The 21st Century Student
What can I say about the 21st century student! According to Dr. Drexler, connectivism empowers students to take control of their own learning. I believed as teachers you have to guide your students to discover and seek information to determine the facts on their own. It takes time to coach and guide students to take charge in their own learning. A teacher must first initial the learning process among their students to gather and share information in order for students to take over and fulfill each assignment or project. Teachers should assist and make sure everything is working smoothly and keep the students searching and working in the right directions. Teaching is not only showing how much the teacher knows but realizing that students will exceed the teacher and become self-learners about any topic. My theory is let the students have fun while learning. This will allow them to make connections and they will connect things that they are enthusiastic about. By allowing students to take control of their own learning, they will realize that learning is just more than opening up a book and reading a book. Through the use of technology, students can be artistic, creative and it allows them to be more engage in their learning. Teachers should not be afraid to implement technology in their lessons and allow students to take charge in their own learning.
While reading our text this week, I realized how important technology is in the classroom. The students make their own decisions and they control how to use the information that they locate on the internet. Another benefit for utilizing technology in the classroom, students are more engage, motivate and willing to participate in their studies. So as we journey through this 21st century, teachers should help their students develop new ways to facilitate their own learning.
When you said, "Teachers should assist and make sure everything is working smoothly and keep the students searching and working in the right directions," I thought about how teachers in the future may take on the role of "facilitator" more than "teacher." The more I think about it, the more I think this may not necessarily be true. The younger the students, the more they will need to be "taught" how to use these technological resources appropriately.
ReplyDeleteIt is very true what you said about students "developing new ways to facilitate their own learning." I think this is key with all this new technology. I see so many that have no idea how to find factual information from a reliable source on the internet. They will need to be taught this by an excellent, trained, and qualified teacher. Sometimes I wonder if we are forgetting that students still need to learn to read (at a very high level) to sort out this endless stream of data they will face. Students still need great composition skills to put their thoughts into words. While technology is great, I think we all need to make sure our students are not crippled by all of this technology.
The comment stating that "Teaching is not only showing how much the teacher knows but realizing that students will exceed the teacher and become self-learners about any topic," is a true fact in my opinion. As a teacher, we must be able to accept your exact point - that our students may out smart us and that is okay. We need to learn that we are still learning each day and that our young students help us to gain knowledge everyday, especially technology. There have been days where I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my projector and all of a sudden my 4th grader had saved the day! It is amazing how fast technology has hit the schools. It is like a tidal wave and we need to be ready to jump on board and go with the flow!
ReplyDeleteYes! Students must "own" their learning experience or it will not be something they will find valuable and their experience will be thrown out the window. I like your comment that teaching is not showing what the teacher knows. I love this because students should have a direct hand in what they learn and technology can play a big part in this if we integrate this into our instruction. Sometimes, I think teachers get stuck in the traditional way of teaching because of all the other aspects that they have to handle. (paperwork, interventions, RTI, etc.) I think if teachers (directing this towards me) would spend as much time on technology integration as they do with all the paperwork, our students learning experiences would be directly affected in a positive way.
ReplyDeleteIf our students are continually learning new things, then teachers should do the same. I love the idea of professional learning communities because they really work. Collaboration with my peers has made a huge difference in my knowledge of technology and what's out there. I think in addition to lesson planning a block of that time should be spent on planning technology resources to go along with whatever you are studying.
Your comment about allowing students to have fun while learning is something that I could really relate to. I think it helps them to understand the material and learn more information when they can play and have fun. I feel like a lot of schools have forgotten about this...which I find very unfortunate because kids still need to be kids.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I often felt like eventually I would be less on a teacher and more of a facilitator, but you made some really good points that show schools will always need teachers. You stated that "Teachers should not be afraid to implement technology in their lessons and allow students to take charge in their own learning." This is a great statement! Teachers should be doing this and hopefully one day they won't be so afraid to use technology in the class. I think a lot of people are still afraid to use technology in the class.
I agree with you that as teachers we need to allow our students to take control of their own learning. However, I fear that if we completely give control over to our students, there will be students who simply choose not to learn. I have students who are very unmotivated about school and are failing most of their classes. It seems to me that it would be incredibly difficult to change the mindset of these students so far in their schooling careers to make them into seekers of information. What sort of suggestion would you have for teachers of these students?
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you as well that as teachers we need to incorporate more technology in our classrooms. I wish that there were enough computers in each classroom to allow students to have access to them in class. While I know a majority of my students have computers and can go online from home, I also do have some students whose families simply cannot afford the internet at this time and students who cannot stay after school to use the computers because they have no other way of getting home. I love to use other forms of technology in my classroom though and I plan to continue to use them.
I agree that to be an affective teacher you need to guide students and give then direction before they work on their own. What you said about allowing students to discover learning on their own is true. We want to say “awesome” to our students when they exceed us or maybe exceed what we thought the full outcome of their work would be. It’s like “Learning Without Limits”. When students connect with others to learn or to research the Internet, it helps complete the learning process. If that student creates a blog or tweets, he is inviting feedback. Feedback is essential for all ages to receive to understand what they have learned. Interactive learning becomes a richer experience and more applicable than through textbooks. It is an important element.
ReplyDeleteJust today, I was joking with someone about “teaching and coaching isn’t it the same thing? We agreed!! I remember the feeling, when my team started calling me “coach;” an incredible honor. Being called “teach” doesn’t have the same affect, but many goals are shared.
ReplyDeleteEmpower, guide, discover, seek—words to live by, words to love by! Everything you state works together to create a shared learning experience; allowing students and teachers to embrace the experience, which results in fun. This concept infuses “traditional” education with the desire to learn. Then, teachers become coaches—building, practicing, and teaching skills with the ultimate goal of letting students surpass the teacher. I imagine, the coach like teachers of the past are the ones who propelled their students to greatness, resulting in discoveries such as the Internet.
Connectivism allows us to facilitate connections, networking, relationships, and more. As teachers, we can not be afraid to allow our students to surpass us. We need to encourage them to surpass us. We need to work together, not elevate ourselves to a place of distance from our students.