In our PLC we are discussing ways to promote learning through project-based digital tools, the Internet, and Web 2.0. So, we ask our teachers, what makes you dance? Is it the school, the environment, the students, the parents, your colleagues, what you teach, what you learn, or something else? At Grace, we have the opportunity to explore new possibilities and challenge our students to become independent thinkers in order for them to become life long learners. As 21st century learners, it is difficult for some us to understand how this "works" in a world that does not yet exist as we know it now.
Maybe some teachers prefer to look at what does not make them dance...is it fear of the unknown, is it not enough time, is it, "I'm too old for this," is it not enough support, is it not enough money, or is it simply, I don't know how? Whatever the reason, it is okay to have uncertainties because the benefit of working in a collaborative environment like Grace with students who want to learn is that, as teachers, we are facilitators of learning and have exceptional colleagues who support us in our own paths. It is our job to provide our students with the tools they need to go out into the world and make a difference. And despite our fears or challenges, we really do use the tools we have available to make learning happen and happen at a higher level.
Kevin Jarett, a technology facilitator in Northfield, New Jersey, said, "Technology is evolving faster than ever before-bringing people together, eliminating barriers, facilitating understanding and knowledge transfer, and improving the world around us with each passing day."
Jarett goes on to say that there's never been a better time to be an educator, according to Diana Fingal, Senior Editor of Learning & Leading with Technology. Then in an another article about HP's Innovations in Education grant program, she quotes Principal Seema Sapru at the Heritage School in Kolkata, India, "The teacher will no longer serve as a disseminator of information via lectures and textbooks. Rather, the teacher will adopt the roles of facilator, tutor, and learner. Similarly, the student will abandon the role of solitary memorizer of facts and principles for the roles of researcher, problem solver, and strategist."
Our students at Grace will do this with their teachers and their peers so that they develop communication and inquiry skills, learn to be flexible, develop an understanding of how the world works, and achieve the feeling that, as individuals, they can do something to change the world.
Knowing that our students will leave Grace with this skillset, what makes you want to dance?
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Seeing students excited about learning makes me want to dance. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen a kindergartener reads his/her first book!
ReplyDeleteWatching students chart their own course, thinking critically, finding connections, solving problems, understanding patterns, making transfers from the classroom to life. Like their teachers, they know when they are "dancing". Watching them dance makes me want to.
ReplyDeleteI want to dance when I see groups of human beings working effectively together with the purpose and common goal of making something better. It is especially dance-worthy when it stretches me as a learner!
ReplyDeleteWhat gets me excited, invigorated and exhilarated is when I share something with a parent that changes their family for the better and, in turn, the future of their child. That's priceless and makes me want to shout from a mountain top! (I don't dance too well, but that get's me close to wanting to.)
ReplyDeleteI think you all know how very passionate I am about the natural world we live in and how much I enjoy sharing that passion with the kids I teach. I can get excited about being able to teach in a new innovate way which will be even more hands on than ever. Project based learning will allow me to actually be a "learner" again. Science changes so rapidly that books can't seem to keep up anyway!
ReplyDeleteHow can we correct these? I am reading other responses and see that my response is not well written. Yikes! It should read, "watching students charting their own courses". Lots of pressure here!
ReplyDeleteI have been dancing for the past few weeks because of all the computer activities I have seen going on in the middle school. Database training, carreer assessments on line, geometry in structures using PowerPoint templates, laptops for writing in ELA, and elements research/presentations in science plus the always exciting Sir Lime webcam with on line mail responses from the crack team of Sir Lime student look alikes. I know I'm odd but I get shivers watching you guys use our new accounts and document naming schemes.
ReplyDeleteHere is my challenge to all of you with laptops in your room. Take them off the bookshelves and out of the cabinets. Plug them in to the new power strip you have for the Airliners, get them charged up and load the updates and then have at least one student in each class, each day look up something that supports your teaching for the day. An extension or enhancement for each lesson. If they are out and used on a regular basis it becomes less of an event and more of a tool. Move with Grace
First of all, thanks to Kelly for allowing us to utilize a small section of her blog for discussion. As a library media specialist, I have the honor of working to provide informational services available in multiple formats to students, teachers, and parents. Working with all these individuals to help support their educational needs is fun and exciting. By following the best practices for library professionals, the design and implementation of purposeful learning that integrates information literacy, core curriculum standards as well as technology, for either program design or instruction, can become the best part of the job. This process engages students through the introduction, reinforcement, and/or assessment of their classroom learning and it helps support the teachers and parents with their student’s learning. The process of working collaboratively with other educators to develop and implement this type of learning and witnessing the positive outcome is what makes me dance.
