Changing the way students learn
I have given a lot of thought lately about teaching in a 1:1 school. I have looked at textbooks with questions and answers and watched students presenting in class after finishing projects. I can’t get away from the feeling that this should be done a lot differently. Engaging all the students in a class is always challenging, but I know we need to turn the focus away from the teacher asking the questions and being the only keeper of answers. I read this text “A new culture of learning” by Will Richardson on Weblogg-ed.
Finally, in the teaching-based approach, students must prove that they have received the information transferred to them—that they quite literally “get it.” As we will see, however, in the new culture of learning the point is to embrace what we don’t know, come up with better questions about it, and continue asking those questions in order to learn more and more, both incrementally and exponentially. The goal is for each of us to take the world in and make it part of ourselves. In doing so, it turns out, we can re-create it.
There are a lot of smart people out there talking about change and also many who have ventured and succeeded. But still it seems to take a lot of time to change the way we work in schools. I for one am getting to be very impatient. But change has to start with me and my students and I am certainly going to work on it!
The RISC Approach to Schooling is a revolutionary approach to education that represents a dramatic shift in the educational process. At our conference in November 2010 Richard DeLorenzo visited our school and gave an introdctuion to the system and his book delivering on the promise. If you missed the opportunity to see Richard DeLorenzo when he was in Norway you might want to listen to his presentation!