It is exciting to believe that you can influence change in some global way in the school. One great presentation or a handful of really engaging workshops, but the longer I do this the more I realize it is the one to one collaboration that really makes a difference.
The well attended workshops this year have been training sessions, where teachers were taught how to use a particular software. These workshops served their purpose, those teachers came away with a new set of skills - they got what they came for.
But even software training has changed, some people want to be feed every thing in a step by step order. Others want to play around and figure things out. Some can be given the basics and the time to play around and are fine, while others will rarely venture out of the structure of the class. I think the way teachers learn say a lot about the way they teach.
I have taught high school computer classes for eight years, and it always surprises me how we have trained students to learn in such a traditional way. Lets play around and discover how the software works, lets collaborate as a class and work together to discover what is possible in Photoshop or a similar software. While some are able to do this, at least half want to be fed the information, and actually become frustrated when all of their questions are not answered by the instructor.
Have we forgotten to teach them how to learn?
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Grading For Whom?
2 years ago
2 comments:
Ditto on the collaboration...I find that there's a tendency (even within my own teaching) to have students create/publish individually on the computer. The mindset is: we give each student a tool , whether it be a pencil or a laptop, and we assign a project where the student works by him/herself. The work is usually shared in front of the class, handed straight to the teacher for review, or in the case of the LS, hung up in the hallways. I'd like to see more project where students sit down in a room and write collaboratively or design a digital project as a group. As time-consuming as it is, I still think it's valuable to sit down with another person and hash out ideas, sentences, wording, etc.
I think the hard part is when we do assessment. How do we assess individual learning in a group setting and is it appropriate. We are still beholden to the parents and they want to know what did my child get out of this and how do they stand in relation to their peers. The conversation becomes one about curriculum, what do we expect children to walk away with? Who decides? What are the decisions based on? The idea of teacher as the sole font of information stands today and is hard to change.
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