As teachers, most of us tend to think that we know everything and that the students should listen to us all the time! Well that was how it was like when I went to school. The students' opinion was never taken seriously. How could it be as the teachers were always right! My dad was a teacher and a principal when I was a little kid. I had to keep quiet or else I was not allowed to get any treats from him.
Then I became a teacher in the 21st century and guess what I had found out or rather what I had learned! As a first year teacher, I had never used Mac computers when I arrived at my present school. I didn't even know how to use the mouse which has no right or left clicks. I felt quite embarrassed that I had to ask a Year 6 student to show me the function. I dared not ask my colleagues because I didn't want them to know that I couldn't use the mouse! I am proud that since then I have advanced quite fast and actually know a lot more than the six and seven years old children in my class. Even then I find myself asking them about certain things that they had learned from their ICT lessons and they never hesitate to show or teach me! They never ask me why I don't know how to do certain stuff because they have this collaborative learning nature which many adults are still struggling to get used to.
A week ago, a Facebook friend has posted the following video on my wall and I thought that it is a wonderful video to share with my friends-whether you are a teacher or not.
4 comments:
I agree 100 percent that we should listen to kids,sometimes it is them that have the best ideas.
I think that simply treating students as if they are intelligent (although they sometimes prove otherwise ;) can make the classroom setting much more learner friendly. If an adult (or anyone) acts as though they can learn nothing from someone, they lose a lot of respect.
There's no doubt that you've made progress with your online learning in the past three years. I think the challenge for educators is to keep evolving and keep modifying their work.
My goal is to create a true learning community in which we all learn from each other. In EDM310 we are getting closer to that goal. I know I have incorporated at least a dozen idea and suggestions - probably more - that I learned from my students last semester into this semester's edition of EDM310. But more importantly, Anthony Capps and Jamie Lynn Miller (and now Stephen Akins) are the student spark plugs at the heart of EDM310. Not only should we listen to and learn from kids, we must also involve them as major participants in a worldwide learning community.
Thanks, Jenny, for finding this powerful message for us!
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