So I'm trying to move through my Wiggling and Weaving. Two very difficult stages. But before I can do it I just have to get something off my chest. I have assigned so many different research assignments to my students and don't think I ever gave them a process to help them complete it and do a good job at it. I told them what I wanted, what they needed when they were done and helped them find sources and work through them. I mean I'm not a terrible teacher, but I certainly didn't encourage them to make new connections and formulate their own ideas. I'm pretty sure I let them just give me other peoples answers to other peoples questions. So, I just went through the readings again and read over the parts I had highlighted. Sure means alot more when you're experiencing a process first hand. This may be boring to some, but I'm one of those people who put quotes up on my bedroom wall and all over my classroom. These are the quotes I want to remember even after this class is over:
In relation to the constructivist approach to teaching:
Erin Riesland - knowledge is constructed when "the student assumes the role of the producer rather than the consumer of information"
Barbara K. Stripling - with constructivism "students are expected to ask questions and seek new understandings; teachers are expected to change their roles from providers of information to provokers and guides of students learning"
Barbara K. Stripling - "learning is active, shared, and based on pursuit of student-generated questions; meaning is constructed by the learner; the curriculum is based on big concepts; assessment is founded on student work rather than on teacher-generated test; and the teacher's role is to interact and mediate the environment"
Dewey - "education should be based on experiences that lead students to hypothesize, explore, reflect, and make meaning"
And the following all from Daniel Callison:
"Practice in Information Inquiry can help humans become more mature consumers of information and wise investigators of endless questions"
"Through inquiry the teacher also is a learner. Both teacher and student are likely to find insights not held prior to the investigation of a series of questions. As a co-learner, the teacher serves as a model as well as a mentor"
"Inquiry in its broadest sense is therefore, the process of learning how to learn"
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thanks for those quotes. I understand your posts about your past assignments to your classes. That was my experience as well, both as a teacher and a student. That was my training , except for some crazy class on teaching reading skills which included concept maps and predicting, etc... Who knew? No wonder kids are bored silly by eighth grade. My son is a senior - very bright - I have the SAT scores to prove it. He hates school because it is boring. He wants to study time travel IN the space shuttle or on the space station. Oh boy. All these W's make me very uncomfortable, but I do see the value, and look forward to a day when teachers can actually do these things rather than "teach the test."
ReplyDeleteGreat job....
The Stripling point regarding student assessment based on an inquiry project is a good one. At our school we refer to the end product after an inquiry project as authentic assessment. The end product, while not the focus for us, is the pay-off for the students and for the teacher. As a parent of two young boys (7 and 8), I am already sick of the amount of multiple choice tests they have to take. From NWEA to ISTEP to the textbook test, I really wonder what my child is capable of. My third grader has YET to complete an authentic product. Being an educator myself, I am not going to ruffle feathers at the boys' school just yet. But it will come soon.
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