Student-Centered Instruction
Students are directly involved and invested in the discovery of their own knowledge. Through collaboration and cooperation with others, students engage in experiential learning which is authentic, holistic, and challenging. Students are empowered to use prior knowledge to construct new learning and develop meta cognitive processes to reflect on their thinking. (Standards- 1.4, 2.2, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 3.2, 3.3, 6.2, 6.5)
I. Collaborative Learning
A true collaborative learning environment to me denotes the protective social fabric woven by the partnerships of students to their peers, by the relationships between students and caring educators, and by the cooperation between school and the greater community. The role of an educator in this environment is to be an advocate for students that cultivates a classroom environment which creates strong, confident, and empathetic students. This is something neither found in any standardized curricular outline, core of skills, nor educational "blueprint". Nor are these social skills innate, natural, or easy to learn for most students. It takes constant practice working with teammates of different background and ability level to get better at collaborating on projects. It takes great personal integrity and commitment to be a good partner and create quality work. It also takes a teacher brave enough to randomly assign students to groups, knowing they don't like working with people who aren't their "friend".
II. Experiential Learning
Technology has allowed for many different avenues with which teachers can tap into experiential learning. This is important in the subject of social studies because all too often students complain that the material is just about "dead guys", so why bother learning it? Experiential learning allows learners to personalize the content matter and feel more passionate about the past. The French didn't start a revolution in 1798 because their crop prices were rising, it was because the aristocrats and nobility screwed us over. Technology and hands-on learning allows our classroom to transform into the time period of the Italian Renaissance with the interactive Fair that is created by my students in spring, or by bringing the Industrial Revolution to life with entertaining student-created videos such as the one below.
III. Reflection and Meta Cognitive Processes
As if thinking wasn't enough, in my class students are required to think about their thinking. Sounds strange, yet this is easily done through my website blog discussions, where students share their understanding of the powerful ideas found in some of the films we have watched. Empowering them by giving them a voice through an online blog I believe is probably one of the single best improvements a 1 to 1 classroom has over a traditional one. Students that are shy or not confident finally have a medium to communicate their ideas and move the classroom discussion into new and exciting areas. Below are just some examples of how online discussions or blogs in my Sociology Class have been used in my classroom to enrich the content and enhance participation.