I had two sets of emotions when watching the Brian Crosby video.
1. Amazement
What a great way to teach. You can tell that Brian is an exceptional teacher. He is really not the norm, but a hugh standard to aspire to. College kids should watch this video. I would also assume that he has attained this through innovation, cooperation, and the force of his personality.
2. Disappointment
Jeez, why can't my school do this. Even me, the optimist (usually!) was discouraged that our very wealthy school district does not have enough computers for the kids to learn on. The past three weeks I have not been able to do my final project because both of the computer labs are being used for standardized testing.
Brian is right when he talks about how test scores should be high when motivation and interest is high. The basics are covertly covered within high interest activities. When students are motivated, it is because school is interesting and fun! How many times do we hear that school is boring for kids. Ask them what classes are fun, and they will immediately (in my school) name art :), PE, science, and others. They should be naming language arts, science, social studies, etc. I love that they name the 'specials' but unfortunately they are not naming all the classes!!!
Teachers need to have activities where students are doing something and all learning is connected. Maybe we should no longer teach compartmentalized subjects, but move middle school to an elementary project based model. Connect all the learning through technology and art! Make all new teachers learn integration as the vehicle for learning.
If this happened, maybe the Brian Crosby's of the world would be the norm, not the exception...
Aaron
I had the exact same feelings! What an incredible educator. His resources are awesome! I teach PE so I am obviously a hands on learner. That is why I did so well in my Multimedia graduate degree. It was ALL project based.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying about not teaching compartmentalized subjects anymore. The separation doesn't make sense anymore. I get all the time "This isn't a social studies class, Ms. P!" and all kinds of complaints about integrating art... etc etc. I think that, in order to properly teach even high school, we need to do it in a way that uses all subjects and integrates them. We have to move away from the "reading, writing, arithmetic" thing and into what our future is. We have more information now and more exposure to everything. Instead of memorizing facts, we should be having them learn to filter information... the best way to do that is to integrate the subjects together....
ReplyDelete