Throughout my time progressing through public schools and looking back on what could’ve driven me to do better than I did, I constantly find myself looking at the same answer I always get. That answer is that I lacked the inspiration to push myself onward in the pursuit of knowledge. Being part of the AIG (Academically Intelligent and Gifted) Program and not being challenged by any of the work the schools provided during the last few years of No Child Left Behind and the entrance of the Common Core Curriculum made learning seem like a chore and a punishment to myself rather than something to enjoy and strive to obtain more of.
Inspiration itself is what drives many students forward and leads to many pushing past the required education to pursue a college education. As I asked with Elise Sheffield in her presentation of PBL and the VA’s Learner Profile, “How does this new form of teaching incorporate a chance of failure that the student can see?” One of the leading creators of inspiration is through the fact that you can fail and continue to press on, and I personally feel that if I would have been allowed to fail more through my time in public school that I would have a completely different outlook on education that I currently do today.
One of the good things that I do see coming from Sheffield’s presentation, as well as the presentation from Michelle Caruthers, is that fact that PBL will be able to bring a more hands-on approach to the learning environment and allow for the students to become more active not just in the classrooms but in their communities as well, with one of the examples being the recycling issues in Lexington as Caruthers covered on Tuesday. I feel that this is a step forward in the progress of teaching and will lead to a rise in student morale greater than any lecture-based instruction block can bring to the table.
I totally agree that students should have opportunities to fail, because failure is truly one of the best ways to learn. I also agree that a more hands-on approach is an effective strategy for learning, since the same lecture style classroom can get dull for students.
I think you are right, inspiration is what fuels students attitude towards learning and I’ve noticed this in my own experience. I think Brady’s article about Alfredo and Hannah makes sense to think about from your point of view because she had to get them to push through their failures in order to succeed.
I feel the same about the progression of hands on learning. I myself wish I was exposed to more expeditionary learning as I was growing up. I find it surprising that expeditionary learning isn’t more prominent in some areas especially where I’m from.
Mason,
Bringing up failure is a great opening for any learning expedition or innovative activity for project-based learning. The idea of “let’s see what happens when, or if I . . . “, though incredibly scary for most teachers who like control, is crucial to learning development. Dewey’s theories of experiential learning are fraught, necessarily, with failure, since any experience will bring its own conditions and constraints, as well as our indidivusl habits and assumptions to bear. We will also read some developmental psychology from Vygotsky who also talks about failure.
Having a sense of your own decisions made –whether to engage or not–is an incredibly valuable thing to know about oneself.
Looking forward to seeing what you make of Mr. Simms’ high school classroom tomorrow.
MAJ Hodde