Here is the link to the site with the 30-day challenge.
Day 25
The ideal collaboration between students...what would it look like?
I think that this question has become (in the education world) like "the meaning of life."
When I started teaching, 11 years ago, it seemed that the "best" teachers were the ones who lectured, gave out packets and really grinded through class each day. Like most young teachers, I fell in the trap of trying to be like everyone else.
I came in every day at 6am (school starts at 7:30) and would grade, plan and get my packet or worksheet ready for the day. I was an English Teacher so I had grammar drills ready, stuff written on the board and was ready to rock and roll when the students came in. I would teach bell to bell and leave exhausted, only to come back and do it again the next day.
I wasn't enjoying myself and really didn't know my students that well; but I was determine to grind through my first few years and not smile until Thanksgiving (advice I was given in several of my education classes).
After my first year of teaching, I reflected and realized that what I was doing just wasn't working. In fact, I was miserable and was dreading the start of the next year.
Half way through my second year, I found a thing called Wikispaces (I have since evolved to Schoology and Google Sites..but this was a start).
I wasn't sure how I wanted to use it, but I loved the fact that this tool allowed me to do on-line discussions with my kids and let them interact on a different level.
So I gave it a whirl, and after my first week of using it, I kind of felt guilty. My kids had interacted, however:
I think that this question has become (in the education world) like "the meaning of life."
When I started teaching, 11 years ago, it seemed that the "best" teachers were the ones who lectured, gave out packets and really grinded through class each day. Like most young teachers, I fell in the trap of trying to be like everyone else.
I came in every day at 6am (school starts at 7:30) and would grade, plan and get my packet or worksheet ready for the day. I was an English Teacher so I had grammar drills ready, stuff written on the board and was ready to rock and roll when the students came in. I would teach bell to bell and leave exhausted, only to come back and do it again the next day.
I wasn't enjoying myself and really didn't know my students that well; but I was determine to grind through my first few years and not smile until Thanksgiving (advice I was given in several of my education classes).
After my first year of teaching, I reflected and realized that what I was doing just wasn't working. In fact, I was miserable and was dreading the start of the next year.
Half way through my second year, I found a thing called Wikispaces (I have since evolved to Schoology and Google Sites..but this was a start).
I wasn't sure how I wanted to use it, but I loved the fact that this tool allowed me to do on-line discussions with my kids and let them interact on a different level. So I gave it a whirl, and after my first week of using it, I kind of felt guilty. My kids had interacted, however:
- I had merely posted a few questions and topics
- I used their work to drive the class and
- didn't hand out one grammar packet or give one quiz.
My kids seemed happier and I felt that our classroom functioned how I always imagined teaching to be. Still, I kept this all a secret. I did't want to be the teacher who wasn't doing grammar packets; and the though of putting their work and discussions on line seemed wrong. I really didn't show anyone until about May when a parent emailed by division head letting her know how she loved the "new approach" I was taking to the classroom.
From that point on, I really just ran away with the idea of using technology in the classroom to foster student collaboration. I really tried everything from LMSs like Google Drive and Schoology to gaming apps like Kahoot to get my kids engaged with each other and drive the instruction.
I never looked back from there.
Whenever I reflect on what my first few years were like, I remember leaving exhausted and depressed and not feeling that I really had made a difference, yet I had worked so hard.
After I turned the corner and let my kids foster the growth and development of the class while I moderated their learning, I fell in love with teaching with the classroom and with the kids in my classes.
Honestly, it was student collaboration that made me fall in love with teaching and I believe saved my career :-)
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