Will's blog post esentially sums up our discussion in class last Wednesday. At the end of class, I felt that we had a very constructive and interesting conversation about the future of teaching English in the classroom. I definitely agree with his point that as teachers, we need to understand that we are not the most knowledgable person in the classroom. We can learn just as much from students as they can from us. The classroom needs to be constructed in a take/take fashion. We need to be able to take information from our students and use it in everyday life, just as they need to do the same.
Perhaps the one point that most intrigued me and hit close to home was this:
"We need to unlearn the strategy that collaborative work inside the classroom is enough and understand that cooperating with students from around the globe can teach relevant and powerful negotiation and team-building skills" (Richardson).
By directing a classroom in a lecture-like manner, we are depriving our children of learning the opinions of other students. Many students during lectures, daydream or fall asleep. By allowing them to collaborate with other students, they will without a doubt learn a great deal that they wouldn't have if they had simply been lectured.
Also, the idea that we need to unlearn how to prevent and block our students from visiting sites on the internet is also extremely important. We need to realize that students can still utilize the internet and world wide web into the classroom, and have it be a postive-learning experience. First, however, we need to convince parents that we will be using the internet in safe and responsible ways. By monitoring our students, and parents monitoring their children, the internet will prove to be the most vital tool available.
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2 comments:
Linds, I agree with you completely. I didn't even stop to think that this was exactly what we were talking about in class last Wednesday, but you're right...essentially, it is. I also agree with you in how important it is to not deprive students of the opinions of other students. Allowing them to work with other students, allows them to "think outside the box" so to speak, and keeps their attention locked.
Hey Lindsay, I would have to agree that as teachers we need to monitor our students with what they do when it comes to the internet. I know at my high school we were automatically banned from websites that were not educational, so that might not be the problem, but more the parents. I think technology can be an intimidating concept especially when most of students parents did not use any type of technology while they were in school. This is where we need to "unlearn" and think and do things "out of the box."
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