In order to implement my game plan I will need to change the way I approach teaching my lessons. For example, I will need to allow students more opportunities to complete projects and assignments in a way in which they choose as long as they are still meeting the objectives of the lesson. I plan to reduce the amount of structure in projects and allow students more freedom to choose how to solve problems. In the past, I have been quick to help and make suggestions, but I believe to help students learn creative thinking and innovation, I must lose the temptation to always help them and instead, allow them to solve their own problems. Being flexible with students and allowing them a variety of opportunities is the key.
Additional information I need would be ideas on how to modify my lessons specifically to allow for more creativity. I can ask colleagues, or use information from the internet or other trainings and conferences. I am going to be attending the ISTE conference in Denver this June and will probably be able to get many ideas there.
So far, I have begun to implement my plan by having students figure various aspects of programs on their own, rather than me showing them every step. For example, using PowerPoint, I am letting students figure out on their own how to do various things, such as custom animations, and inserting music into the presentation. Since many times, students will need to learn different aspects of programs on their own, it will be beneficial to allow them to problem solve and figure things out independently.
Chris Lorenz
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Chris,
ReplyDeleteWe all, as teachers, have a tendency to jump in and give advice before allowing our students to "figure" it our on their own. Some of that comes from being excited, and some of it comes from wanting to help them avoid problems. But...life is full of problems! Great job on your progress this week.
Kim
Chris,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kim. As an educator, it is difficult to make the transition from a teacher centered classroom to a student centered one. I have great difficulty in letting go of the structure in my classrooms. However, remember many students need that structure and there is nothing wrong with leading students to a certain point and then allowing them to discover, however this can help with time management which is real issue that all educators must be aware of. As I have been our groups Blogs, it seems that everyone truly values their colleagues as an extremely valuable resource. It makes me wonder, why we as educators don't take advantage of them more often. At my school, we talk about it all of the time, but rarely implement it.
Kim and Richard:
ReplyDeleteIt is hard sometimes to find the right balance between structure and freedom on a project. For some students, if you don't spell it all out for them every step of the way they will be lost and exclaim, "I don't know what to do...." Other students ask if they can deviate from the assignment and do something different by using a different program, or changing the format of the project in some way. I think what I need to to is make sure I design projects that have flexibility built into them, but still provide enough structure for those who need it.
Chris-
I think structure is a very important componenet of an assignment and one that does not have to altered if you plan well. I would sugges providing choice and then have structured rubrics for grading.
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteI was reading your plan, which sounded like a very good one by the way, and stopped and thought about the part where you mention giving students less structure. It occurs to me that this is increasingly difficult to do with our students who have an “App” to help them do just about anything. It is in interesting time to be an educator; students have more tools than ever before, but also crave more direction than ever before because no one has gone where we want them to go and very little directing has happened. It is difficult to free up a classroom when students initially crave structure, but in the long run, as we have learned, it can be better for them in the long run.