Creating Significant Change

While working through the DLL program, I have been learning through a student centered approach. I have been researching, reflecting, receiving feedback and criticism from my classmates and professors, rewriting and reflecting even more on how I am going to incorporate this same student centered authentic learning model into my own classroom. Brown and Thomas write in their book, A New Culture of Learning, that “the teaching-based approach focuses on teaching us about the world, while the new culture of learning focuses on learning through engagement within the world” (pg. 38). I have been using this approach to teaching my high school digital media students for the past 10 years, and after conducting a thorough amount of research, I have decided to start engaging my 9th grade English students in the same way through authentic writing opportunities. My hope is to allow my students to take ownership of their writing by giving them the opportunity to write more authentically instead of just making them write the same standard five paragraph essay every 4 weeks of the semester. I want my students to master their art by allowing them to explore themselves and the world around them through their writing.

Peer to Peer Learning

Learning and utilizing constructive criticism through peer to peer collaboration is one of the largest components of my innovation plan. “In the new culture of learning, people learn through their interaction and participation with one another in fluid relationships that are the result of shared interests and opportunity” (Thomas and Brown, 2011, pg. 50). It is imperative that students engage in meaningful conversations with each other as well as their teachers about their writing, no matter the subject. Through these conversations students will learn to receive and utilize this critical feedback in order to improve their writing. I will also be shifting my role from the typical “teacher” position to a facilitator and co-learner. I have always benefited from learning from the students in my digital media courses. They have taught me the value of using sources like You-Tube to learn direct information quickly. This type of learning, in theory, should allow students to become better writers and more critical readers.

Inquiry-Based Learning

Too many times I have heard my students tell me that school doesn’t matter to them because they aren’t allowed to “do what they want.” I don’t think that we have been asking our students the right questions. I also do not believe that we have been teaching them that it is important to keep asking questions or the correct ways to ask questions. “What if the key to learning were not the application of techniques but their invention? What if students were asking questions about things that really mattered to them” (Thomas and Brown, 2011, pg. 81)? I became an educator because I want to help my students find out what they are passionate about and that to let them know that their passions will drive their success. It is imperative that our students are able to ask real questions about their world and for them to know where to go to find the answers if they are to thrive and achieve the goals that they have set for themselves.

I plan to give my students the opportunity to not only ask questions to me or to each other, but to use their writing as a means to get answers to the questions that they are the most passionate about. Students will be able to research and report their findings as well as reflect on their process. Students will be able to write to community members in order to share and find new ways to improve the community in which they live. Authentic learning opportunities through writing, reflecting, and questioning will allow students who may not know what their passions are to finally start figuring out what they want to do with their lives after high school.

Learning Through Play

As a high school teacher, it always seems tough to incorporate “playful” activities into lessons because the day to day drive of the curriculum can be so demanding. However, perhaps that lack of play is the exact reason why students are not engaged or succeeding at a higher level. “Play is the central tool for inverting the traditional hierarchy of learning and knowing. We believe that, instead of posing questions to find answers, it is essential to use answers to find increasingly better questions” (Thomas and Brown, 2011, pg. 117). This holds true for students at the high school level who are constantly questioning every single thing we do every day. Instead of students taking notes on a short story that they will never even think about again in two days (“Why are you making us read this?”), why not let them start finding out answers to what they want to know about in order to start really asking some great questions?

I believe that I can incorporate this type of “play” into my writing workshop environment. Students will be encouraged to research and pose questions about issues that interest or affect them directly. Students could turn what would normally be considered a five paragraph essay assignment into an undercover report on where school funding is actually being spent. Students will be given the opportunity to work on their own creative writing pieces that can be submitted to be published or they could be performed at a live reading event. Students will also be creating their own ePortfolio or blog space where they will be reflecting on their writing and their personal learning goals. Allowing students to “play” through creating and questioning on their terms should not only engage students in the learning of the writing process, but it should make them active participants as well.

Challenges

Time always seems to be my number one challenge. There is never enough time to even get through our day to day curriculum, so how on Earth am I going to successfully incorporate a true writing workshop into my classroom? I am going to force myself to make the time because I know that it will benefit my students. After a few weeks of engaging my students in daily writing practices, it will become the new “norm”.

I believe that the largest challenge that I will face is going to be at an organizational level. Allowing students to work in an environment where they are in control of their learning does not necessarily fit the mold of what the administration or some of my colleagues believes should be happening. I do not mind giving the control over to the students and acting as a facilitator. I have been doing this for years in a different subject area, however, others will have a difficult time letting go of that control. I hope that I am able to get them to “buy in” and start actively including authentic writing opportunities to students in their courses as well. I hope that by sharing my goals with my colleagues and allowing students to share their positive experiences that they will start to see the real impact that authentic writing through student centered learning can have on our students' engagement in their own learning.

Influence

The following quote from Douglas Thomas’ TEDx talk really stood out to me and made me incredibly sad, “Good teachers are forced to become bad teachers and great teachers are forced out of the profession.” Unfortunately, most of us have probably felt our zeal for teaching diminish due to many of the points that he brought up in his presentation. Many of us have probably also lost more than a few of our favorite colleagues as well. I know that I constantly question what it is we are trying to accomplish with our students on a daily basis when I feel forced to speed through a curriculum that won’t matter to anyone after the semester is over. Why am I wasting everyone’s time for a test that doesn’t actually matter? What kind of influence are we having on our students if they KNOW that we hate coming to work every day because we can’t actually achieve what we originally set out to do? Why are we still teaching this way?

It is time for a change and I believe that creating learning environments that will allow students and teachers to thrive by working and learning together is the only way to really accomplish anything of value. We have to start being open and honest with everyone, including ourselves, about the real issues in the education process if we want to create the solutions. I believe that if we all start sharing the same mindset, that we can accomplish anything.

References:

Dweck, C.S. (2006). Mindset​. Ballantine Books.

TEDx Talks. (2012, September 13). A new culture of learning, Douglas Thomas at TEDxUFM. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM80GXlyX0U&feature=youtu.be

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.