Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Students Making Decisions for The Biome Project

Here is a post I wrote for my class blog, Mr. C's Class Blog. I am also posting it here because I wanted to share what my class has become. In the past I spent lots of time teaching content. I had my students do questions in their textbooks and lots of worksheets. Through my connections online with great teachers I evolved. I am a better teacher because of these connections. My students have a better opportunity to succeed because of these connections. In a few short years I have become less of a teacher and more of a facilitator for learning. My students are taking a responsible role in their own education.

My students are working on their biome projects now. Throughout this project they had to make choices based on what works best for them. Here are some vids of my students talking about what choices they made.

Here is Seth explaining what strategy he used to gather his information for the project.

Here Rosa talks about what strategy she used to gather her information for the project.

Here is Megan explaining what biomes she chose and which project she will do.


Here is Nathan explaining what biomes he chose and which project he will do.


Here is Parker explaining why he likes to be given choices with his work.

4 comments:

Or-Tal said...

This is brilliant.
I think that the "facilitator for learning" approach is the breakthrough all education systems need today.
I keep following you... :-)

Miss Mirthful said...

Hello Mr. Chamberlain. My name is Dana, and I am a student in Dr. John Strange's EDM 310 class. I love that these children in your class are able to get so much hands on experience. I have always thought that engaging the students in activity stimulates their natural curiosity and desire to learn, and that is exactly what you are doing! I was especially intrigued to hear the one young man's perception of the advantages of having choices, and how positive that made the experience for him. Thank you so much for sharing with us. Please feel free to visit my blog at reevesdedm310summer09.blogspot.com.

Kitty Ruzic said...

Mr. Chamberlain, my name is Kitty and I am a student of Dr. John Strange (EDM310/Summer09). I am delighted to see you giving your students ownership (decision making choices) of their project. Their responses are amazing in that they are actually thinking for themselves and not memorizing the material. I especially liked Parker,s response that if given the choice, he will figure it out himself! Thank you for your insightfulness. You may reach me at ruzickedm310summer09.blogspot.com to read more.

Megan said...

hi Mr. Chamberlain. My name is Megan Brown and I am currently taking Dr. Strange's EDM 310 summer course. He wanted us to watch your videos and put our own thoughts into them. After watching them I believe what you are doing is great. By giving these students choices they are learning at an early age that it is ok to be individualistic and different. They know what works best for them in doing school work and what is easier for them to do. By giving them choices they can make those decisions and be able to have good grades based on their own choices. If you have any comments for me my twitter name is Bamamcb07 and my blog website is http://brownmedm310summer09.blogspot.com/