I enjoyed the article concerning differentiation of instruction. It is helpful for me to focus on the four separate elements involved with differentiating instruction: content, process, products, and learning environment. These four categories make me understand more clearly, as a teacher, what I will need to study and consider when responding to variances among learners in my classes.
I agree completely that we need to give students options of how to express required learning. Some people excel at test taking, for example, while others perform better with oral presentations or artistic endeavors.
Being a teacher puts one in a role to teach and to learn as well, as stated in the article, "One of the great joys of teaching is recognizing that the teacher always has more to learn than the students and that learning is no less empowering for adults than for students." Our love of learning directly relates to our love of teaching.
In Chapter 4, Fried offers solid advice on how to create meaningful units of instruction. It's essential for teachers to assist in motivating students to learn a new topic. Fried explains, "The key is to tell them why you are interested in the content as a learner. If you can't give them an inspiring and personal reason why this stuff is really worth learning, you've lost half the battle already."
Fried discusses the importance of meaningful assessment and how it is an ongoing part of the learning process. He states that, "our assessment message to students should be: "What we care about is the quality of your engagement and of what you produce." I appreciate this idea that the assessments show our concern that our students are engaged and that what they produce reflect their engagement.
I have witnessed the Game of School being played out. One example was in my tenth Grade Science class. We spent an entire semester doing comparisons and studying which paper towel was the strongest. The teacher and the students all were aware that this was truly a waste of too much time yet we played the game and remained silent. I am still haunted by this absurdity, but at least I did learn that Bounty was victorious. Too often teachers just get by, students just get by and nothing meaningful or magical transpires.
I agree wholeheartedly with Fried when he states that "we do harm when we reduce these acts of intellect, creativity, and judgement to rote exercises, perfunctory deeds, or meaningless gestures." I also agree with him that, "there is nothing predestines or natural about the lack of intensity in most classrooms." It is up to the teachers, to us, to make student-centered learning take place in the classroom. To create curiosity and interest. To inspire and motivate students. To teach with passion, joy and excitement.
"Nothing great in the world has even been accomplished without passion."
-Hebbel
1 comment:
I totally agree with the idea of giving students options for demonstrating understanding. I for one was and never has been a test taker so i would always jump on the opportunity to write a paper or do a project instead. Having those options often forced me to to further research into the topic and as a result i learned more.
I also agreed with the portion about how if the teacher expresses deep interest and excitment about the topic at hand, it usually transcends down to the students and they become more engaged and excited. Ive seen that in my own work in the schools, the more enthusiastic i am about an assignment, the more engaged the student im helping is and its a win-win situation
Post a Comment