities
to get students more involved , using real-world assessments and projects that
allow the students to take control of their own learning. One of the examples
in class that was really interesting to me, even just by the name, was the “Wild
And Crazy Think For Yourself” Projects (WACTFY), where students create
assignments that are meaningful to themselves. I feel like this was something
that would never have happened when I was younger, and I think it creates an
excellent opportunity for both the students and the teachers. How can you get
to know your students in the classroom if you never give them a chance to
express what they are interested in? What if one of the smartest students in
class is actually being held back by the typical way classrooms are taught?
Projects such as this offer teachers a great opportunity to actually get to
know what their students are interested in. For me, I think this is a big
thing, because that can help to further direct the learning in the classroom,
to actually bring their interests into future projects, or bring examples from
their lives and the way they think into the classroom and what actually needs
to be taught. Even now as a student if a project actually has meaning to me, or
has something to do with what I'm interested in, I'm more likely to put more
effort into it. I even find myself getting better marks in classes that I find
enjoyable; this seems obvious, if I like something I'm going to actually want
to do the work (it might not even feel like work), and I'm more likely to learn
something along the way. When we advance our classes using new methods, it is
more likely to be relevant to students, and make their learning more
meaningful.
Clearly, teaching in the same old way does not always work,
progression is good and can hopefully get students more engaged through more
personalized learning strategies. In the summer I work at a camp, and one of
the campers I have worked with for a few summers now was talking to me about
school. Between this year and the last, he had moved from a public school, into the private school system. As a student with a learning disability, his family thought this would be more beneficial, as there were more opportunities and attention paid to individuals in the classroom. This resulted in a major change for him: he said he learned so much
more because the teachers actually let him learn about what he wanted to learn.
He said they had so many cool technological resources, that he actually enjoyed
going to class compared to the previous year, where he spoke of frustration and
a lack of learning. Clearly, our schools need a change. If such a smart kid
with a thirst for learning cannot find what he needs in our public school
systems, we need to advance.
This brings me to one of the major changes we see in the new
story of education: technology. Technology is starting to be accepted more
widely in classrooms, and this gives excellent opportunities to enhance student
learning. Considering it is something they already use on a daily basis, this helps to bring what they're already interested in, into the classroom. While there
is the traditional idea of technology, such as simply bringing computers or
laptops into the classroom to work on, there is also more complex interactive
technologies; even global opportunities can be found through the use of
technology. For someone who was always interested in science, but did not
always find these lessons to be engaging, I think that there are some really great
examples of these technologies that can make science much more fun, giving the
potential for more students to gain an interest. In another one of my course
(higher level thinking in science and mathematics) we have discussed these
ideas, and I think this video sums up some of the really exciting opportunities
that are out there. (however, since clearly I am technologically challenged I can't actually get the video to appear, and can only get the link to work!)
Though the entire video is quite long, there are some really
interesting examples (such as at 7:30) where technology is being used in the
classroom. If our classrooms can keep advancing and using these resources, I
think that we are headed in the right direction, and perhaps more students will
begin to get more out of school and their learning.
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