Linda Darling-Hammond makes sweeping recommendations for changes in educational policy. If implemented, these changes have the potential to overhaul the public education system and accomplish her goal: “a system of high-achieving and equitable schools that ensure every child the right to learn.” This supports John Dewey’s quote about how our democracy is predicated upon equal opportunities for education for all children.
Her overall plan allocates responsibility to states (for resources), districts (for distribution of resources, effective staffing, and standards for teaching), schools (for work environments of growth, assessment, and communication), and teachers (for meeting the needs of individual students and developing themselves professionally). Several of Darling-Hammond’s recommendations stand out to me as particular interesting.
Overall, Darling-Hammond makes a strong case for these institutional changes, and the international evidence is compelling. However, change needs both time and money in order to be effective, and these types of changes would take lots of both. I would value Darling-Hammond's thoughts on how to begin these changes (top down? bottom up? from the states? from the teacher prep programs?), as well as a timeline and plan for rolling them out. For my first grade classroom, though, even without change on an institutional level, I can work to engage my students with meaningful thought-based lessons and performance-based assessment. Active Learning, Transformation Level, Math http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/lessons/active_transformation_math.php In this case, a 5th grade math class has studied the base 10 number system. As a culminating assignment, the teacher assigned a collaborative project: create a new number system for aliens, and present it to the class. The new base system needs to have numbers, have a rationale for its creation, and can be presented in any way that the group decides is best to teach the rest of the class. The groups have access to a tremendous array of technology: document cameras, laptops, iPads, iPhones, video cameras, SMART Boards, and more. The goal of the project is for the students to demonstrate and present their understanding of a base system. This project addresses all four of the 4 C's: creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. Student learning is evident throughout the video. One student says that they decided on a base 8 system because their aliens have four fingers (and two antennae) on each hand. The students are collaborating effectively, so much so that the teacher actually leaves the room. The students are using a variety of tools, as well as paper and pencil, to create and design their number systems. I can see students talking and collaborating and discussing their ideas as they devise the optimal number system on a laptop, SMART Board, and more. One of the students says that the project is “more fun than doing book work….you’re actually getting to learn on your own.” In addition, the students have an authentic audience waiting at the end to learn about the new number system. I observed evidence of “TPCK” throughout. The teacher is engaging the kids in deep math thinking, integrating both content knowledge of math with excellent teaching pedagogy. She’s built imagination and creativity into the project; she’s given the students choice about almost every aspect of the project from beginning to end. She also has the students working in groups, and they seem to be effective. The teacher integrates technology in a way that enhances the learning, the experience, and the results. This project is a beautiful example of technology enhancing learning, rather than technology being used for technology’s sake. On the SAMR scale, this is “transformative.” I would love to integrate a similar project into my first grade classroom. The idea of teaching students a concept, then having them design a new alternative to demonstrate that concept is wonderful. I’ve been considering such a unit in first grade life science, in which students would learn about the parts of a plant and their functions, then design the "perfect plant." I could potentially integrate technology into this lesson (for example, kids could design their plants using an online coding app, or draw it in a drawing app); however, I would want to make sure that the “T” part of this “PCK” lesson would truly be integrated, rather than supplemental. One option is to have the students use a program like Educreations to draw, label, and present their perfect plants. Another option would be to use a coding program to show the functions of the parts of the perfect plant. An additional option may be to have the kids create an iBook with one page for each part of the plant. The ideas are endless! Here's a link to a Prezi presentation about this case study: https://prezi.com/awtclc4s4z4u/count-like-an-alien-21st-century-math-learning/ I would rate this lesson 5/5. |
Masters in Innovative Learning:
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