One of my biggest issues with public education is that it is terribly regimented. Students are told what to learn and how to learn it. Unfortunately, this approach to education no longer works. Everyone can now access information and learn about topics that were once difficult to explore. Those with extensive knowledge about specific subjects (teachers, professors, researchers, etc.) are no longer the gatekeepers of information. The Internet has opened up the academic world to anyone who has access to a computer.
Sadly, this does not mean that we are becoming a more educated populace. Just because we have access to information it does not mean that we are able to utilize this information well. For example, I could perform a Google search for "Shakespeare" and receive millions of hits. At first glance that would seem like plenty of information. But, in reality, only about a couple hundred of these millions of sites house information on Shakespeare that is well organized, well written, and credible. Many Internet users have yet to come to this realization. So, although we have access to a wide variety of information, many people either do not take the time or do not have the skills to sift through this information to find the best sources.
It is my belief that one of the main reasons (besides lack of education) why we use information so poorly is because we just don't want to dedicate the necessary amount of time to the research process. Researching is a process and like most processes, it takes time. In the education world time is difficult to come by. Also, research requires passion. The researcher must have a connection to the topic in order to dedicate time to its exploration. So, logically, if educators want to create more "real-world" research activities for students then they must provide both time and flexibility with subject matter.
For this week I would like you to reflect upon your past learning experiences and create a post that addresses how educators can change their practices to create more realistic and engaging learning opportunities for students.
16 comments:
Alex Hebert
period 2
I have been in school for about ten years of my life and I have come to the conclusion that learning is extremely hard to force upon yourself. I believe that the best way to learn is to have an interest in what you are being taught! Many teachers have a difficult time veering off the path of the out dated forms of teaching that society is so use to.
I learn the best when teachers relate the information to my life and experiences that I may have. This doesn't mean sticking to the texts and making me relate it to my life, but having an engaging conversation that allows me to hear my teachers views and my peers views on the subject (like our socratic seminar).
I also relish in experimentation. I despise having to go to class knowing that we will be doing the same thing as the last day. Doing something new is something to look forward to.
When I have to learn from the same techniques used in the 1900's my brain quickly turns on nap mode.It is important to use the technology that is relative to our time period. And being able to venture out of our wooden cubical desk is like being able to escape jail, which helps to get me more excited in the daily activities and is sometimes all you need to get the class envolved.
In my opinion the most important aspect of learning is the social view; allowing me to comunicate with my classmates.
I also agree, that learning and education has become tedious because sudents aren't interested what-so-ever in the topics in which they are forced to work with. Students also are realizing with technology that there are so many other career options and life styles to chose from, which they love, and doesn't involve; the early battles of american history, or the combining of ionic bonds. Therefore, students don't find the need in excelling and really simply learning something that isn't beneficial for their future. Even though, I believe that everything one learns in his/her's life eventually shows it's importance through his/her life, I also believe that education should be exciting to students, and it should help guide students to where they want to go.
In order to fully imrpove the way students are being educated, the whole school sytems should be changed so the classes students have to take, are actually helping them with their future career.
Nicole Ramlal
One way that teachers can make learning more engaging is to interact with the student. Teachers who interact with students not only are teaching the students what to do, but they are also teaching them how to apply it. For example, in my chemistry class last semester, my teacher was teaching my class about precipitates in a solution. No one in my class understood how there could be a solid in a liquid until we saw it form in front of our eyes. We did an experiment and we each got to see what properties make a precipitate and how it is useful in life.
Using experiments doesn't have to only be for a science class. If a teacher is trying to teach their class about the civil war, they could reenact it so the students get to feel what it was like during that time.
Also, teachers who let their students do projects in a group is highly beneficial. Not only are the students completing the task but they are learning to cooperate in a civil manner which will help students in later years of their life.
Another thing is field trips. Field trips are a great way to experience something first hand. Museums tend to be the most educational and they aren't always as boring as people make them to seem. They range in topics from art to science and history and can be enjoyable to anyone.
Teachers can change their style of teaching by making the subject more realistic and engaging in many ways. Many teachers, every semester, have to adjust to their new students based on what they know. However, the dull teachers don't care about their job, and don't care about the other students so they will simply teach the same thing for the whole year. Students will not learn anything because they weren't interacted with the subject. For example, last semester in history class, it was confusing how the Germans conquered many territories around them until I saw a video. The video generally helped more because I was able to see how they did it and what types of terrain they conquered the land in.
To this day some kids still don't care about school and their grades. That is because they are lazy and don't take the initiative to learn about new topics and going further to explore about a certain topic. Nevertheless, visual learning is the best way teachers can teach a student.
Last but not least, students interacting with other students is a good way for a teacher to get across a point. It gives the opportunity to the students to teach each other about the different aspects about the subject and what they feel about it. Those ideas lead to more ideas creating an interesting class. For example, Socratic seminars.
Learning in school is, honestly, quite boring for most students, but teachers can't always have a fun activity to go with each unit. This would veer the students and the subject being taught off trail.
