Ira Shor would believe that the education of a student should not be a method of curriculum. He would encourage a student to be curious, critical, and creative. This idea allows both the student and teacher to learn a teaching method that is best for each individual. When you talk about a curriculum based learning atmosphere, it limits the amount of learning for each student because it does not allow them to search outside the box. This kind of method holds students back from discovering themselves, and sometimes from developing a love for learning.
Working inside elementary classrooms with young children has opened my eyes to the concepts and results of problem-posing and critical questioning further. My experiences have forced me to think beyond my own knowledge when it comes to teaching techniques. Ira Shor would question, “Whose voice is being heard?” I want the children’s voices to be heard, and I want them to know that they have a say in how they learn. By using Ira Shor’s problem-posing by initiating class discussion, I believe I can learn of the different learning techniques I can use accordingly with each child in my own classroom.
If center work is given through multiple stations around the room, the final draft of that work alone can tell a lot about how a student learns best. As a teacher, I would focus on those final products to alter my learning techniques and practices. Also the progress each student makes within the itinerant classes (art, music, gym, health, and library), shows if a student learns better through creativity and the fine arts. A student may grasp a form of art o music through a presentation rather than a list of facts, while another student may be fine with the facts, and another may need both to fully grasp the concept or topic. Because there will be both students that will learn best through oral presentation and others through visual presentation, as a teacher I will incorporate both strategies into my teaching.
Teachers must look at assessing in the same light; you will not be able to judge correctly each child’s progress through one type of assessment. The test must be altered to judge the progress of each child. As a teacher, I will incorporate all strategies within my student’s assessments as I will do in my lessons. From the results of the entire assessments, I would try to help my students grasp different strategies in learning.
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Hi Samm,
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is very important to have a variety of assessments in your classroom. It is equally important to teach in a variety of ways. I think center time is a great way to accomplish this. Some kids work better individually and some kids work better in groups. It is important to give everybody the oppurtunity to show what they have learned. If we just taught and tested in the same mundane way, some students would never be able to showcase their knowledge and skills and i'm sure they would become very bored. It is not fair to do this and it coincides with Shor's idea of "banking." Banking education is fixed and antidemocratic. It also conforms with special interest which we could also call privilege. It is important to practice problem posing in our classroom so we can empower our students to be the best that they can.
This reminds me of when we did the assessments for walk to intervention. I had one little girl that I knew could rhyme because I had worked with her, but she could not correctly answer the scripted questions. Perhaps if we had given her another option to show that she could rhyme, she would have performed better. I think it is important to be explicit, but we also to to diversify and reinevent traditional teaching methods and assessments.
I think it's fascinating that every student learns a little bit differently. I've noticed that some of the children in my group learn better when we communicate only verbally, while some prefer to write and circle words, and others do best with hands-on activities. It is so important to use various methods to assess students, because what works for one person (or even most people) may not work for everyone. If all of the different types of learners do not have the opportunity to be tested in a manner in which they excel, it will be impossible for them to feel successful. Just because a student may not do well with one method does not necessarily mean they do not understand the material; it may just be that they need to tackle the task from another way.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find even more interesting is that every one of my students is more attentive and willing to participate if they are given the freedom to connect the activity to their own lives. We were breaking apart the word "Mom" one class, and I asked each group member what comes to mind when they hear the word "mom." They were so happy to hear, and with each word we went over, they wanted to tell me something about that word and how it was relevant to their lives. I was amazed at how attentive and involved they were. Although they were more interested in sharing stories than they were in segmentation, they realized that these letters are not just words- they are meaningful and powerful. Ira Shor mentions the benefits of a participatory classroom in his article. He says that by incorporating the students' feelings and understandings, their attitude toward the task or topic at hand changes drastically. Students feel like what they have to say actually does matter, and that they feel as though they are making positive and important connections when they share within the classroom.