Wagner's comment that "Too many teachers and employers still reward the "old school" behaviors of deference to authority and striving for 'success'" (p.19) concerns me and I am eager to see where he takes this text. While I'm sure there are teachers who prefer "sit and get" and a quiet classroom aligned in rows, many teachers would welcome the opportunity to provide room for play for their students. In the current era, our educational institution is built on these old ideals, The systems and structures in place that teachers are told to follow and are evaluated on do not leave time for play. Anyone who attempts to create something new realizes that creativity does not necessarily happen on someone else's time frame. Yet pacing guides tell us how many days to spend on particular content, strongly suggested activities tell us how to deliver material, getting in the right number of grades at the right time... Our educational system attempts to control the masses rather than provide a true collaborative space for innovation.
I love the idea of genius hour, of solving real world problems. Yet, our current system forces teachers who want to do this to battle against constraints that are in conflict with fostering innovation, imagination and creativity. As I said, I am eager to see how Wagner frames his argument and his work and what suggestions he has within our current realities.
I appreciated your comments. So much of what you said resonates with the journey of PBL and inquiry. Knowledge is a commodity; thanks to technology, everyone has access to knowledge. Therefore, we have to help our students navigate the world through soft skills. These skills were always there, it just wasn't given the same focus as knowledge, information, and facts.
ReplyDeleteInnovation is not a thing or a program, it's a change in the way we think. PBL is not something extra for us to do alongside of everything else. It's not something that can be tagged to the end of an already jam packed day. PBL, in its truest form, must become the journey. I believe one reason so many of us struggle to embrace this approach is not because we don't want to...it's because we, ourselves, didn't experience school this way. It's a little awkward for us to let students explore, discover, and "play" at school.
Over the last few years I, myself, have realized that if we want to truly teach the learner, we must embrace the child. If students naturally come to us with a inquisitive, curious mind, we should embrace this. We should meet our students where they are and seek to take them further. So, now, I embrace the use of Legos, action figures, and class pets. Using objects and opportunities to embrace our student's natural interests, regardless of their age, will simply engage students, providing them with meaningful, authentic experiences to connect the world around them. Yes, strategies like Genius Hour may seem difficult to implement, but with a little creativity this freedom and exploration can promote deeper learning, critical thinking, and provide students with the opportunity needed to move further in their learning!
Speaking from the early childhood perspective, it saddens me to see so many "play" learning experiences taken out of curriculum and replaced with more of a "skill, drill, review" approach.
ReplyDeleteThrough PBL, I've become a lot braver in allowing my students to explore during units and projects. With the right amount of protocol and structure, it is possible to let go of the reins just a bit and embrace their natural curiosities and wonderings.
An example of this occurred last week in which we've been learning about Earth materials and the gradual changes to land. I created a small scale "water table" in our art center using a bucket, food dye, and variety of objects and let my students observe the flow of water, how water changes shape depending on it's container, and then had them create a mountain out of Play Doh (clay). At the end of the week, they worked with a partner to make changes to their mountain using a toothpick and observe how the water flowed before and after the changes. It was a great experience and only once we had water out of the bucket and it was partly my fault. Did you know Dixie cups do not hold their water overnight? Amazing what they can do when given the right amount of expectation, explanation, and exploration!
I agree with your analysis of our current teaching situation. I have never been a teacher that can have my classroom absolutely quiet but I know that administration does reward those teachers that can do that and they believe that they are better and stronger leaders because of it. Until we do not have a test to measure our achievements, we are going to be forced to scale back our "play" and make sure that we make the highest grade on our report card. We stop our play, sit ourselves down and do it the way we always have because that has work and they are not sure if what we are doing will have the same result.
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