I think, it would be more interesting if teachers used some of today's technology for learning and used techniques that could make us relate to the subject being taught. Learning about something that has happened ages ago and then knowing that it is happening today is always interesting to hear and you pay easily more attention.
As I mentioned before, about the 'fun activities', I mean that we aren't preschoolers anymore and should be able to learn without colouring books and one page essays on our favourite food. Doing projects is a different story. I, myself, love projects. They get your attention to somewhere else and let you be creative (essays' are different).
Many students are also realizing that the stuff they are learning in school can be found from the internet a thousand times faster, and also that some of it is not needed for outside of school (career wise). Today it is easy to pick a career and not have anything math related to do with it.
To me school holds some importance, because I feel as if it is a place not only to listen to what your teacher says, but also to communicate with your peers and share common knowledge.
Teachers can alter their teaching methods in order to gain the attention of their students. By providing students with an assignment or activity that they can relate to, teachers will get through to more students. Students prefer to engage themselves in activities that keep their mind flowing rather than bore them.
One alternative to the routinely lackluster book work would be to have the students take part in some sort of raft. A raft allows students to fully engage themselves in the assignment by going over the main criteria and finding new ways in which they can approach their writing. Another interactive alternative could be to create a game show for the students. A game show would give students the opportunity to test their knowledge while competing against their classmates.
James Sidebottom
Period 2
Teachers can make their information more engaging and fun by introducing it in a different way every time. For me there is nothing worse than having to sit through the same grueling lecture every day. Teachers think that since they where taught that way they have to do the same.
If teachers could just sit down and use some creative thinking like they encourage us to do, their lessons could be a lot more pleasurable than just sitting in a confined wooden desk listening to some pre-written notes. Teachers should try some new tactics to keep the students more entertained. If your a science teacher go outside and experience it first hand rather than viewing it in a battered up text book. If your an english teacher have your students create a poem once a week and have them present it to the class, to help there public speaking out and help critique their work.
There are thousands of things teachers can change to make the education system more engaging. They just need to take the time and think back when they where a kid and what sounded "engaging" to them back in their childhood.
I remember having a seven page research project in middle school. My teacher gave us a month to do the assignment and allowed us an extended amount of class time to work on our research and writing. However I struggled with it because there was no real direction to what she wanted us to do. It seemed as if she spend more time explaining mla format than helping us do our research properly.
If teachers took more time to address the issues students may encounter such as finding liable sources, then students would most likely show more progress in their research instead of getting "stuck" constantly. Also individual help is one way students can be reassured of the path they're taking, or it could guide then towards the one they should take. By taking these approaches students will feel more confident and successful in their works.
Truthful, some teachers are completely and utterly boring. All they do is get up in front of the class and show a presentation once in a while. All they do is give students information, and that is not fun. If students just wanted information they would look it up online, so now, teachers have to step up their level to catch the students’ attention. They have to involve the knowledge with a real life situation; something that includes the student is some way.
There are many techniques to involve the student or put that student in a real situation; these techniques differ from subject to subject and from teacher to teacher. If instance to teach a young kid 1+1=2, one has to show how one can get an answer. Thus a teacher might make the pupil do the addition on his figure, and in this method the teacher is not only involving the student but deriving the answer. There are other ways to include the student, such as having the students talk about it amongst them-self’s causing the students to view the situation in a different point of view than normal. This technique can be in any social classes such as: Reading, social studies, politics, history classes and much more.
Paul Firmin
For the period of time that i have been in school I have always agreed with the thought that school equals boredom. The main reason people link school with being boring is because of the fact that each day is a repetition of the last. Teachers either dont want to or dont know how to make the class more interesting in a way that can pertain to each student while still educating the class.
I personally enjoy the endevers of working in groups because socialization is a key lesson in life that you cant get out of a textbook. Teachers have adapted to giving each student the same assignments and teaching it the same way each year, each day, each period. There is no self expression.
Instead of keeping our minds in a box we need to utilize the brain that we all have and experiment and venture to find ways that aren't so outdated because time is moving foward and we can't stay in the past. If technology can change so can our methods.
Classes should be ordered and set up to educate students that have similar interests and similar perspectives on things rather that feeding every student the same weary work.
Based on my past learning experiences, even if I had a sufficient amount of time to accomplish the task, I never had a drive to do the assignment if I wasn't passionate about what I was studying. Naturally, when the subject doesn't appeal to me, I have no interest in dedicating time on learning about it. Therefore, the best way to learn is to somehow make the lesson more interesting to the students.
This can be done by associating the lesson to something that the students can relate to. Doing so will help the students to better understand what is being taught. Additionally, it will be more interesting for them, causing them to engage themselves more in class.
Another way to make the students more passionate about the assignment is to stray away from the typical "sitting in a wooden desk reading from a textbook" lesson. These quickly bore the students and cause the teacher to loose their enthusiasm to learn.
