Giving up control...

I recently had a conversation with a college friend (who is also a middle school teacher).  Our conversation eventually led to what learning looks like in each of our classrooms.  I shared with her that our school went one-to-one with Chromebooks about 5 years ago and since then I have changed my role in the classroom.  Instead of being the teacher that lectures to students for their learning, I am the teacher that facilitates their learning.  Her first question to me was, "How can you give that much control to your students?"  Well, it wasn't easy, especially for this type A personality teacher.  I like to have a plan and I like things to go according to plan but when you hand over the reins to your students and let them lead the learning, well, things don't always go according to your plan.  

Image taken from His Work In Progress

What Giving Up Control Looked Like For Me

Three years ago I flipped my math classroom... meaning my students have homework every night that consists of watching a video on the concept that they are going to practice in class the next day. At first, this brought on a lot of anxiety because I felt like I was losing control of my classroom.  I didn’t know what each day would look like because I didn’t know how much help each of my students would need. After a few short weeks, I saw that the environment that I had created was much more student centered. Students could watch and rewatch the video as many times as they need to to grasp the concept being presented.  They are also given the opportunity to show me how they can apply the concept to the real world instead of always doing practice problems on a worksheet.

Blended Learning

Flipping my classroom wasn't just about giving up control and allowing my students to lead the learning, but it also meant that students were often times learning from more than just me. In my flipped classroom, sometimes I would make a video for my students to watch, but often times I would look for a video online that they could watch. When my students are working on practice problems for math or science and they don't understand, I often ask them if they have used all their resources before coming to me to ask the question. Those resources being: their textbook, their classmate, and their computer. Students today have everything they have every wanted to know right at their fingertips! Often times, I think they forget that. As a teacher in the 21st century, I believe it is my job to teach students how to use the resources they have available to them. Don't get me wrong, I also believe in knowing the process behind how to solve for x and y and understanding the stages of mitosis, but I also believe in teaching students how to advocate for themselves in their learning. Educators and parents need to understand that classrooms today look much different with the focus being the use of technology and the individual needs of each student. This is a mind shift for many teachers. Change can be difficult for anyone, but I think we stop making education about us and start making it about the kids.

Tona

HE>I

Reference
M. (2014). Your Plan vs Your Reality. Retrieved from http://hisworkinprogress2.com/plan-vs-reality/