Excellence in Education:
Guide By The Side
We can’t expect students to be autonomous and creative when
we tell them exactly what to do. Instead let’s aim to point students in the
right direction and get out of their way.
I love it when I enter classrooms and I can’t immediately
find the teacher. Sometimes the teacher is huddling with students. Other times
the teacher is sitting with a group or working one-on-one with a student.
Embodied in this guide by the side philosophy is that
students will learn more, discover new concepts and apply their learning on
their own. Students are no longer passive learners. The assignment becomes a quest for knowledge
as students strive to discover answers on their own. We’ve moved beyond the
transmittal of information from teacher to student. The teacher becomes a
facilitator.
Cognitively, this approach makes sense. When students—for
that matter anyone—are able to generate relationships between the new material
and what they already know, they are far more likely to remember it and apply
it. In this constructivist classroom, students are given the opportunity to
truly interact with the material.
This is not to suggest that the teacher no longer lectures
or instructs. A guide by the side teacher provides a framework, some
information, and resources. The guide by the side constantly poses questions to
stimulate students.
Students need to think for themselves, pose and solve
problems. In a guide by the side classroom, students produce knowledge instead
of reproduce information. As we become guides on the sides—it won’t happen
overnight—students will become more independent and real learning will
improve.
BYOD Ideas for the Classroom: Audioboo or
Soundcloud
As today marks the official start of BYOD, I’ll be
trying to share some BYOD ideas over the next couple of weeks.
Both Audioboo and Soundlcloud are IOS and Android apps that
are simple to use and allow students to record and seamlessly upload their
audio to the web for sharing.
I’m more familiar with SoundCloud and one of the features
that I love is that you—as a teacher—can add a comment to a recording that a
student shared with you.
Some possible uses:
- Foreign language classrooms (pretty much any time)
- Students interviewing each other (one can become a famous person, for example). The other positive to this approach is that it only requires one, shared device.
- Students record their paired verbal fluency/think-pair-share
- What other uses can you think of?
Administrative Notes
“If we don’t tell our story, who will tell it for us?” As
teachers, you are constantly creating engaging lessons that go beyond the
ordinary. When you’re doing something beyond the ordinary, please let us know.
Mr. Warner has started a blog called Cougar Chat http://goo.gl/Gz81E5
where we can post goings-on. We’d love to post it on YouTube, create a press
release or tweet it. Help us tell our story.
We know the transition to Blackboard hasn’t been easy as all
hoped. We appreciate your extra efforts as you try to get your Blackboard
grades and more up-and-running.
If you’re interested in leading/facilitating an edcamp
session: http://goo.gl/P8vYy6
Visual of the Week: Fair Isn’t Always
Equal
*I got this off the Internet but can’t remember from where.
Upcoming Schedule
September
4th Field Hockey vs. James Monroe 4:30/6:15
Varsity first
September 5th Volleyball @ Manassas Park 6:00/7:30
September
Cross Country @ Great Meadow 9:00 am
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