WEEK 3 BLOG QUESTION - What do Drive and the Evolving Classroom have in common? What are the implications for your classroom?
David Thornburg's description of the Evolving Classroom and Dan Pink's lecture about motivation are both reminders that students learn best when they are engaged and active participants in their own learning. The Behaviorist model of reward/punishment does not always lead to the best results. I remember this from my own schooling and from watching my children in school. Projects where children have some autonomy, along with guidance from teachers, are always the most memorable experiences. The sense of self-esteem and achievement that a student feels at the end of this kind of assignment is more valuable than any grade or gold star.
I have been thinking about this a lot, because I hope to become a kindergarten teacher. Little ones are building so much foundational knowledge, kindergarten teachers have to use more of an information processing model during a lot of their instruction. There is a lot of teacher-led repetition and reinforcement. However, I do think that there are ways to incorporate some of the ideas discussed by Mr. Thornburg and Mr. Pink. Kindergarten kids are natural explorers. I hope to establish a classroom that is more open, with stations where kids can switch out from one topic to another. I definitely plan on having time for self-directed hands on activities, with a variety of manipulatives. As the year advances, I hope to let the kids do a genius project, where they create a presentation for the class on individual topics of interest.
I've also been impressed with how many engaging tech options there are to help engage kids in the younger age-ranges - including cool options for games, reading and science that were not available even a few years ago. Some parents are afraid of technology with children that young, but I hope to convince them of Mr. Thornburg's assertion that technology opens new doors of possibilities for us. For instance, not every kid will be able to go and visit the Coral Reefs in Australia, but we can explore them together through technology.
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ReplyDeleteMaggy Zeid
DeleteEms, I agree with you and assure you that what Mr. Thornburg and Mrs. Pink stated are true Kindergarten kids are natural explorers. I taught Kindergarten for 8 years using the Inquiry approach and my classroom was divided into many stations. One of them was a science one filled with so many tools to explore many stuff such as rocks, shells, light.... and a tinkering station filled with recycled boxes, bottles, bottle caps, glue, tape , papers , craft sticks .... children loves those two stations the most because they got to explore, design and build. They got to try to build many things working in groups and collaborating it was really amazing to see their creations in these two hands , engaging centers.
I haven't seen these stations incorporated in a classroom but they sound like so much fun. I'll definitely look into it because this is something I would love to have in my future classroom. The traditional classroom environment where all the desks are in rows and there is not an emphasis in discovery or collaboration definitely impacts their excitement for learning. For the majority of kinder student's it is their first time being in an actual school setting. These type of activities would make learning and the classroom memorable.
DeleteI completely agree that the Behaviorist model is not always optimal in the classroom, and with the Evolving Classroom we kind of naturally step away from that mode of thinking. Our classrooms are gearing more and more so in the direction of utilizing technology and letting our students be engaged in their work, something to call their own that they can be proud of. We need to teach our students, especially in the early years of education, that learning can be fun as well as rewarding. When we do this and give them some autonomy when it comes to their learning I believe their experiences can only be enriched. Also like you mentioned, technology can provide experiences to students that may not have access to otherwise. This not only creates a more inclusive environment for all students, but it makes it exciting!
ReplyDeleteSomething to call their own is such a good point, Bethany.
DeleteYes, I agree that learning to be seen as fun and engaging for students.
DeleteI found it so interesting what the video showed regarding awards given out to employees and how they did not succeed. The more you pay someone to do the hard core work does not necessarily mean they will do a good job. That is what I remember seeing when I was in Elementary, the more stars you earn then you will get rewarded but in reality that shouldn't be the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal now and should have been from the start is what the kids want to explore through research, using technology, and having that hard work mean something to them. Like Dr. Thornborg says, "The value of the question for the kids is it gets them thinking about topics in a deep way". This will help them get engaged and start questioning the why, how, what, when, and where. As teachers we have to let these kids do their own exploring and show them their wonderings are important. Like you said without technology there are things and places we just could not be able to offer our students to research or look at virtually. Its those things that students will remember for a lifetime. We are lucky to have technology to do this because so many do not have that.
ReplyDeleteYes! It was so interesting to see that in both a work or a classroom context, rewards are helpful to a point, but a high level of engagement and sense of accomplishment have a more lasting impact.
DeleteIt blew my mind when I heard that. I would think that the promise of two months salary would be enough motivation for me to do my absolute best regardless of the task, but as I kept listening it made a lot of sense.
DeleteMaggy Zeid
ReplyDeleteI was really interesting for me too the result of the video regarding the awards, I always thought that when you award people and give them more money they will work better. Well, this idea turned out to be true but only for simple, straight tasks but when the task got more creative and complicated, tasks that requires some conceptual creative thinking the money rewards motivations didn't really work. So the 3 leading factors to better performance and personal satisfaction were autonomy, mastery and purpose. The more the company engaged and allowed the employee so do whatever they want too, the more the company challenged them to making contribution and work for a purpose not money , the more the company will flourish and succeed. Same in the classroom, I feel that the more the teacher foster autonomy and encourage mastery, collaboration and working for a purpose the more children succeed and are engaged in the learning process because learning involve them and their own lives.
"Involving them and their own lives" really resonated. Thanks for sharing, Maggie.
DeleteEm that's such a great point about technology! I think it would also benefit the different types of learners. For example, those who are primarily visual learners would benefit from seeing models, pictures, or diagrams on different subject matter. I've seen many younger elementary students be in awe of technology because they rarely get any exposure to it at home or school. I understand parent's hesitance and I think if they were more informed about how it can be implemented in the classroom to assist learning they would be open to it.
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