Tag Archives: Student-Centered Curriculum

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Advantages of Listening to Students (and People!)

03 Saturday Sep 2016

Posted by in Free and Low-Cost Teacher Resources

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Edutopia is one of my favorite teacher-resource sites.  Filmmaker George Lucas (creator of Star Wars) founded the nonprofit Gorge Lucas Foundation in 1991 to try to make schools a place students can thrive rather than be stifled.  As a creative and curious person growing up, he was often bored.  When his children were attending school, he decided to spread awareness about how to create a school curriculum than engaged and inspired children rather than stifled them.

I can relate to his experience–and feel the same way about the need to reform schools when they aren’t inspiring children to love learning because they find the process exciting, fascinating and purposeful.  This, afterall, is what education SHOULD be!! Below is one of many strategies offered to parents and teachers to help students take ownership in their own learning so that they can find meaning and joy in learning, and go after their interests!

Edutopia: When We Listen to Students

 

Personal Stories Inspire Language Learning

28 Tuesday Jun 2016

Posted by in Lesson Ideas, Student Experiences, Teachers' Page

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Composing a short story about a life-changing event in his family from his mother’s point-of-view,  enabled Christopher Cindrich to fully explore how his father’s death had impacted him, his mother and family members.  He describes the assignment for his Spanish Language and Literature course motivated him to want to use his mother’s native language to tell her story–and learn it himself.

Students are highly motivated to do assignments that allow them to share or explore their personal lives, according to several research studies. (See link below for one such study.)

Vanderbilt college student describing value of writing assignment

Never-Ending Books on U.S. Culture & History

20 Monday Jun 2016

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Below is a link to sample lesson plans from a children’s book publisher (12 Story Library) that offers books on topics of interest to all ages.  Adults may be able to borrow these books at their public library, which is where I found my book, entitled “The 12 Most Amazing American Inventions.”   It includes stories under 12 topics, including: from after they’ve finished reading the book itself!  It includes stories under 12 topics,

Aside from being very fun and interesting, these books never truly end!  The publisher offers a website for each story so readers can continue learning about the topic from it and other resource pages.  Below are the topics offered:

Story Titles

Source: Sample Lesson Plans – 12StoryLibrary.com

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Designing a Student-Centered Curriculum for Life-Long Learners

20 Monday Jun 2016

Posted by in Activities for Adults, Activities for Children, On-Line Publications and Sites, Student-Centered Learning

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Additional lessons, activities, and learning resources can be found on my Google Page, entitled “Designing a Student-Centered Curriculum for Life-Long Learners.”  This site organizes information by subject, so you can choose the topic that most interests you. Below are the topics you can choose to learn about:

Designing a Student-Centered Curriculum

Google Site for Students and Teachers

 

 

 

8 Pathways to Every Student’s Success

14 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in Student-Centered Learning

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CuriosityIn the article below and others that follow it, Developmental Psychologist Dr. Marilyn Price-Mitchell offers tools on how to help children develop the following life skills: curiosity, sociability, resilience, self-awareness, integrity, resourcefulness, creativity, and empathy.  Since these skills are needed for a lifetime, I think this information may be helpful to adults as well.

Source: 8 Pathways to Every Student’s Success

The State of the Union\’s Education | EdSurge News

13 Wednesday Jan 2016

Posted by in Teacher Education, Teachers' Page

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The State of the Union\’s Education | EdSurge News:

Summary of President Obama’s statements on education in his last State of the Union address, which he gave last night:

  1. Endorsed early childhood education for disadvantaged families through updated  “No Child Left Behind” act
  2. Credited STEM curriculum for offering opportunities to “high-paying jobs” and for helping to increase the high school graduation rate
  3. Stressed need for more “hands-on” computer science and math courses so new workers could be “job ready” on Day One
  4. Pushed to reduce percentage of income required to pay back student loans (currently at 10%)
  5. Sponsors legislation that would allow “responsible students” to attend two years of community college for free as well as increase the number for community colleges

Click on the link below to access a more detailed summary of his talk and, for those of you who want full access to his talk, to its transcript.

NOTE:  The EdSurge website offers several other useful resources for teachers, including education product reviews, research, and job postings.

State of Union Address 01/12/16

State of Union Address 01/12/16

Source: The State of the Union\’s Education | EdSurge News

Why So Many Students Struggle in School

13 Wednesday Jan 2016

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Not surprisingly, people learn best when they
  • are ready to take on the challenge
  • want to develop the new skill, understand something, or gain new knowledge
  • understand what they need to do to get there
  • believe they can “do it” with effort and perseverence
  • feel good about the challenge before them (isn’t too hard or too easy)
  • enjoy themselves while they are learning
  • progress in their knowledge/ability at a steady pace
  • apply their knowledge or use their new skill
  • trust the source of information
  • feel confident that they can, through effort, succeed
Unfortunately, most schools today emphasize and reward verbal-linguistic (reading/writing), logical-analytical (math and science) and interpersonal (social) skills.  The minority of students who excel in these areas (IF they also have great short-term recall skills) are disproportionately praised and recognized because they seem to have “all the right answers” in class and do well on multiple choice and other tests.  Sadly, they and most of society see these students as “gifted” and “smart” people.  Not what they truly are: able to do better than their peers in these areas. This view is reinforced through the competitive, test-taking model of instruction that often ignores other measures of “knowing” that are just as valuable to our quality of life.
The “unsung talents” I’m referring to include: creative (artistic) people who are good at brainstorming and seeing “new ways” to do things, persons who work well independently (intrapersonal), the people who make our lives easier and more enjoyable (kinesthetic, musical), those who seek to save us from harming ourselves and other entities (naturalists, existentialists) and combination of these forces that we depend upon for our lives and quality of life.
For this reason, I say:  “No more teaching to the test; instead, let’s see all students’ best!”