Will Richardson provides us with a book that compares how things used to be back in the day and how things are now in regards to education. Technology is advancing every day and with that more resources are available for students than those they can get at school. With the new Common Core we have seen the struggle from old school to new school has been.
Richardson points out whether schools should start with rethinking assessment or rethink teaching. Personally, I believe that rethink teaching should come first because that is how teachers will continue to try new things. The world outside of school is constantly changing and with that the way we teach our students should be changing so that we can keep challenging them into becoming better thinkers and problem solvers. Like Richardson said, “One of the most frustrating parts of observing and blogging about this evolution is that there are many millions of educators who still haven’t begun to understand that the problem has changed.”(Richardson) If us as teachers are not willing to try new things, how do we expect our students to keep moving forward? As I begin my teaching career, one think that I commit myself to do is be a master learner. A person, who thinks they have learned it all and closes themselves from future learning, is secluding himself or herself from something wonderful. As a teacher new methods come up and other educators provide us with research as to what might work best on our students. Never stopping my learning process is something that I have always done. When I decided to become a teacher and began going to conferences I realized that this is very important and that there are a lot of us out there willing to do the same. Sharing everything is something that I also see myself doing. For the past month, in my work as a teacher candidate, I have gotten the opportunity to see the Math teachers constantly sharing their teaching strategies and letting each other know what worked and what did not. Being able to work together with others and willing to share will only benefit our students more. Transferring the power and doing real work for real audiences are some strategies that I might struggle with. With the knowledge I have so far for being a math teacher, I could not think of something were the students could possibly share with someone and transfer their power in order to better something or build something. Doing work for real audiences could also be difficult because I would have to find an audience where all my students could feel comfortable working. However, I am willing to learn on how to improve this and possibly try it in my own classroom in the future. Richardson, W. (2012) Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere [Kindle]. Retrieved from www.amazon.com
2 Comments
Kian Aburto-Pratt
9/8/2016 10:25:00 pm
Whether to rethink teaching or assessment first is an interesting topic. I agree that rethinking teaching could lead teachers to better ways of teaching that results in students learning more, but think about how students approach tests right now. Many students are so focused on passing their tests that they don't want to consider content knowledge that is not going to be tested for. I feel that it's pretty hard to turn students into life long learners if they have that mentality about testing. I rarely worried about tests and I was able to use my time to talk to my teachers about content that I wanted to learn about. Not all teachers teach only to the test, and not all students focused on only learning test material, but there are some who have this limiting mentality when it comes to education. If you fix teaching first, that wont fix the mentality of the students who just want to pass.
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Brandon Purvis
9/8/2016 10:52:28 pm
I thought your post was really insightful. I agree that a vital part of being a teacher in this era is to commit to being a lifelong learner. Teaching is a craft that can never truly be mastered and as technology/society changes so must teachers. I think it is an interesting question of whether assessment or teaching should change first. I agree that teachers as a whole must understand that their is a level of disconnect between the ways we teach and the world we are trying to prepare our students for. However, I think we need to address the assessments we use first because it seems like a lot of the worst teaching practices stem from the pressure to teach to the test. It is a problem that I am sure teachers are dedicated to solving.
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