There are many ways to build connections and branch
out beyond the classroom. The book discuss connecting the students with
experts, expanding their learning circle to other classroom or even other parts
of the world, and communicating their findings to advocate for a change. I really
like the ideas given in this section. Having the students’ research knowing
they will experience the virtual deep-sea expeditions and be able to ask questions
in real time puts added significance to the experience. Ultimately, with
everyone else listening they will want to do their best work to ask intelligent
questions. Anytime someone else is reading or hearing them they will strive to
do better. I also loved the communicating finding section, children see that
there are problems but when they research and take action, they can make a
difference.
Tim Stephenson (a former law enforcer)
developed the east Initiative model. What grabs my attention to this program
was the fact that he took students who were deemed to fail and was able to engage
them in learning. The East model is built on four essential ideas. It is
student driven, authentic project-based learning, uses technology as tools, and
collaboration with others. The other critical component is training and support
for teachers. To me, this type of model is just more evidence that we need to
move away from the traditional learning methods to stimulate all of our
students.
I think it is important for students
to be able to have some freedom to lead their own project. When they can chose
a subject that they are passionate about they will be excited to do it and
produce better results. I was touched how Elise Muller encourage Sarah to
respond to another teacher’s blog in China. This not only helped Sarah find
ways to tackle her own issues but lead to her helping others. This teacher completely
changed the outcome for her student. Stories like these make me realize I am in
the right field.
There
are many concepts from this chapter that relate to our topic/project. For one, we had to do research to learn about our topic
and the many content areas it covers. Two, we created a movie that will be useful
for our students learning in the future. Three, we are always blogging and
learning from each other ;-)
ReplyDeleteI like how you pointed out the East Initiative Model program where students who were most likely to fail were taken and somehow engaged in learning. I agree that we need to move away from traditional learning methods. Obviously, there are better methods that can be used to teach students (ex: project-based learning). I also agree with the fact that students are way more passionate when they are able to choose a subject and do a project on it. The results of this will be way different versus a teacher telling a student what he/she HAS to do their project on.