Furthermore, instructors can make their lessons more realistic and engaging for students by embracing new technological advantages. These can serve as a beneficial aid to education and make lessons more attention-grabbing. Also, attaining computer skills will prepare students for more realistic tasks to come in the future, in which they will undoubtedly need technological skills to be successful.
In my past experiences, whether I had enough time to complete an assignment or not, the breaking point on how well I did on it ultimately depended on if I was enthusiastic on the subject matter. Educators can make students more engaged in class and assignments by encorporating more interesting teaching tactics in the lessons. Without a passion on what I was researching, I would always procrastinate the assignment, regardless of how much time I had to complete it.
Melissa Magalhaes period 3
Throughout my many years of high school, I have realized there are certain ways of teaching material so the students can actually learn . No one wants to be stuck in a class room bored to tears and listen to a teach lecture the whole class time. Nor they want to read material out of a textbook that we have learned already just with more detail descriptions. The best way for a teacher to get information across to the students is by doing things that they can relate too. Instead of being the strict teacher,become our friend so we can actually engage in activities. Creating a fun environment for the students so they can feel comfortable and able to express their thoughts. The whole strict teacher theory doesn't work to well. Us students just get even more mad when the teacher is so strict the changes we actually work or learn are very slim. my whole idea is to make school fun and not so dull like it usually is. We hate coming to school as it is so maybe if we actually enjoyed it , We would come to school with a better attitude and a desire to work hard.
To begin with, a lot of teachers can begin by cutting the fat. It's no secret that many teachers give pointless assignments that would not be given to you in any real life situation. I'm pretty sure a chemist or an industrial designer doesn't have to do any busy bookwork. It's as if we were being trained to have an office job.
Also, the educator should be having fun while their teaching whatever it is that they're teaching. How can you expect students to pay attention and really be engaged when the educator itself is obviously bored to tears? Teachers are the ones who ignite the passion in students.
Many educators have already noted the flaws in the general education nowadays and have decided to be different. By incorporating technology many educators have seen an exponential change in their students. And it makes sense too, students are naturally more inclined to learn from a laptop rather than a textbook. And just learning how to learn from the Internet is life-changing because now the students will have a new skill and can research or learn just about anything using credible sources and etc.
In today's schools, it seems, in my perspective, that kids look upon school as a obnoxious chore instead of an environment that we are eager to receive knowledge. This could be due to the fact that we are forced to take certain core classes, like reading and science, that don't necessarily interest us for future occupations. Why should I have to be required to take Chemistry? When, in reality, I will never be engage in the science world. IT shows that the school system is more focused on common learning than exotic material.
I can't tell you the number of times I've dreaded hearing my iHome go off at 5 a.m. every morning due to the fact that I have to go sit in a class, and listening for an hour and a half, while some of my teachers lecture and nag to us. When teachers blast power points onto the board, I become drowsy and weak because they have not interacted with the class or my attention. The best way to learn, in my opinion, is to work in groups and socialize about a variety of ideas, then we could create and project showing creativity and accuracy. Sitting at a desk for long, boring periods of time isn't the right technique to involve kids in experiences. Teachers should try to get them more involved with the subject, as well as their other peers.
In addition to group working and suitable subjects, I would also like to include that technology has become a mega part of our education today. This is actually one of the more positive points because its showing that our world is progressing everyday. With the help of different gadgets, we can create new, improved ways of displaying our true objectives. I had never used iMovie until I came to Mrs. Stoklosa's classroom. After using it, I concluded that I could accomplish more projects using programs like this one.
In school. teachers have to think in the minds of students in order to see if this is the right class for them to be in. I feel its their job to become more concerned of our abilities and what we can achieve, compared to what the School Board has to say.
For most of my life I went to a catholic school and it was a structured school system and through this school I didn't learn to my full potential because my lifestyle was so strict and boring. Here at cypress I have more freedom and I have more of a passion to learn. everyday is a new experience I meet more and more people and now I have a different perspective on life. Here at cypress, I've seen what failing a class does to someone and I've learned more along the lines of actually experiencing it instead of grabbing a book and just reading it and learning that everything in the outside world is "dangerous and evil". I thought in my old school that life was just a boring process but now I learned that it can be a great experience.
THere are many different ways to get students more excited about learning. THroughout history, different techniques have been used in students to get them more motivated about improving their education. Some teachers just try to force the information into student's brains, and frankly I don't think this is the best way to go about it. A technique I think works well is when teachers stop in the middle of lessons and say something humorous or tells a little story. THis method should be used more because it brings the student's attention back to the teacher.
Little things can affect the way students process the information. FOr example, instead of "Laura walks for 2 miles to school", changing it to " Lil Wayne swags 2 miles to the club" would seem more interesting to the students. Transforming the routine in class every once in a while could also work. Most students despice going to class everyday and following the same routine as the day before. Changing minor things in a lesson could go a long way with the pupils.
Juan Garcia
p.3
Post a Comment