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy seeing the wonderful resources we have available to us at Grace put to good use. As with anything new, the utility is first questioned and its use can be challenging, but eventually you don't know how you lived without it. Remember when microwaves were new. Oops! Did I date myself.
Janet,
ReplyDeleteYour enthusiasm is contagious. I particularly love the way that you utilize children's literature to help our students understand difficult life concepts. Keep shouting and dancing.
One of the most exciting things about teaching is when you see a light bulb go on. History is made up of facts but those facts make up concepts and big pictures. It makes me want to dance and sing when I see a student connect those dots and see the big picture. It is especially joyful when it is a student who has been struggling and trying. I am also exited when I run into former students who tell me how much they learned from my class, and how my class prepared them for college.
ReplyDeleteChristine Roberts,
ReplyDeleteThank you for providing us with the best library services possible. You and Laura are available and you do it with a smile. I know you are dancing on the inside.
Dave,
You have been such a help this year. Thank you!
Teri,
ReplyDeleteI loved your post about wanting to dance when you see a kindergarten student read their first book. You are an awesome kindergarten teacher. Thank you from a grandma!
Teri,
ReplyDeleteWhen I see our little Grace peanuts hugging the legs of their teachers, it makes me want to dance.
My heart dances when I see students discovering the beauty of mathematics. Mathematics is so exciting and so mind twisting that it opens the door to patterns in all areas that we do not know exist. What other discipline could have a field namded Chaos!
ReplyDeleteI want to dance when I see the parents and the teachers working together for the benefit of a student. Our common love for the child inspires us all to go to great lengths.
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteThe AirLiners are a hot item in this classroom. Students were required to send me a business email to apply for using an AirLiner and being my student AirLiner helper. Everyone wanted the job!
I want to dance when I hear students in the hallways calling out to me, or another student in SPANISH! Another thing that makes my heart smile is seeing students having a good time in class. With all the wonderful technology information we are receiving as teachers, our students are having more fun in class. They want to engage. That is a great turn of events!
ReplyDeleteRebecca, I love your idea of having your students apply for the position of airliner helper. Plus, an email is one more way of you seeing your students' writing abilities.
ReplyDelete...when a student who has never been good in art "gets" it one day while in one of my drawing classes. The student's confidence starts growing, they smile at me with a light in their eyes that wasn't there before.....I want to pick them up and dance with them around the art room!!!....but I don't because that would embarass them. So I quietly pat them on the back and say "good job" while my soul dances inside my heart.
ReplyDeleteNot only do I want to dance, but I often DO dance when I see students get excited about what they are learning. Almost everyone who reads this has seen me dance at some point. I am a passionate person and I like to inspire passion. Sheri said that she wants to dance when she sees groups of people work together towards a common goal. That is what coaching is all about.
ReplyDeleteOur athletes spend hours preparing and practicing and to see them take what they've learned in practice to the field or court is unbelievably exhilirating.
Just had a great visit to HCHS to see if we need to do anything special to help our kids transition to the next phase of their education and it looks like we are right on track. User accounts and student email are rolling and are a definite part of any high school they may select. We should have the rest of the division on mail by the Christmas holidays and our use of a standardized document naming scheme seems to be working well. The thing that amazes me most might be how well our kids have done regarding their new log in procedures. I have yet to collect the $.25 penalty for asking a third time for their password.
ReplyDeleteAs I see how excited, motivated and downright zany some of you have become as we approach this video project I have to remind you how similar it would be as we move toward more subject specific teacher designed project based lessons. If our kids get as excited as you all are about your current project this place would be off the charts. We all could indeed be the Change Agents for the Student Experience we need to be.
What makes me dance is when I see many different kinds of people coming together, sharing the gifts that God gave them in order to have an eternal impact on the lives of students.
ReplyDeleteI dance everyday because I teach; that's the way I learn
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave for reminding us that we can do the same thing for (or should I say to!) our students as you have done to us. You are absolutely correct in that this video project is making us think and for a select few of us, become competitive and want to do our best. It is good to be reminded what it is like to not have much of a clue as to what to do which leaves it all up to our own creativity.
ReplyDelete