This was such a neat video! I loved seeing new teaching methods in another country taking hold of students like that. I thought the idea of the students mimicking child labor work to see for themselves how much they really care about the issue was great. I would love to be able to do something similar in a classroom because it is the application of the lesson and the hands on technique that seems to be a common theme among many of these videos. Experiential learning is clearly something that needs to be used more in and out of the classroom. I also think having a positive platform to build upon is important and the "I can" method seems to be working great! (Reminds me a lot of Marva Collins book where she starts off the school year reciting "Self-Reliance" and a new Pledge for the children to recite.
I would blur the lines like she said. The school shouldn’t be defined by 4 walls, a place to learn is all around us in our daily lives. Our learning even now is not contained inside a building. Learning occurs all around us everywhere we are.It showed me that kids are passionate, but stifle a passion long enough and they will no longer want to express their passion. So, for me I want to get to see what they are passionate about, relate the stories they learn about to their everyday lives and show them how they can do something equally as powerful.
I was especially intrigued by the “one week, one problem, change a billion lives” projects the students did in classrooms all over India. I want to use the same project to get students invested in changing lives in their own communities and families. They don’t have to change a billion lives, but they do have to benefit at least one person in a tangible, meaningful, lasting way either by redesigning the school-lunch system so spoiled milk is not served to students in their school or designing a free community-literacy program so adults can improve their own reading and writing skills or getting involved at their local water-treatment plant discovering new ways to screen more chemicals out of drinking water. Too many school programs believe that children who change the world are an anomaly rather than a uniform possibility. All children have the power to change the lives of those around them if they are trusted and encouraged with the proper support to do so. Given access to information, technology, and the creative encouragement to apply their own solutions to practical problems students can have an impact on the world. But we must be strong enough to let them take chances, make mistakes, try new solutions, and interact with their communities as leaders—after all they will need to do this as adults and if they don’t have experience to draw from they will probably continue the same old tropes out of fear and discouragement (fear of failure and discouragement because they were told as children that they could not make a difference until they were adults, by the time they became adults they had been told by society so many times that they couldn’t make a real difference that they believed it). Since students are interacting with the community directly by making “child-friendly cities” and playgrounds, literacy programs, and fundraisers to help the poor on a large scale the community is not only working with the students but is a beneficiary of the programs themselves. It is essential for revolutionary learning such as Riverside to be embedded in a supportive community that believes in and helps the programs succeed in practical and creative ways. Students must rely on each other to be responsible, intellectually familiar with the problem and solutions concerned, and willing to help implement an agreed-upon, realistic plan of action. The solutions students and teachers create are in part a reaction to the community as well as a reaction within the community and a social change for, within, and by the community.
Question: What do you think students can do in your home community to change it? How would you help them?
Lorien, your very long in detail responses make me feel like mine are so not detailed enough, haha. I love how dedicated to detail you are. But if I was going to help students in my home community, I would want to do all the type of programs that encoruage literacy and involvement in the community. If the community gets involved with the children, then its like it was said in the video, then children will want to give back to the community.
I love how she talked about the school not being just four walls too (like Abby said). I can relate, cuase when I was younger, I always learned whenever we went outside of the classroom. Being confined in four walls does give the "prison" like situation that several others say school is like. Even in college, i found that i learned better outside than i did inside and my students i taught always came up with better ideas for poetry after they went outside for some inspiration. So I definitely believe that getting the students outside of class is a definite positive thing to help improve their learning experiences.
As far as getting involved in the community, I want to as much as possible, be invovled with the community with my students. I was never encouraged to do that as a student myself until college, and I wish I had been. Some of the best experiences, friendships, and other lessons comes from community work and interaction. So if I can, I will do all I can to make sure that I involve my students with the community.
Kiran Bir Sethi focuses on the “I Can” attitude as the most effective means of teaching. She recommends that we blur the boundaries between school and life. Students should be made aware, they should be enabled, and they should be empowered. Sethi further explains this idea in that they should feel, imagine, and do. I would incorporate Sethi’s focus on experiential learning. I would infect everyone with the “I Can” bug. I hope to be an “I Can” teacher and I hope to inspire my students to believe and act this message as well. Sethi reacts against the restrictions of the education system. When we tell students that they can’t we are slowly diminishing their desire to learn and to act. Community is a vital aspect of Sethi’s method of education. The student/community relationship is the most important. Students must be made aware that they are responsible for their environment and that they are capable of making the change that they want to see. By expecting the students to play important roles in their community we inspire them to do so. “You Can” translates to them as “I Will.”
