...are we still teaching our students the same way WE were taught?
I know...because it's comfortable. It's what we know. It's how most of us were taught in our credential or Master's programs. The problem is today's kids are NOTHING like us! For good or bad, better or worse; no matter what your opinion is on that subject...today's kids ARE different! |
YouTube
My husband is a mechanic and if he wants to look up how to replace the evaporator on a 2003 Town & Country (my car), he doesn't look it up in a repair manual anymore. Most of those manuals are obsolete as soon as they are printed these days! Instead, he gets me to search YouTube for him (he's a total whiz when it comes to cars, but a complete dud when it comes to tech...he's still rockin' an old slide-up-to-text phone; which he hates. If he had his choice, he'd still have his Motorola flip phone!)
...and the point is?
My point is...information is no longer stored in the head of some person called "teacher". When was the last time you were talking to someone and you disagreed on whether Robert Downey Jr. was really in the 80s movie, Weird Science or not? What did you do in that situation? That's right...you whipped out your smart phone and Googled it! (And, yes RDJr. really was in that movie!)
This is my son. As you can see, he has a few devices going there. As I was walking by him, my first reaction was..."Seriously? You need 4 devices right now?" As he explained to me, he did in fact need all of those devices because each one served a different purpose. He was playing a game on his PS4, texting his friend that was playing with him and he didn't want the other players to know what he and his friend were "planning", he was using the iPad to look up how to beat the level he was on and the laptop was on because the group he was playing with was about to stream their play (they basically record the game play and then stream the video so others can watch, apparently that's a big deal.) So the more I thought about it, the more I realized that's where today's kids are coming from!
So, why should this change the way I teach?
Say, your class needs to learn about Volcanos. Option one is the traditional stand up lecture where the teacher is responsible for giving the information about volcanos. Then there's reading the Volcano chapter in the Science textbook and the Review questions at the end of the chapter. Maybe if the teacher is spiffy, there will be a homework assignment asking students to create a poster of a volcano.
OR option two...CLICK HERE.
OR option two...CLICK HERE.
Be honest...if you were a student, which one would YOU choose?
That video delivers content in a couple of different ways and did you notice the quiz at the end of the video? So, in one nice little package, there is content AND a check for understanding. This is why Flipped and Blended Learning are such hot topics right now.
That video delivers content in a couple of different ways and did you notice the quiz at the end of the video? So, in one nice little package, there is content AND a check for understanding. This is why Flipped and Blended Learning are such hot topics right now.
As a teacher in a 1:1 classroom full of wiggly 3rd graders, I am no longer the "giver" of information. I will also go so far as to say that the textbooks in my classroom are not the "givers" of information either. Some of those textbooks were printed over 10 years ago! My students should use technology to discover, learn, create and even teach someone else what they've learned!
Video allows for teaching/learning in ways that a teacher lecturing up in front of a classroom just can not do. A student can't rewind a lecture!
Video allows for teaching/learning in ways that a teacher lecturing up in front of a classroom just can not do. A student can't rewind a lecture!
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Teachers are no longer the "givers" of information, they are directors who guide students to make discoveries and then help students DO something with their learning!