feedly feedback by Lois M. Galindo
I found an interesting
read by the author of our textbook. Many times we think of ourselves as
teachers but are we also learners? In his blog, titled “Cultures of Perpetual Learning, “Will Richards describes the culture that AT&T
has created in their business that if you do not continue to learn and develop
new skills you can and in many cases will be left behind. He provides evidence
that employees at AT&T spend 8 to 10 hours of their week on honing new
skills that will be applicable to their job. He describes a career lattice versus
a career ladder. He goes on to explain that in the 21st century
workplace we must acquire new skills and abilities constantly so that we are
considered valuable. This makes a lot of sense to me because how can you
possible teach if you are unwilling to learn?
The next reading I found
helpful for educators is “Setting Classroom Expectations “ by Adam Gutierrez.
Many times teachers make a list of rules and expect students to follow along
like robots. In this article Gutierrez describes developing expectations fro
students, parents, and the classroom as a whole. Gutierrez hits the nail on the
head when he talks about having students actively participate in developing the
classroom expectations. This is a skill I learned from girl scouts. Each class
I had comes up with a Group Agreement. This is accomplished by asking the
students open ended questions about what they expect to get out of the class.
These expectations are then managed by discussing the curriculum that must be
covered. Then students are able to add their goals into the curriculum as a
group. Once we know what we will be
doing we discuss they ways we should interact in the classroom setting as
individuals and as groups.
Suggestions are given by
all student. Suggestions that are agreed upon by the group are added to our
group agreement. We discuss that the group agreement is a living document and
nothing is set in stone. If students or the teacher have suggestions to add at
a later time the suggestion is brought up, debated, and agreed to or not.
When we make students an
active participant in their education they become lifelong learners and develop
21st century skills they need to be successful in the workforce.
The other articles I found
interesting discuss project based learning and the different ways of
implementing this process in to your curriculum.
Lois,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your feedly subscriptions, and for sharing your viewpoints as well. I agree with the statement, “When we make students an active participant in their education they become lifelong learners and develop 21st century skills they need to be successful in the workforce.” However, I don’t agree with the idea of letting students create classroom rules. Instead, I believe it is important for students to be able to walk into a classroom with established rules and guidelines so that all students feel safe. I believe that there are other ways to allow students to actively participate in their education such as providing students with opportunities to make decisions in their learning.
All the best. :o)
-Melissa-
Lois,
ReplyDeleteThe information you shared about the amount of time AT&T employees use to improve their craft each week ("8 to 10 hours") caused me to reflect on the amount of time I spend doing so myself. As I think about the professional development sessions provided for me on my campus, I can honestly say they are not particularly effective in helping me develop as a teacher. Our sessions often span 1 hr and 30 mins every few weeks; providing me with very little time to focus on improving as a teacher. If the goal of each school is to provide a quality education for students, then schools must commit to investing in multiple/ongoing opportunities for effective professional development sessions for teachers. Thank you for bringing up an excellent point!
Hey Lois,
ReplyDeleteI think the classroom exceptions portion you mentioned is key in the classroom. I think that having the class activity participate in the creation of the expectations goes a very long way. Also, I like idea you raised about teachers also being willing to learn. I've seen so many educators during my time as a student, get left behind and stuck in their ways because they refuse to adapt to new technologies or teaching methods. Getting caught up in a one size fits all model.
Hello Lois,
ReplyDeleteSetting classroom expectations is one of my priorities. I agree with you on having students create the rules in order for them to feel the ownership and a sense of community. As students create these rules they work together towards understanding the reasons behind having the rules in place. These expectations not only allow for the learning to happen with ease, but also helps teachers with classroom management.
Thank you for sharing.