It wasn't until after reading the two teacher scenarios, given in class on planning vs. designing, did I realize I am a teacher that is doing it all wrong. Well, doing it the way I was taught. I now realize that I need to rethink and reflect on my delivery approach and possible adding more tools to my teaching toolbox. I chose to read the third grade class scenario first in hopes to relate and actually incorporate some of her ideas into my own teaching. The first thing I thought while reading was, "Wow must be nice to have 1:1 technology in class." As I continued reading about the third grade class, I became intrigued how the teacher has built trust with her class on using the ipads on task. I thought Mrs. Mercaldi did a great job integrating different medias and resources with the research project they were doing. The students conducted research online and in books and organized on their ipads. Once again I thought genius! I continued reading and chuckled when one student's ipad was experiencing problems. I'm sure every teacher can relate. None the less I applauded her on integrating technology throughout the day. It wasn't until reading the second scenario on the 10th grade class did I realize this student led learning is the way we all strive to do in the classroom. I learned THIS is designing in the classroom. For example, there are things that kids don't know that they need. If left to self guide, they may not cover all required lessons or just do what they like.
All this time, I felt as though the countless hours I was putting in "designing" 9 point less plans would provide me the structure I strive to deliver each day. When in the end, that structure I felt like I needed is not the best way to teach. Designing is starting with the end goal, and having the students figure out a way to get to the end goal. The students are in charge of the delivery, rather than the teacher. Similar to project based learning that the county is pushing right now. I love the idea of it but I get anxiety of not being in control or the fear not following pacing guides. To me I feel there is no security that the students will discover all the standards that need to be taught/assessed when teaching this way. When I plan, I make sure all standards are addressed thoroughly and with practice. With design I don't see how that is achievable.
I do believe that design is the best way to teach, because students are in charge of their personalized learning. It is designed to provide differentiation on its own because it is on the level of the child. However I also feel a mixture of planning is needed because of the curriculum standards the county expects each child to know before going to the next grade. I also feel design lesson take more time to structure and deliver in comparison to a lesson taught by the teacher. In order to be an effective teacher, I believe it takes both , planning and designing. I am excited to learn more about designing in my teaching in order to further my students and their learning through this course.
I completely agree that the best teaching incorporates planning and designing. Of course we need structure in our day--and not just for our sake, but for the students' sake as well! I disagree that having structure is the wrong way to teach. I think structure is necessary to provide stability and comfort to take learning risks.
ReplyDeleteTo me, design doesn't mean allow students to completely run the show. Yes, students might have more independence and responsibility given a specifically designed unit, project, or lesson, but it doesn't mean you are sitting back and hoping they'll decide to learn about the standards on their own. The way I've made sense of it, good design is like being the puppet master. You're not hands off by any means, but you're out of sight to the audience. It's likely that there are already things you're designing in your lessons that don't necessarily look like what was described in the podcast article. I think it's possible to have small scale design elements that are worthwhile, too!
I agree with you that sometimes, it's scary to have less "complete control" in order to allow the students to help figure out how they'll learn best. Sometimes, kids want to take the path of least resistance and do the bare-minimum to finish an activity, which doesn't help them show what they know or learn more. I wonder if the teacher of the students on iPads actually felt like she was teaching the students anything. Yes, she had a few mini-lessons throughout the day, but I imagine her management of all the online programs would be time-consuming to maintain for learning that doesn't seem like it'd be applicable in other areas.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the podcast activity took a lot of design upfront, as well as supervision of the students to make sure they're making progress, but the learning is more authentic in its synthesizing of information, and the kids are learning other skills in the process. Sometimes, inspiration comes from places you don't expect.
I think you have a well-articulated point. I too liked and found myself comparing my lessons to the 3rd grade article. I teach in a one of the Pilot PL schools and we are near a 1-1 device ratio – especially since we are also a BYOT school. There are many difficulties teaching using a variety of technology but last year I was able to create a culture in my classroom that we just rolled with it. I created a station rotation model where the students held guided discussion about things they read (using Reading A-Z, ReadWorks.org and StoryWorks Jr.), as well as integrating the digital content from being in the pilot. I had a lot of anxiety giving over that much control to the students but I thought it was what I was supposed to do as part of the pilot. The class enjoyed learning and ultimately did very well on their standardized testing. Still, as I read the second article there was no doubt in my mind that I provided a lot of structure in my Personalized Learning Pilot and I see many ways in which I impersonalized their learning albeit unintentionally. I too, look forward to learning more from this class to further refine my teaching practice.
ReplyDeleteI too believe that it takes both planning and design to be an effective teacher.
ReplyDeleteI also have trouble giving up control because it is hard to make sure students have taken in all the knowledge of the content needed for the next grade or test. But I have seen it from the other side with a student I tutor. Her second grade class was studying different weather disasters. Her group picked tsunamis and made a commercial on how to be safe during them. Other students in the class made similar ones but for different disasters. She was so proud of her work that she showed everyone the video and then wanted to show off her classmates videos. While they were funny in parts my tutee could tell me all the important parts of the disasters even though she did most of her research on tsunamis (and she got her best grade on that test later). Seeing it from the outside really gave me the assurance that the control can be let go. Especially when you point them in the right direction with the problem they need to solve.