Skip to main content

A Rude Awakening

The past few months I have been incorporating Google Classroom more and more into my science classes. Students are becoming very familiar with Google Docs, and they are starting to wake up from worksheet induced comas and starting to think again.
When I first presented them with Google Classroom and Google Docs, they seemed dazed and confused at what I was showing them and what I was expecting from them. What I was showing them were the tools to create, collaborate, communicate, and apply critical thinking beyond a textbook and beyond the standard worksheet. What I was expecting from them was to learn in a meaningful, authentic, personalized way. It was a rude awakening for many.

While a few students are still wanting to "sleep in" a bit more, most are already awake and are energized to learn. Students are telling me, "I really like doing these (tasks)," "This doesn't even feel like school," and "Have you looked at my work yet? I'm really excited for you to see it." I can't remember the last time I have heard my students say anything remotely similar about a worksheet that I had given them.

Hopefully my students find learning fun and meaningful again. Hopefully they see that learning can happen anywhere and at anytime. Hopefully they see that their ideas, thoughts, and creativity matters. Hopefully they are awake.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Force Awakens

Just when I thought I had my blended learning classroom in a good place, everything changed. Half way through the school year, my district decided to pilot a new math series. This meant change. A change I was having trouble dealing with. For about two weeks I struggled and became quite frustrated trying to figure out how this new math series fit into the way I had been running my blended learning classroom. I kept trying to force the math series in but kept getting disastrous results. My struggles and frustration spilled over into my classes. I did not like what I was seeing from the math series, I did not like what I was seeing from my teaching, and I did not like the results I was seeing from my students. Every night I left school feeling disheartened, but determined to make things better the next day. The only problem was I kept trying to force the fix every new day, instead of sitting back, reflecting, and seeing what other solutions came about. I was suffering from a little ca...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Great Wall

Having 13 devices in my room has been a dream come true. No longer can I complain about not having the tools to move my students' learning into the 21st century. No longer can I complain about not having time in the computer lab (an outdated use of a room anyway). No longer can I sit and wait until change happens. No longer can I make excuses. The responsibility is on me to use the tools, all the tools, in my classroom to make learning happen, meaningful, and wait for it, enjoyable. The 4C's (communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity), that are so widely talked about, are also my responsibility to incorporate into my classroom. What I am starting to realize more than ever, is that the devices I have are just additional tools in my classroom. They are not the be all end all. These tools definitely bring a lot more potential into the classroom, but it is still the pedagogical skills and relationships that are built that make a successful classroom. Th...
Post a Comment
Read more

You Should Read It

How many times have you finished a fantastic book full of so many ideas, and then struggled to tell people about it? You know the book is full of ideas you think would not only benefit you and your students but other teachers and their students. However the best you can muster up in a conversation is, "It was a great book,"  "You should read it," or "You would really like to read it." Not glowing reviews, even by Amazon's standards.    If you are like me, chances are this has happened to you many times. I feel foolish I cannot articulate anything better than, "You should read it." (Makes me wonder how I can articulate enough to write my blogs.) And even worse, even though I know however great the book was I just read, I end up forgetting a lot of it. Sure I underlined or highlighted and made comments in the book, but those books ultimately end up on my shelf waiting for some company from the elf the day after Thanksgiving until Christm...
Post a Comment
Read more