Today was an inspirational day. It was a day where I learned from my students. Currently, my 8th graders are in the middle of a blogging project in an effort for them to understand how decisions from our first 5 presidents affected people’s lives. Students finished blogging about John Adams, the XYZ Affair, and the Alien and Sedition Acts from the perspective of a Federalist or Democratic Republican. Today was the perfect day to take a risk and try something new.
It was the perfect day to have students reflect and self-assess. I had a discussion with my students about grading and reflecting on their own work. I created a rubric for them to follow and had them grade their blogs. At first I was nervous, but I quickly became impressed.
Not one student gave themselves a perfect score. I told them that it wasn’t my goal to make them feel as though they didn’t have quality work. Rather, my goal was to make them reflective and see learning as a constantly evolving process. Despite being impressed by their reflective abilities, what I learned today was alarming.
Today my students taught me that they have been trained that learning stops when they complete an assignment. The most common question learners asked me today was, “Am I allowed to fix my blog to make it better?” My response every time is, “Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, and Yes! That’s the whole point of of this self-assessment. Learning doesn’t stop!” It’s time to rethink education and allow students to constantly reflect, self-assess, improve, then repeat. This is not the students fault, nor is it a teacher’s fault. It’s common, as educators, to do what has always been done. We grew up learning with an old model – learn, assess, move on. This old model needs to change and led me to a new “what if” for education……
What if learning began and evolved with the learner?
Learning should not begin and end with the teacher. In an ideal setting, empowered students should begin and keep evolving their learning. Empowered learners should be creating and asking questions. Empowered learners should be involved with authentic learning experiences. I’m trying something in my room tomorrow with the Crusades. I’m going to have the students create a map showing the journeys of 4 Crusades. The mapping project gives them a little bit of information about the Crusades, but not every detail. Once the map is completed, I want the students to collaborate and create questions about the Crusades. The students will take their questions, use research skills, and blog about a Crusade they went on. My hope is this will create an experience where the learner will have a stake in their questions and own their learning.
What if teachers put themselves in their student’s shoes to create more engaging lessons.
When I sit through some educational presentations, I can’t help but think about how my students feel at times. Three surefire ways to lose my attention: 1) being unprepared, 2) presenting something that is irrelevant to me, 3) at the end of the presentation, I walk away with no more knowledge than when I started. Maybe teachers can use situations like I’m currently in to craft more engaging lessons. How can we create better experiences in education? How can we create meaningful, individualized lessons to engage more students?
Moler's Musings 