Everybody is a Genius: The New Story

Everybody is a Genius: The New Story

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” –Albert Einstein

In previous weeks I have looked at topics such as the growth mindset and inquiry-based learning. These topics are very interesting to myself and I see them as necessary in today’s classroom. Connecting these two ideas is "The New Story". It is said that a story is never static; it always has one foot in the past and the other in anticipation of the future. According to Canadian change theorist Michael Fullan (2013), there are three interconnected Big Ideas in the new story: technology, the new pedagogy, and the teacher as an agent of change. Through this new story, my hope as a prospective educator is to combine both traditional and constructivist models with current technologies and innovations to meet the needs of the twenty-first-century learner.

In the twenty-first-century classroom, technology plays a big role and is ever-present. Technology provides tools to engage and enhance students learning. Thousands of educational apps offer interactive ways to learn through gaming and social networking. What technology really brings is the chance for a personalized education, and with this, the role of the teacher is shifting. No longer is the teacher the expert. Rather than transmit knowledge, teachers have the ability to facilitate learning through the responsible use of technology (Drake, 2014, p. 24). I had the chance to use iPads and SMART Boards in my high school experience and I found that just by using technology it most definitely changed the classroom climate. Students who normally were quiet in class were more involved because they could draw the problem, or look up an answer to a question they had. I feel that every classroom should be equipped with such technology to better student learning. Rather than banning technology in our classroom, something common while I was coming up through the school system, we should embrace how technology can aid in learning. Below is a video of how helpful technology can be when implemented properly in the classroom to aid both students and teachers.

                                                                 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK8InwlWkYg

The New Story also calls on a new pedagogy. In the twenty-first-century classroom, instruction which is constructivist in nature, and often project-based, is about deep learning. I see this new pedagogy as a way that allows teachers to choose instructional methods and assessment strategies that best fit the needs of the students. To me, this is the biggest difference in comparing the new and old stories. In the twenty-first-century classroom, educators are responsible for tailoring education to the needs of each individual student. Not every student needs to learn the exact same thing, as Karl Lindgren-Streicher mentions in his TedX talk below. We need to promote curiosity and creativity, which can be accomplished with the new pedagogy. 

In connecting technology in the classroom with a new pedagogy, Hattie (2012) states there are four criteria to maximize learning: it must be engaging, efficient, ubiquitous, and steeped in real-world problems. There are many reasons to use technology in the classroom, which Eutopia touches on here. As I wrote about last week, we have to involve our students in their education for them to get the most out of their learning. By implementing technology in the new pedagogy, our students will be involved and take control of their learning.

             Lastly, Fullan (2013) also mentions that teachers must act as change agents, who much like a chemical catalyst, increase the learning of both the students and him or herself. When looking at teachers as change agents, it is most important that the teacher is able to assess his or her impact on the learning of students. Without this reflection, teachers may not promote students finding meaning in their education. Below Karl Lindgren-Streicher speaks to teachers acting as agents of change. 

           

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5n3Zo5T8BY

           I agree with Mr. Lindgren-Streicher in one major theme of education. It doesn't need to be a zero sum game. Education shouldn't be about having winners and losers. As teachers we need to promote learning by providing meaning. 

           In essence, the new story is the sum of my blog to this point. By implementing technology, the new pedagogy, and being agents of change, by ingraining the growth mindset into our students, by changing evaluation, and by allowing students to be involved in real world problems via inquiry/project-based education, we can change education. It is not an easy feat, but by taking one of these ideas and implementing it into our classroom, we can change education. We can provide students with a meaningful education that they enjoy. In the twenty-first-century classroom, we have the opportunity to stop telling our students that they are fish and to climb the tree. We can provide methods and strategies to those students for them to be successful, and it might be different than the other students, but that is what makes this job so fun!

Until next time, 

Mr. Tiessen

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21^st Century Learner. Don Mills, ON:Oxford University Press.

Fullan, M. (2013). Stratosphere. Toronto, ON:Pearson.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. New York, NY:Routledge.

http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction   (Eutopia)

INVOLVING OUR STUDENTS IN INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING

INVOLVING OUR STUDENTS IN INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING

“Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I understand”

Last time I spoke about growth mindset and its advantages for both learners and educators in the classroom. To summarize, the growth mindset flips the script on what it means to be successful. No longer in the education system should the definition of success be a grade, but rather a comparison of where you have come from where you began. Through perseverance and grit, learners battle through failures and achievements in order to build upon their knowledge, no matter where they start. I mentioned that as long as you are on the staircase, no matter which step, and willing to work your way up, you are on the path to success.

The growth mindset allows learners to be creative as it welcomes failure, so long as learners are willing to learn from it. One way, which allows learners to use creativity while they formulate quality questions and gather authentic, real-world problems, is inquiry-based learning. Inquiry-based learning is a student-centred approach, which asks learners to be active participants in their own learning, while investigating real-world problems, allowing students to extend their knowledge beyond the four walls of their classroom (Drake, 2014). Below is a video of how to implement inquiry-based learning into your classroom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLjVOlnUoXU

By involving students in active exploration of real world problems, the hope is to create a sense of meaning and empowerment. Lay Leng and Polytechnic (2015) study shows that when students find meaning in their education they are more likely to succeed both inside and outside of the classroom. It shows that through problem-based learning settings, students had enhanced engagement (active participation) and meaningful learning. There is a plethora of research to backup the fact that students engaging in the material in a problem or inquiry based manner, find greater meaning and are more actively engaged.

So how do we implement inquiry-based learning into our schools? Referring to the adage at the beginning, it starts by involving our learners in the classroom. Lecturing students on material out of a textbook doesn’t give our learners a purpose, and therefore provides an education that lacks meaning. By following the steps below, learners are able to ask questions, to investigate, and to experiment, all while using and building critical thinking skills.

