martes, 13 de septiembre de 2011
Sir Ken Robinson: Changing Education Paradigms.
How is this scenario similar to ours?
Feel free to share your comments with your mates.
stella :-)
What do you think? Has my student been creative?
Ezequiel: Profe, no tengo la fotocopia.
ME: Ay Ezequiel. It's your problem, you know. You never have the material! :-(
Ezequiel: ¿Me prestás la tuya?
ME: I'm using my book and...
10 seconds later (literally) he had taken a PHOTOGRAPH of the page and he had it in his netbook, ready to work.
Epilogue:
Ezequiel: Gracias, profe!
ME: :-0
Moral: ???????
Has he been creative? what do you think?
stella :-)
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gosh... I`m speechless... a couple of hours ago I had a meeting of english teachers at school and we`re shocked when the kindergarten teacher told us that there are more than 6 kids with ADHD ( in 1 st grade there are 3 already this year) So the question is... what`s going on? is there an epidemic? why didn`t we see so many cases before?
ResponderEliminarwhat are we teachers / adults doing about it?
Wow! this seems to be serious! What do we give to our sudents? If the are different from us, are we teaching them in a different way?
ResponderEliminarstella :-)
What do you think? Has my student been creative?
ResponderEliminarEzequiel: Profe, no tengo la fotocopia.
ME: Ay Ezequiel. It's your problem, you know. You never have the material! :-(
Ezequiel: ¿Me prestás la tuya?
ME: I'm using my book and...
10 seconds later (literally) he had taken a PHOTOGRAPH of the page and he had it in his netbook, ready to work.
Epilogue:
Ezequiel: Gracias, profe!
ME: :-0
Moral: ???????
Has he been creative? what do you think?
stella :-)
Wow!!! I feel as if I graduated a hundred years ago!!! I fully agree that the actual system does not work as it did when we were students. We cannot blame only our students because of the failure in education. There is a need to change what we teachers have been doing; the classroom seems to be old-fashion in comparison to our students' realities and many times we do not take that into consideration. It's easier to go into several classrooms with the same coursebook for ALL our students than planing something different for the needs of each group. I know our salaries are low and we have MANY students. But if we do not try a change, education will be meaningful for them. And we will absolutely dissapointed.
ResponderEliminarI wish I were THAT creative!!!! No doubt they`re digital natives...They were born with the mouse in their hands and they seem to see the world through a screen ( a touch one these days). I think your st has been creative bec he could solve the problem and get down to work without hesitation!!!! His netbook was the tool ( which functions he knows pretty well ) to help him and follow the class...
ResponderEliminarFunny situations-using the netbooks- are surely going to happen to us sooner or later....... It happened to me today..I was having a look at one of my student`s powerpoint sitting AT MY DESK while he was at his...using the function of Controlar y Supervisar...When I finished having a look at it, I told him...Come here, take your computer....forgetting that the computer I was using was mine- with his Screen, and not HIS netbook....He said: Teacher, that`s YOUR computer...and laughed.....
ResponderEliminar....I feel most of the way we´ve worked during the last years has changed and we are learning. Students are more flexible and adapt to changes easily.....but we have to keep on trying.....and we´ll enjoy the experience....
Karina
We have read about mixed ability classes and we know very well that all classes ARE mixed ability.
ResponderEliminarNow we have mixed technology classes because (at least where I work) only some of the students have netbooks: the ones who don't seem to be resentful of their luck because they are almost always hands off the computers
I'd like to know how other teachers go abut this issue.
Anecdotes like this one reinforce the idea that students must be learning in a different way. At times you may feel you are losing the control of the class, but it's amazing to see how the focus moves from TEACHING to LEARNING!
ResponderEliminarMixed ability? Is this a mixed ability class? Will you all learn in the same way and the "same contents"?
More food for thought!
stella :-)
Whether we like it or not, in my opinion school is an alienating institution where only some people (like us) manage to survive and sometimes even thrive (for whatever reason). I guess we adapted to school so well that we have become teachers (who unfortunately and unwillingly tend to perpetuate some of its ‘perversions’).
ResponderEliminarI guess that’s why I feel like fish out of the water when I face students that process information differently, that are creative, that are critical or simply rebellious.
Some of the things Sir Ken Robinson enumerated are present in my classrooms everyday. Such as:
Students who don’t see the purpose of doing what I want them to, especially when it is such a pain in the neck for some of them that find certain assignments really difficult.
I can’t easily get rid of my frame of mind that tells me that some of my students won’t be able to grasp certain things even though I know that they might be brilliant at others which I don’t know ( I feel totally embarrassed to confess this, but it’s the awful truth)
I strongly believe that I give them (or intend to give them because sometimes I don’t even manage to give them) BORING STUFF. Partly because I do not find that stuff boring, I don’t know why! But, again, it’s no coincidence I’ve chosen to be a teacher…
I can speak school English (inglés escolarizado) but when I am confronted to real life English I can instantly notice how little English I know
Standardization of any kind seems to be a reassuring habit for me although reality is showing me all the time that there is no such thing as a standard student (by the same token there is no standard teacher or lesson)
And the list goes on . . .
As regards Prensky’s ideas, I think our students are much better at working collaboratively than I am (and was at their age), and that they are actually ‘screen literate’ but when it comes to multitasking I’m not so sure… sometimes they don’t even manage to successfully cheat on exams!
Learning styles? Digital natives? Mixed ability classes? For sure We've got that in the classroom! The key issue is whether We, as teachers, are truly committed to our students and professional career to take them into account when planning!
ResponderEliminarWOW! I'm speechless. I guess we're getting into murky water (with a positive connotation!!!!). Seldom do we voice concern about these issues. And I think this is healthy for all of us, whether you have written the post or read it.
ResponderEliminarIt's not just a matter of having a cathartic corner for its own sake (too much Argentinian, I must confess, but rather to have a public space where COLLABORATIVELY we can look for and eventually find better teaching practices.
Recipe? IS THERE ANY???
And if you let me give you just a personal point of view, it's incredible that these reflections come through a technological device! We are, little by little, closer to technology, whether we like it or not! :-)
By the way, how much we are getting close to our students (PARADOXICALLY in a STUDENT-CENTRED CLASS) and we are surprised at what we see, aren't we?
Have a nice day!
stella :-)
Hello, everyone! I've just watched the video above, (Sir Ken Robinson's). It's very interesting but difficult to follow, because of the speed. But it's understandable anyway. I agree with the fact that schools are built like "factories", with separate lines and subjects. There should be more integration among areas, ages, needs, groups, etc. It is true that "COLLABORATIVE LEARNING O WORKING IN GROUPS" is more fruitful and motivating than working alone. Teachers should leave aside conservative old and lineal methodologies in the classroom; but, how could we do this? Let¡s be sincere, I think that most of us are not creative enough to start teaching in a less conventional way. And it is so because we don't dare! We are afraid of changes, but students have changed, and we must follow them. We, teachers, don't have time to plan creative classes either. If we want to deliver original classes out of standard models, it takes time! We work a lot and when we are at home we want to have a rest. If we want to deliver creative and motivating classes, we must prepare them at home, and it takes a lot of time. Now, that students have their netbooks, I think that teachers have a great opportunity of changing our conservative minds. It's time to change! We must be more flexible and accept that students can even teach us some technological issues. As one of my mates said in her comment, it's easier for us to go with the same book from course to course and make students perform the same activities, regardless of their differences; cognitive, social, groupal differences. Each group has it's own needs, but we teach the same, "because the curriculum sets it". I admit I am trying to change this fact, from the very moment my students have their netbooks. I wish it worked! Patricia.
ResponderEliminar