This was such a neat video! I loved seeing new teaching methods in another country taking hold of students like that. I thought the idea of the students mimicking child labor work to see for themselves how much they really care about the issue was great. I would love to be able to do something similar in a classroom because it is the application of the lesson and the hands on technique that seems to be a common theme among many of these videos. Experiential learning is clearly something that needs to be used more in and out of the classroom. I also think having a positive platform to build upon is important and the "I can" method seems to be working great! (Reminds me a lot of Marva Collins book where she starts off the school year reciting "Self-Reliance" and a new Pledge for the children to recite.
ReplyDeleteI would blur the lines like she said. The school shouldn’t be defined by 4 walls, a place to learn is all around us in our daily lives. Our learning even now is not contained inside a building. Learning occurs all around us everywhere we are.It showed me that kids are passionate, but stifle a passion long enough and they will no longer want to express their passion. So, for me I want to get to see what they are passionate about, relate the stories they learn about to their everyday lives and show them how they can do something equally as powerful.
ReplyDeleteI was especially intrigued by the “one week, one problem, change a billion lives” projects the students did in classrooms all over India. I want to use the same project to get students invested in changing lives in their own communities and families. They don’t have to change a billion lives, but they do have to benefit at least one person in a tangible, meaningful, lasting way either by redesigning the school-lunch system so spoiled milk is not served to students in their school or designing a free community-literacy program so adults can improve their own reading and writing skills or getting involved at their local water-treatment plant discovering new ways to screen more chemicals out of drinking water.
ReplyDeleteToo many school programs believe that children who change the world are an anomaly rather than a uniform possibility. All children have the power to change the lives of those around them if they are trusted and encouraged with the proper support to do so. Given access to information, technology, and the creative encouragement to apply their own solutions to practical problems students can have an impact on the world. But we must be strong enough to let them take chances, make mistakes, try new solutions, and interact with their communities as leaders—after all they will need to do this as adults and if they don’t have experience to draw from they will probably continue the same old tropes out of fear and discouragement (fear of failure and discouragement because they were told as children that they could not make a difference until they were adults, by the time they became adults they had been told by society so many times that they couldn’t make a real difference that they believed it).
Since students are interacting with the community directly by making “child-friendly cities” and playgrounds, literacy programs, and fundraisers to help the poor on a large scale the community is not only working with the students but is a beneficiary of the programs themselves. It is essential for revolutionary learning such as Riverside to be embedded in a supportive community that believes in and helps the programs succeed in practical and creative ways. Students must rely on each other to be responsible, intellectually familiar with the problem and solutions concerned, and willing to help implement an agreed-upon, realistic plan of action. The solutions students and teachers create are in part a reaction to the community as well as a reaction within the community and a social change for, within, and by the community.
Question: What do you think students can do in your home community to change it? How would you help them?
Lorien, your very long in detail responses make me feel like mine are so not detailed enough, haha. I love how dedicated to detail you are. But if I was going to help students in my home community, I would want to do all the type of programs that encoruage literacy and involvement in the community. If the community gets involved with the children, then its like it was said in the video, then children will want to give back to the community.
ReplyDeleteI love how she talked about the school not being just four walls too (like Abby said). I can relate, cuase when I was younger, I always learned whenever we went outside of the classroom. Being confined in four walls does give the "prison" like situation that several others say school is like. Even in college, i found that i learned better outside than i did inside and my students i taught always came up with better ideas for poetry after they went outside for some inspiration. So I definitely believe that getting the students outside of class is a definite positive thing to help improve their learning experiences.
As far as getting involved in the community, I want to as much as possible, be invovled with the community with my students. I was never encouraged to do that as a student myself until college, and I wish I had been. Some of the best experiences, friendships, and other lessons comes from community work and interaction. So if I can, I will do all I can to make sure that I involve my students with the community.
Kiran Bir Sethi focuses on the “I Can” attitude as the most effective means of teaching. She recommends that we blur the boundaries between school and life. Students should be made aware, they should be enabled, and they should be empowered. Sethi further explains this idea in that they should feel, imagine, and do. I would incorporate Sethi’s focus on experiential learning. I would infect everyone with the “I Can” bug. I hope to be an “I Can” teacher and I hope to inspire my students to believe and act this message as well. Sethi reacts against the restrictions of the education system. When we tell students that they can’t we are slowly diminishing their desire to learn and to act. Community is a vital aspect of Sethi’s method of education. The student/community relationship is the most important. Students must be made aware that they are responsible for their environment and that they are capable of making the change that they want to see. By expecting the students to play important roles in their community we inspire them to do so. “You Can” translates to them as “I Will.”
ReplyDelete