My plans for this year are very ambitious- we are taking on civics games and are to establish communication and collaboration with other schools in WV as well as TX. I am excited and maybe a little scared not to meet the expectations, but these feelings usually drive me to achieve more and help my students meet the goals of my class.
Globaloria is such an exciting class that, despite its complexity and new ways to deliver curriculum, it interests kids tremendously, challenging the high achievers and helping the struggling students take interest in school in general and see purpose in their education. I often compare the essence of this program to any other educational innovations, challenges, or problems schools deal with today.
I was recently reading Ian Jukes's blog When Flogging a Dead Horse It's Probably Good to Dismount and could not help but think that so many programs we run at school feel like a dead horse that we fail to dismount and keep on trying to find the ways to revive it. Ian Jukes notes that, unfortunately, it is common practice in education. I got a good laugh out of reading his blog, but in retrospect, the issue does not feel funny. Change is hard but it is now or never that we need to embrace it in education. Ian Jukes connects his ideas on educational practices of "riding a dead horse" to the issue of the biggest annual drop in reading scores in 31 years on SAT. In this case, the dead horse is our TTWWADI (that's the way we've always done it) and the demands of NCLB "running headlong into Digital Natives who are tuning us out and shutting us down."
"We try to engage kids who are neurologically different (Prensky, Small,
Tapscott, Pink, Dryden, Medina...) by using a PhD (piled higher and deeper)
approach. This much medicine didn't work so we'll just give them more of the
stuff. Based on the assumption that what doesn't kill them will make them
stronger." (Ian Jukes)
That's where Globaloria comes into play. This program does try to address the needs of these neurologically different kids by engaging them in the activities they feel are important to them, thus making their learning more meaningful.This program helps students use the skills they so artfully develop outside the classroom walls for academic purposes. Additionally, Globaloria lets teachers dismount their dead horses and try new strategies and approaches.
3 comments:
Thanks for this perspective Ingrida! Especially in the age of the internet, project-based learning and innovative approaches to pedagogy are more crucial than ever. It's great that teachers as motivated and capable as you are pioneering this program!
I enjoyed reading this and being introduced to Ian Jukes. What a powerful and inspiring speaker!
As far as mind set is concerned, check out the lyrics to "Change Your Mind" by Sister Hazel:
"If you've had enough of all your tryin'
Just give up he state of mind you're in:
If you want to be somebody else,
If you're tired of losing battles with yourself
If you want to be somebody else,
Change your mind, change your mind."
Often in education, we get stuck in "the way we've always done things". Not only are we beating a dead horse, in many cases we are causing undo stress on ourselves in the process. By "dismounting" the dead horse, and changing our minds, we often can make the whole process of learning and teaching more enjoyable for us and our students. Thanks for making me think about this.
Jim
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