Please discuss the most potent points in the discussion this week. What instructional and pedagogical opportunities are out there to build student voice, choice, and agency? How will you create learning experiences for your unique learners?
Dave Burgess wrote the book, Teach Like A Pirate to share his philosophy of teaching. After listening to the video chats, his outlook on education is simple: “Don’t just teach a lesson, create an experience.” The participants in the first discussion talk about the “secrets of engagement.” Again, it’s simple - tie whatever you’re doing into something kids are already interested in.
Burgess divides teaching into three parts.
One of Burgess’ main points is that teachers learn about content, techniques and methods in school, but they rarely learn about presentation which is the key to delivering successful lessons.
I agree with a lot of what Burgess says. While I’m not really one to dress up as literary characters to get my students’ attention, I do try to engage them in other ways. I try to make my lessons as participatory as possible. I strongly believe that learning should be active not passive. The increased use of technology has helped a lot to get kids engaged.
Choice is another important factor in creating engagement and I try to incorporate choice into activities as much as possible. For the semester 1 writing unit, students had to write an argument essay. Thanks to the availability of Chromebooks for my classroom, I was able to provide links to the NY Times Room for Debate section where students could choose from a multitude of topics to research. Students were much more engaged and I benefitted by not having to read 85 essays on the same topic. For other projects, students have had choice in the way that they present information. We’ve also conducted research projects on various topics and students have “jigsawed” to share their newfound knowledge with the rest of the class. We’ve used various platforms to present information (mostly thanks to what I’ve learned in the IT&DML program) including Storify, Prezi, Powtoon, Animoto, Haiku Deck and Google Docs. I have also spoken with our Literacy Consultant about creating a literature circle unit this spring. We are going to work together to give kids several choices in what they read in the hopes of increasing engagement in reading.
When I started listening to the Google Hangout about gaming, I will admit that I was skeptical. My initial reaction was that everything can’t be made into a game - learning is just plain old hard work sometimes. However, when Burgess explained that it’s not necessary to turn everything into a game it began to make sense. Basically, teachers need be prepared to have a multitude of strategies at their disposal because you never know what will work. Figuring out ways to incorporate popular ideas into content is one way to make learning fun and relevant for kids. The bottom line though is that you need to do anything that works.
I try to mix up the type of activities in my class as much as possible. I want to share my passion for what I’m teaching with the kids. I want to continue learning and I’m constantly looking for new ideas. I’m not ready to dress up as Louis XIV and gorge on food as an intro to the French Revolution as one of the teachers participating in the hangout did, but I try my best to make learning interesting so that my students will be actively engaged in their work.
And here is my Week 7 Storify: Voice and Choice
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