tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3361084093786980743.post1239095797262856083..comments2015-07-10T13:27:11.662-04:00Comments on Pedagogical: Questioning Answers: A Response to Empowering EducationAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08547999291140131084noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3361084093786980743.post-61644065743101061452013-10-08T18:41:59.447-04:002013-10-08T18:41:59.447-04:00What we are really talking about is that all stude...What we are really talking about is that all students are different and all teachers are different. There is no such thing as all sizes fit. I have an unrealistic impossible approach to all of this.... Go through the entire roster and pick your team that fits your personality. It really is not a new approach....It is called a cohort. Think about our group. We have great interactions yet we come from very diverse backgrounds.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3361084093786980743.post-25952831264943083712013-10-07T22:11:48.362-04:002013-10-07T22:11:48.362-04:00Love the dialogue between you and Polly above... ...Love the dialogue between you and Polly above... in fact, I want to resist reiterating just because "I am the teacher" and say instead that these are real questions I hope to discuss on Wednesday night :)Lesleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06927432771374078120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3361084093786980743.post-11525936739981843982013-10-07T18:35:25.720-04:002013-10-07T18:35:25.720-04:00Thanks, Polly. I do think that student choice and ...Thanks, Polly. I do think that student choice and involvement are important. I think the idea of having kids pose their own questions and look for the answers is a good one, but even with this, students have a hard time. Maybe it's just the age group I'm dealing with, or the fact that the kids have been spoon fed since kindergarten, but it's very challenging to have them think about things in an abstract manner. It's also incredibly time consuming. Like I said in my post, I go back and forth with much of the material Shor writes about. I think it's all wonderful in theory, but feel that it's much easier said than done. I also think that it's one thing to have students design a project and complete said project, but it's a whole other ball game to have this take root in every day lesson planning. I'm not at all opposed to allowing more student control and choice, but just haven't found an efficient or meaningful way to incorporate these ideals into daily lesson planning. I appreciate the examples and feedback you supplied, I hope I don't come off as unaccepting of your advice :) Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08547999291140131084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3361084093786980743.post-11110793624165378992013-10-06T18:09:21.032-04:002013-10-06T18:09:21.032-04:00Brittany,
I agree with most of your assessment of ...Brittany,<br />I agree with most of your assessment of Shor's piece. In fact, as I read the chapter I had the same questions: how can kids who need and crave structure, along with the skills and content that form the foundations of literacy (ie literacy of all genre, math et al) be asked to co-partner curricula? My answer was that while the teacher, the content expert, controls the guidance of a class, engaged learning that begins with inquiry and ends with a product, can be considered as a type of co-writing a curriculum. What can that look like for younger students? Maybe in a science class with a curriculum written around eco-systems, the teacher can guide the students towards reading background information on the subject before they are guided into asking questions about a certain eco-system they want to investigate. They then research their own answers while being encouraged to make notes about more questions they are asking during their research, and then sharing their answers via a presentation to the class: hence, they are co-writing in a way, the curriculum the class is learning. So, my answer came in less a literal way than I originally thought. Co-writing the curricula can also come via project-based inquiry learning so that they are gathering information that might normally be taught, while trying to create a new product or solve a problem. The structure part students need can come with the students helping to set up the classroom for best effort and vote on time-limits etc for projects (within reason of course as we all have timelines etc. to which we must adhere ;) ) <br />Polly Barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14278328113225226825noreply@blogger.com