                        

 http://peakeducationalresources.blogspot.ca/2013/03/inquiry-based-learning.html?spref=tw

I had the opportunity to participate in a class where our entire structure was case-based learning. We were given a case and divided up into different roles so that as a group we were in contact with many professionals from the field, research in the field, and opinions of those involved such as students and parents. In this class, not only did I have the chance to personally connect with the material, but also the cases allowed me to expand my knowledge outside of our classroom at Brock University. The cases put the responsibility on us as students to discover the different points of view and also gives motivation to do the necessary work, as if you don’t you let your group down. While it was most definitely a learning experience, I can say that I definitely found meaning in taking control of my own learning and enjoyed learning through cases.

It is said that failure is a necessary precursor to ultimate success. People say that if you want to make it in the real world you must fail early, fail fast, and fail often. I don’t buy into this. I think that through creative investigation, group discussion, and personal reflection, all of which are a piece to the inquiry-based learning pie, students have the chance to learn. Replace each time it says failure with learning. I think that in order for learners to be successful in the real world, the must learn early, learn fast, and learn often. As educators we must involve our students in their own learning and one way that we can do this is through inquiry-based learning.

Until next time,

Mr. Tiessen

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and  Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21^st Century Learner. Don Mills,  ON:Oxford University Press.

Lay Leng, C., & Polytechnic, T. (2015). Enhanced Student Engagement and Meaningful Learning: A Curriculum Redesign. International Journal Of Pedagogy & Curriculum, 22(2), 1-13.

Building a Culture of Success by Changing Our Mindsets in the Classroom

Building a Culture of Success by Changing Our Mindsets in the Classroom

It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop – Confucius 

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed no hope at all - Dale Carnegie

When students believe that dedication and hard work can change their performance in school, they grow to become resilient, successful students (Ricci, 2013). As educators, our role becomes fostering this belief among the students in our classroom and school. This belief is making a strong push in schools today and is called growth mindset.

Growth Mindset, by definition, is the ability for students to persevere when faced with challenges and adversity by way of grit in order to attain long-term goals (Hochanadel & Finamore, 2015). The opposite of this is a fixed mindset, in which learners believe their success is a result of their innate abilities, and when they encounter difficulties, feel baffled and powerless (Drake, 2014). I agree fully with this definition of a growth mindset and it’s importance to educators and learners today. It is about changing the fixed mindset culture that currently exists in our schools, and along with it changing the definition of success. From this point of view, students should no longer view success as getting a 90%, but rather see success as how much they were able to learn, how were they able to challenge themselves when they came across a concept or idea they may not have understood, or push themselves further when they grasped the subject matter. 

As educators we must create a culture in which failure, taking risks, answering questions, and going outside of your norm or comfort zone is not only okay, but encouraged. When looking at the growth mindset, I look back to all of the times throughout my years in school where I gave up on a word problem or gave up on an idea I could not conceptualize, but it was okay because I knew I was going to do well on the next test or quiz. This was me going through K-12 with a fixed mindset, and quite honestly existed until my 3rd year of university. As a prospective educator it is becoming more and more apparent how much the culture of success needs to be changed. Growth mindset not only gives hope for the students unmotivated by certain subjects, concepts, or ideas, but it also humbles those students who do score well as it pushes them to even further their knowledge, as seen in this 2015 study by Anindito Aditomo.

In order to implement this new idea of how to be successful in the classroom, I believe that educators must build quality and genuine relations with their students. Students need to know that their educators genuinely care about them, because as Rita Pierson says in the following video, “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like”. I personally, remember my favourite teachers as the one's that you could tell, genuinely cared. Mrs. Pierson also speaks to her own experience implementing a culture of success via the growth mindset, speaking to giving a student a plus two rather than a minus eighteen on a test. Mrs. Pierson has changed the way I personally look at classroom dynamics and I hope anyone reading this takes the 8 minutes to watch her speak. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFnMTHhKdkw

The switch in culture within a classroom can be a daunting task for teachers who have already developed their own culture. I think what is most important for prospective educators like myself, is that we find resources to help us implement this new culture, starting now. If we don't, we all know the adage, "you will teach they way you have been taught", which is something that cannot happen if we want to create an environment of creative, resilient young minds. Mindsetonline.com and the book Mindsets in the Classroom by Mary Ricci (2013), which can be found here, lists step by step how to properly implement the growth mindset in your classroom, which makes it easy to follow for educators and prospective educators alike.

From how I view the growth mindset model, education isn’t about looking at students work and telling them what floor the elevator dropped them off at, but rather letting them know that they’re on a set of stairs. It doesn’t matter what stair they are on, as long as they’re on the staircase and willing to put in the work to keep climbing.

http://www.scriptmag.com/features/balls-of-steel-magic-trick-to-selling-a-screenplay

Cheers and until next time, 

Mr. Tiessen

Aditomo, A. a. (2015). Students' Response to Academic Setback: "Growth Mindset" as a Buffer Against Demotivation. International Journal Of Educational Psychology, 4(2), 198-222. doi:10.17583/ijep.2015.1482

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and  Classroom Assessment: Engaging the 21^st Century Learner. Don Mills,  ON:Oxford University Press.

Hochanadel, A., & Finamore, D. (2015). Fixed and Growth Mindset in Education and How Grit Helps Students Persist in the Face of Adversity. Journal Of International Education Research, 11(1), 47-50.

Ricci, M. C. (2013). Mindsets in the classroom: Building a culture of success and student achievement in schools. Sourcebooks, Inc..