Edpuzzle is wonderful for sharing video assignments with students and prompting written response to questions. Here's an example of a project I used during my satire unit. Enjoy!
On the whole, this was an excellent and interesting read for those of us who are interested in facilitating genuine learning. I found Wagner’s arguments and anecdotes to be incredibly related to what I have observed in my classrooms. The youth he describes in this book are the same youth that I see coming in and out of my classroom every day. This book has certainly gotten me thinking about what kinds of changes and experiences I need to implement/facilitate within my classroom.
I think that it is very telling that the people who Wagner outlined in his book were not the kids who were classically successful students in school. But also, I think that we do need to realize that for every one of these people Wagner is referencing there are several kids who were successful in school and still successful as entrepreneurs. While it is a good idea to change our classroom approaches in order to promote more problem solving, it is not wholly a good idea to fetishize the school reform narrative that tells us that kids will just “get it” eventually if we leave them to their own devices and facilitate problem solving. It is our responsibility as teachers to know which learning situations require more authoritative approaches and which learning situations will allow teachers to take on a facilitative role in the classroom. Ideally, teachers would always be facilitators and let students take full ownership of their knowledge. So then the question becomes: how to we, as educators motivate students so that we can move into more facilitative roles more consistently? |
AuthorTrevor Rawlings is an educator at Pinacate Middle School in Perris, CA. Archives
April 2018
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