The collaborative classroom
Imagine my glee when I saw this article in the Metro last week.
I truly enjoy seeing how classroom dynamics are being shifted, from elementary school and up.
"No rows of desks in this classroom and no teacher lecturing in front," as mentioned in a previous blog post, this article emphasizes the need for movement within the classroom space, a fluidity that allows for a disruption of power dynamics. Though the article does not go into that reasoning specifically, the teachers movement through her students creates a sense of being one with them, genuinely interested in their progress, and more specifically in the process of arriving to their conclusions.
Assignments are also modified in this space, which is something I had not thought of at length, how assignments can also reinforce a power dynamic that one is trying to avoid by modifying the classroom space. I will have to think about alternative assignments and workshop ideas.
What I also like about this article is that it represents what is commonly understood of these educational models, that they are spaces that coddle and don't educate. How far from the truth that is! This is an educational space that focuses on thinking skills, critical thinking skills, and not just rote memorization.
You have to think of what students do for the most part in their everyday lives, which is communicate electronically with their friends. Either via txt or IM these students are savvy, savvy enough to create a whole new language that is succinct and functional. That required skill but also this process of interaction via txt msg is a collaborative interaction. Communication does not occur if either the receiving or sending party is missing part of the txt code.
Collaborate (from the french "to work together, to co-labour) has at it's etymological root a spirit of socialist artistic adventure, the word being coined in the late Victorian period. This working together is what the classroom should strive for, it is the beginning of the ethical classroom.
I look forward to more articles about this sort of space, and how we as educators can make students think, not just memorize, interact, and not passively sit as words/ideas/thoughts are thrown at them, simply by changing the way the classroom is understood. Students should feel comfortable talking about ideas with each other and with the educator, we learn from each other, we learn by communicating through what ever means necessary with others.
I <3 altrn8ive educ8tnal sp8ces & methodz of communic8tin.
But that being said I also heart proper grammar when things need to be written up formally. So please students never ever hand in an essay on literature in Leet or SMS or I will have to get all T9 up in your grill.
I'M VERY SERIOUS! Part of critical thinking is knowing your audience, therefore there is a time and space for txtspeak, and essays for classes are not that space.
I truly enjoy seeing how classroom dynamics are being shifted, from elementary school and up.
"No rows of desks in this classroom and no teacher lecturing in front," as mentioned in a previous blog post, this article emphasizes the need for movement within the classroom space, a fluidity that allows for a disruption of power dynamics. Though the article does not go into that reasoning specifically, the teachers movement through her students creates a sense of being one with them, genuinely interested in their progress, and more specifically in the process of arriving to their conclusions.
Assignments are also modified in this space, which is something I had not thought of at length, how assignments can also reinforce a power dynamic that one is trying to avoid by modifying the classroom space. I will have to think about alternative assignments and workshop ideas.
What I also like about this article is that it represents what is commonly understood of these educational models, that they are spaces that coddle and don't educate. How far from the truth that is! This is an educational space that focuses on thinking skills, critical thinking skills, and not just rote memorization.
You have to think of what students do for the most part in their everyday lives, which is communicate electronically with their friends. Either via txt or IM these students are savvy, savvy enough to create a whole new language that is succinct and functional. That required skill but also this process of interaction via txt msg is a collaborative interaction. Communication does not occur if either the receiving or sending party is missing part of the txt code.
Collaborate (from the french "to work together, to co-labour) has at it's etymological root a spirit of socialist artistic adventure, the word being coined in the late Victorian period. This working together is what the classroom should strive for, it is the beginning of the ethical classroom.
I look forward to more articles about this sort of space, and how we as educators can make students think, not just memorize, interact, and not passively sit as words/ideas/thoughts are thrown at them, simply by changing the way the classroom is understood. Students should feel comfortable talking about ideas with each other and with the educator, we learn from each other, we learn by communicating through what ever means necessary with others.
I <3 altrn8ive educ8tnal sp8ces & methodz of communic8tin.
But that being said I also heart proper grammar when things need to be written up formally. So please students never ever hand in an essay on literature in Leet or SMS or I will have to get all T9 up in your grill.
I'M VERY SERIOUS! Part of critical thinking is knowing your audience, therefore there is a time and space for txtspeak, and essays for classes are not that space.
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