Reflection on Future orientated Learning and Teaching

Reflection on Future orientated Learning and Teaching.

Description:

I tried to incorporate the things I have learned in Mindlab in my classroom teaching coupled with thinking how do I stack up as a teacher in the 21st Century. In my Graphics class I did a lesson to try and get the students to collaborate. I gave them a strange looking design idea off a Pinterest  site and asked them to tell me what they thought it was. They shared their thoughts through a Padlet thus giving the whole class an opportunity to engage anonymously which the kids really love. They then had to work in groups to design something from my idea and sell it to the class by presenting in front of the class as a group and then vote for the best solution with the winner group getting a pizza.

My Feelings

I was not sure if it would work because a large number of the class was ESOL students and they did not mix easily because of the language barrier. But I was hopeful because everybody appeared to have given an answer in the Padlet but It was still anonymous so I did not really know. The class had a good vibe as they worked in teams and there was good buzz in most of the teams and I had to hold myself from intervening where I thought a team had gone quiet as I wanted the students to collaborate without prompts from me.

Evaluation and analysis.

The students blew me away with their design ideas and how different each group was. What surprised me was their teamwork in the presentation of their ideas. Making it a competition really spurred the students and having a food prize also helped but seeing the ESOL students  collaborating was the cherry on top. Voting also surprised me as thee students picked an idea I would not necessarily say was the best on the day but their choice so I had to respect their opinion. Padlet was also good for collecting student voice about working together. Most found it more helpful than working on an idea by themselves. Something to think about when doing project work is What people are calling a lot of things project-based learning is not necessarily high quality learning experiences for kids. Katrina Schwartz 2018. Negatives I found in my lesson were that group-work is never an equal contribution even though the group grade is the same for everyone. Using Padlet for the first time did lead to some fun comments coming up on the screen but nothing too outrageous.

Conclusion and Action Plan.

I think collaboration is a valuable thing in the classroom and I need to create tasks that will help students to engage with one another in a meaningful way and for it to be part of their daily practice. The challenge of moving from the old classroom style of teaching students where they sit in front of you and listen and then do something by themselves is upon us and My action plan is to do more activities that get them engaging with more people be it in the classroom or in the real world or in online communities.

References

Finlay, L. (2009). Reflecting on reflective practice. Practice-based Professional Learning Centre, Open University. Retrieved from  http://www.open.ac.uk/opencetl/sites/www.open.ac.uk.opencetl/files/files/ecms/web-content/Finlay-(2008)-Reflecting-on-reflective-practice-PBPL-paper-52.pdf

Katrina Schwartz (2018) The six must have elements of high quality project based learning.