As a kid, I remember my Mom singing every song ever recorded by Barbara Streisand. She also watched every movie with “Babs,” as she called her. Most of those movies were musicals. I am pretty sure I can still quote and sing every line from “Hello Dolly.” She always said that she was just making sure we, her kids, were cultured. To my Mom, cultured meant exposure to things like the arts. More importantly, cultured meant experiences. Through those experiences, I learned. She probably did not realize it at the time, but she was shaping my understanding of the world, and how I would operate within it. Fast-forward a few years, okay, many years later and now I am providing learning experiences by changing the culture in my classroom. I am shaping my student’s understanding of the world and how they will operate within it. Most importantly, I have the opportunity to to help lead an educational revolution to change the culture of education.
In reading A New Culture of Learning by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown, I have found many reasons to believe that I am heading in the right direction in changing how today’s classroom operates. I have spent time reflecting on the meaning of culture and what that means for me as a teacher and for my students. I have also tried to see the need for change from the perspective of a learner. Being a graduate student makes me a student, but being a learner is much different. I am a learner for life, even when I graduate from an institution with a degree or certification. I want the same for my students. I want them to be learners for life. This requires a shift from the traditional expectation of teaching to a collaborative learning environment. This shift is built on creating learning experiences, not lessons that students get! Education is not something you give, but rather something that is facilitated. Being the “expert” in the room is no longer reserved for the teacher.
My goal is to transition to a more student-centered approach to presenting new information through blended learning stations. Ultimately, each child should essentially have their own teacher. They have the ability to work at a pace that is appropriate for their unique processing time and to provide evidence of learning in an individualized way. This not only allows students choice in proving mastery of standards, but also allows students to take ownership in their learning by setting goals and working to accomplish them. Students use authentic learning strategies to gain new knowledge. Learners are responsible for their own learning. If we are not interested or we can find relevance in what we are learning, it simply does not become true understanding.
As I begin to introduce my innovation plan to my campus, I believe most will share my vision in transitioning to a blended learning model where we focus on the Inquiry Design Process. Since we have become a STEAM Academy, we strive to begin with a question and encourage students to use inquiry to find answers, more questions, and to make connections with learning. Our campus has the training, the curriculum, and the support to successfully implement a new way of learning.
One challenge I foresee will be finding ways to connect the required standards with authentic inquiry based learning in which the students take interest. It will take intentional design and consistency in methodology. I feel that the greatest obstacle will be the failures we encounter as we begin to implement this new culture of learning. The stand and deliver method with a few fun activities is so much easier to predict and prepare. Change is hard. Change means learning new things. If we do not remain steadfast in changing our culture of learning, the few that do, will face great difficulty in implementing true change. We have to accept early on that we will fail, and that is perfectly fine. We also have to accept that students will be frustrated as often as they are excited about this type of learning. We will be pushing our students to interact with each other and the curriculum on a much deeper level than ever before. We will be pushing our students to forget grades, and focus on goals. Students can be just as resistant to change as anyone.
I have been very excited and nervous about rolling out my plan to change the culture of my classroom and my campus. After reading A New Culture of Learning and listening to Mr. Thomas’ Ted Talk, I feel more exhilarated than ever to launch this new wave of education. The validation of the new ways that learners learn has helped build my confidence that this really is the best practice for students.
References:
Brown J. S. & D, Thomas. (2011). A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
Tedx Talks. (September 12, 2012). A new culture of learning, Douglas Thomas at TedxUFM [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM80GXlyX0U&feature=youtu.be.
Jennifer Bloodworth 