I completely agree with Ken
Robinson’s challenge to revolutionize education. We mentioned this ourselves on the first day
of class. A great disconnect exists
between how American children learn another language and their peers in
foreign lands. Robinson stated that our
minds are hypnotized by the ideas of the past.
The study of these languages should begin in elementary school and it
should not take a revolution!
Our students are talented, but that joy and
spark of shining brightly has many times become non-existent through negative
words, actions, and gestures. Children
have tons of thoughts, but they do not speak them. They just look and think. Many of them do not realize how brilliant
they are! Using PBLs will awaken that
long forgotten childhood curiosity and dream!
When those quiet dreams are placed at our feet for 180 days we must make
it a reality for that child’s lifetime.
I will seek to elevate the
talents of students by giving them a year’s worth of opportunities to earn
legitimate recognition. My vision of a
PBL classroom is to show the connection between what is presented in room
302 and in our present day situation.
I would love to see growth from struggling with one problem to
understanding it better and faster the next time a similar case arises. Students should display excellent public
speaking skills also. I will seek to
have students analyze/study characters so deeply that they too have questions
that must be researched. Nevertheless,
this coming term the sixth grade class will have over 300 students. Each class will have 25 -30 students. I need to make sure everyone is engaged and
on task.
You make a very good point about how many of our students have lost their spark. As well as how truly brilliant many of them are! I am challenging myself to create a more open classroom environment where students feel that they can speak and think as much as they want. I would hate for a child to feel limited in an art classroom where creativity should soar! I enjoyed reading your post!
ReplyDeleteHi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI love that your vision for project based learning in your classroom is to connect what students are studying to the real-world with opportunities for them to apply it in meaningful ways.
You identified growth over time and student agency as areas you want to target for growth. As you begin work on your unit plan today, keep these two areas in mind as you work to create your driving question, your culminating product(s), your need to knows, and most of all, the scaffolding and support your students will need to be successful.
Sincerely,
Dawn