I found this video of Sir Ken Robinson to be very intriguing and I loved what he had to say. I particularly agreed with his statement concerning the concept of being wrong. I try in my classroom to make my students overcome this fear of being wrong, and I can personally associate that as a student gets older, it becomes harder and harder for that student to accept a mistake. As a math teacher, I truly believe that we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our correct answers. I like to use the line, we use a pencil in math because we are bound to make mistakes - and that's alright...because you have an eraser. This concept that our education system forces children to understand that mistakes are bad is indeed killing creativity. Think about it, every single advancement of human kind wasn't done correctly the first time. Mistakes had to be made in order for the correct method to be discovered. It is this concept that mistakes are acceptable needs to be implemented into our classrooms in some form (but standardized testing and other grading systems fight against this daily).
This use of testing and preparation for college system that is currently implemented in our education system does not account for all students. Some students excell differently. A great example of this was the ballet student that is mentioned in the video who was considered a poor student, but she found her calling as a choreographer, which is something that our current education system does not adapt for.
While I agree with everything Sir Robinson said in his video, my question to him would be, we have over 100 million different children, with different needs, different quirks, different difficulties, different strengths. Now go create an education system that helps the MOST children at a time. Unfortunately, the creative student will suffer due to the structures that MOST students need to be prepared for the workforce. I hope that we can see the potential that every student possess in each every field, but given our limits right now, we are simply a funnel for colleges. I hope that changes are made, but like I said with the implementation of 21st Century Skills in my last blog, it will be difficult. SCHAMA SIGNING OFF.
Your observations are correct - you have first hand knowledge. How many times do we ask for an answer and when it is wrong, we move on to the next student until we get the correct answer which we praise. We teach our students that there is no time for questions and/or wrong answers. And we wonder why students do not elaborate on their answers. Not enough timne in my lesson to allow divergence away from the teaching objective.
ReplyDeleteDo we need to create a system? There are standards that staete what has to be addressed at each grade level. How it occurs depends on the teacher - his capacity and attitude. This is oversimplified because students come to your class with varying readiness skills related to environment and genetics. But that is where the "art" of teaching comes in. Understanding the "medium" you are working with and choosing the correct and most effective strategies to meet the needs. Choosing the correct "technical steps" that matches the music you have been given.
Ever consider taking a class in Special Education? The practices are useful to all students not just those with difficulties.
ReplyDelete"This use of testing and preparation for college system that is currently implemented in our education system does not account for all students."
ReplyDeleteYes, and even the testing of those who fit what is supposedly being tested for. I'd argue whether the current standardized tests account for ANY students. This week, my son had 3 days of standardized. Hearing him describe the questions and the structure of the test, I doubt the results show anything close to what they are interpreted to mean. They become a waste of learning time with no predictive value. They are created by "experts". I just don't know experts in what.
I agree with your thoughts on testing methods for progressing to the next level of education - I thought the ballet student that was discussed was an amazing story and really got me thinking about kids who do not test well and wondered how many of those students were lost?
ReplyDelete