When it comes to curriculum I really feel
that teachers know the learning styles of each of his/her students and know
what works and should therefore be able to design and implement their own
curriculum. Then they can have the ability to modify the classroom environment
in order to meet the needs of each student and ensure they are making necessary
progress. I realize this is not entirely realistic now that the state mandates
exactly what should be taught and how, but the current approach seems dry and
boring, frankly. Students need to be excited about learning and thus the
teacher needs to have the leeway to be creative with curriculum and make it
applicable to student’s everyday lives. If students feel they are being
bombarded with facts/numbers/worksheets just to meet state requirements they become
resistant to learn and find it hard to care or be engaged with what they are
doing in the classroom. It seems to me it would be much more effective and
beneficial to them in the long run to offer curriculum and ways of teaching
that make them want to participate. If they recognize from an early age that
learning can be fun it will only help them in the long run and motivate them to
be active learners for the rest of their lives.
In addition, students have different
learning styles, which may or may not be stimulated by the methods required by
the state. Limiting students to this approach is unfair to those who students
who learn in different ways. The ultimate goal to help each student succeed in
the classroom environment and teachers should have the ability to find the
approach conducive to each student.
There is such an inner tug-of-war going on for educators--the desire to teach creatively using a variety of methods to reach each student and the reality of mandated curricula. I'm hoping we will begin to discover how to mesh the two as we observe in classrooms, read our textbook and incorporate the things we are learning in our Education classes and from each other. I observed an awesome teacher in my last observation. Her philosophy is to teach "the whole student," and she incorporated such a huge variety of teaching styles in a 45 minute lecture that I could not take notes fast enough! She had PowerPoint visuals, observation discussions (what do you see in this visual?), writing assignments, creative project assignment, small group discussion, moral discussions,clear expectations, etc. I could see that above all, this teacher PREPARES for class. She must put in an amazing amount of hours getting her lectures ready. The take home message for me was, "Get ready to put thought and care into lesson plans." A well prepared teacher is an effective teacher!
ReplyDeleteI can definitely identify with you on worksheets, especially when students have to do them all the time. It is frustrating to them and for me at times being their substitute and I find it is more difficult to keep them quiet and focused and on task. I think you also make a very important point about multiple intelligences and one way of learning may be fine and suitable for one group of students but what about the others who are left by the way side. If we can capture our student’s interest and create valuable meaning, our students may have a successful school career.
ReplyDeleteWe should be able to address the different learning styles of our students by understanding that not all students learn in the same way. The state mandates exactly what should be taught in the classroom, but the teachers are the ones that are required to implement the text and teach it to their students. This allows teachers to be creative and innovative in their teaching methods when applying the mandated state exams. Although, this may be challenging we have a duty to help our students to succeed, and we should be able use our own clever ways to work with and around the required state exams.
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