CHANGING THE WAY WE TEACH AND LEARN
Web 1.0 was the beginning of our access to information, the beginning of the information age or knowledge explosion, as it is known. As the internet and technologies began to link people together outside the classroom, it became clear that solutions to problems were more readily solved and knowledge began growing at an accelerated pace! It was only a matter of time until even more productive technologies and ways of interacting were developed, leading to Web 3.0 products. These are now employed in private, corporate and educational fields throughout the world.
In our classroom, we are beginning at an early age, with Grade 5 and 6 students, to promote and practice the skills needed in the future. Our school district has identified 5 characteristics for our school and classroom to focus upon:
- the Learner
- the Contributor
- the Collaborator
- the Innovator
- the Thinker
Parents can help their children talk about these skills and identify what their strengths are and which areas they might work to improve to be successful in our world.
To facilitate our goals, we have added tables to our classroom. Students store school materials in cubbies, taking the necessary books to their tables first thing in the morning or first thing after lunch. We have 4 laptops and 5 desktop computers to help with work. By the end of September, we have identified class interests and begin to assemble provincial learning outcomes we could meet by inquiring about them in a focused way.
Students are formed into groups after we learn what their gifts and strengths are so that groups are reasonably balanced. We discuss the major "milestones" for the investigation and decide upon dates for completing each milestone. We develop an assessment rubric to be applied to each group's success and each student's input. We also like to have a time to publish our learning to an authentic audience at the end. This may be subject experts we include in our project, or they may be parents who come to enjoy and celebrate their child's success.
We begin by listing what we know. Then we list what we wonder about the topic and begin investigating it, adding information we learn and answering the central question. Since it is an open-ended question, answers may vary. We stop for teaching moments when it is clear that a skill needs to be learned or tweaked in order to continue the project. At other times, individual groups may receive attention to help them be successful. Often, this is more relational, but it may include some direction in their research or technical skills.
As a teacher, inquiry projects have re-invigorated me and pushed me to new limits. For students, they clearly enjoy projects more than traditional classroom instruction and learning is much more memorable. Former students still recount the joy of learning when they come to visit.
Parents are a resource that I am still tapping into for our projects. I encourage all parents to consider their skill sets and to contact me if there is a way they can become involved as subject experts in our classroom learning.
- the Learner
- the Contributor
- the Collaborator
- the Innovator
- the Thinker
Parents can help their children talk about these skills and identify what their strengths are and which areas they might work to improve to be successful in our world.
To facilitate our goals, we have added tables to our classroom. Students store school materials in cubbies, taking the necessary books to their tables first thing in the morning or first thing after lunch. We have 4 laptops and 5 desktop computers to help with work. By the end of September, we have identified class interests and begin to assemble provincial learning outcomes we could meet by inquiring about them in a focused way.
Students are formed into groups after we learn what their gifts and strengths are so that groups are reasonably balanced. We discuss the major "milestones" for the investigation and decide upon dates for completing each milestone. We develop an assessment rubric to be applied to each group's success and each student's input. We also like to have a time to publish our learning to an authentic audience at the end. This may be subject experts we include in our project, or they may be parents who come to enjoy and celebrate their child's success.
We begin by listing what we know. Then we list what we wonder about the topic and begin investigating it, adding information we learn and answering the central question. Since it is an open-ended question, answers may vary. We stop for teaching moments when it is clear that a skill needs to be learned or tweaked in order to continue the project. At other times, individual groups may receive attention to help them be successful. Often, this is more relational, but it may include some direction in their research or technical skills.
As a teacher, inquiry projects have re-invigorated me and pushed me to new limits. For students, they clearly enjoy projects more than traditional classroom instruction and learning is much more memorable. Former students still recount the joy of learning when they come to visit.
Parents are a resource that I am still tapping into for our projects. I encourage all parents to consider their skill sets and to contact me if there is a way they can become involved as subject experts in our classroom learning.