Letting Go in the Classroom

I have been studying inquiry based education that involve the TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior) Choice-based, Art center-based educational theories and teaching methods. What I found through my instructional experiences is to have a number of GREAT open-ended questions that will evoke the engagement of students on a deeper thinking level. I have also studied the Visual Thinking Strategies developed by Abigail Housen and Philip Yenawine that are based on museum education and the process that student's go through in being engaged with visual images and processing what they see. I had the great opportunity to listen to Laurel Schmidt talk about how the brain processes new information, which can be read about in her book Classroom Confidential: The 12 Secrets of Great Teachers, I suggest you look over the book, it's very much in tune with this blog topic. If you have anymore questions as to how an art educator involves this type of method of questioning in classroom inquiries and instruction, feel free to ask! I have ALOT of info!
Cassia

I love Rebecca's post! Lighting a fire in our students promotes the best things we want from our students: independence, self-reliance, powerful, confident, citizenship, and global conscientiousness. I believe as Maria Montessori believed in following the child's lead. I have been teaching for twenty one years preschool-first grade, and we as educators need to be the breath to initiate the yest, yearning, and desire to learn more. When I taught first grade at an inner city school in Chicago, my eyes were opened wide to the daunting tasks I had ahead of me: teaching students who were ESL, communicating with their parents who spoke little English, and knowing I didn't know any Spanish, or little about Mexico. I had to find the fire in myself to not only help my students learn but thrive. I took this challenge on excitedly, and anticipatory. I was fortunate to land in a school that realized how important it is to respect the students in different ways: their community values, their schema, their culture and heritage. Our school respected, embraced and acknowledged the rich heritage we were blessed with. We had various celebrations to honor the Mexican culture: Cinco DeMayo celebrations, with flags, parades, speeches, reports, and a taste of Mexico, where children brought delicious foods from their country. We had Mexican dancers, music and folktales told by people in our community. Our priest held special Masses throughout the year, commemorating important times/ feasts in Mexico. Our Hispanic students felt proud, and we all felt apart of this beautiful culture. We learned to respect people who were/ looked different than us, and moreover appreciated their past and presence. This wasn't a tourism trip to Mexico, instead it was palpable, and authentic. Our principal had the foresight to honor the people who made up this community with dignity and realism. We also celebrated other ethnic groups in this fashion. We wanted all our magnificent students to appreciate where their roots are and also appreciate where their roots are planted now. We didn't have problems with racism, bullies, and other things you might associate with urban schools, we did our best to help everyone feel a belonging and a sense of smaller community in a big community. I followed the lead constantly of my first graders, when we learned about the first Thanksgiving, they wanted to know what it would be like to eat the foods of the first Thanksgiving and what their clothes would be like. I did my best to introduce real things into the classroom and we had our own Thanksgiving feast. We created foods in the classroom, making our own butter, making our own clothing, making our own parts of the meal. We discussed what foods we traditionally eat now on Thanksgiving, and some of these students never ate turkey, and all the fixings, so we had a traditional meal, complete with side dishes we made in our class. Later on in the year, we wanted to learn about other cultures, we had an International Day, where students make flags of their countries, prepared mini-reports, learned how to count, or simple words and finalized this with a feast at the end of the year. For St. Patrick's Day, we had a bagpiper come in from a popular Chicago group and played music as we danced to the Lord of the Dance. He told us about his trips to Ireland, and we also had penpals in Ireland that would engage us in their own stories. I wanted my students to taste, smell, see, and feel all things with all their senses. Every year, my students would experience education as an adventure and life would never be the same. We have to follow the child, and listen to what they're interested in, and do all we can do light the fire in them, to make them want to learn more, do more, and be more. Sonia Nieto, author of What Keeps Teachers Going?, writes about how we can't follow best practices, it won't keep teachers engaged or committed, instead lead to burnout or student underachievement. Instead, we must focus on treating teachers professionally, and focus on the students (Nieto, 2003). Thank You for all the great teachers who wrote in, you've inspired me to keep on going, being myself, and forging ahead, and most importantly, following the child.
Sharon Weldon

Rebecca,
My name is Jessica Torok and I am currently a graduate student and Walden University. I am earning my Master’s degree in adolescent literacy and technology and I’m assigned to explore educational blogs. I have been teaching mathematics for two years and this is my first blogging experience.
The foundation of critical thinking is how students construct knowledge, during the process of learning. (Quian, 2007) The intellectual foundation of teaching critical thinking was discovered 2,500 years ago by Socrates. He was the first in history to recognize the importance of asking deeper level questions that force humans to justify their claims. Socrates created the idea that “one cannot depend upon those in “authority” to have sound knowledge and insight” (The Critical Thinking Community, 2007). He became an influential role model by demonstrating that we each have the power and control of knowledge, rather than adopting ideas as worthy of belief. His best known strategy called Socratic Questioning, initiated “the importance of seeking evidence, closely examining reasoning and assumptions, analyzing basic concepts, and tracing out implications not only of what is said but of what is done as well.” (The Critical Thinking Community, 2007) Socrates highlights the need for clarity and logical consistency of thinking in classroom instruction.
It is important that teachers set high expectations for their students. Educators should be modeling higher order thinking such as, predicting, reciprocal teaching, summarizing, and utilizing graphic organizer to help map the connections of new content with their prior knowledge. Students that construct their own learning will own a deeper understanding of the material. “We should be teaching students how to think. Instead, we are teaching them what to think.” (Schaferson, 1991) The most effective educators are those who conquered to ability to enter into a student’s mind and bring their mind to life by teaching students how to think. Cronin (1991, 1992) discovered successful teachers bring life to the process of reading and writing by making those ideas meaningful.
I know one of my challenges is giving up my control and allowing students to learn on their own. However, I understand the importance that my students become activist in the classroom. According to Kottler, Zehm, & Kottler (2005), “Students are not viewed as blank tapes to be filled with the knowledge from a lecturing teacher. Rather, students are engaged in the active process of building on that they already know and can do” (p. 31).
My mission of specifically teaching critical thinking is supported by science with the fact that higher level thinking skills prepare students to succeed, not only in school but in life. The quote above identifies the gap that haunts our education system. Teachers spend most their time and effort implementing the subject matter and modeling the correct way of understanding the content, which deemphasizes the importance of teaching students how to properly understand and evaluate the material. (Schaferson, 1991)

Thank you for your thoughts, insights, and attention,
Jessica Torok
7-12 Mathematics Teacher

Thank you for this wonderful blog! Unfortunately, as a fairly new teacher I have not had a teaching moment like this, yet. Reading this, I know it must have been hard to let go of the scheduled lesson plans and knowing that you had a curriculum to stick with, but I know this "real life" experience will have lasting memories for your students.

I agree that when students can take ownership in the conversation and what they are learning, more interest will be generated. It will also lead to more learning because it pertains to their world. Expert teachers are aware of their students and how they best learn. They are also flexible and adaptive. When a teacher takes that leap into constructivist teaching, it is amazing what results can be seen. When it gets difficult is when a district gives you certain materials, certain tests, and time tables. It seems we are always racing to get certain "units" done. To remember what expert teachers know is critical.

This is an area I deffinitely need to work on in my classroom. I agree with the first post in that I feel that I do not have a single minute to spare. I must not get off subject (any subject), especially a subject that does not adhere to the "standards". By letting go, you gained the students' attention and respect. They enjoyed what was happening....in turn they will be paying attention for their opportunity to have input in future class discussion. Great job turning their discussion into projects that were able to show their voice to others. Risk-taking is key to gaining the respect and attention of your students.

It is interesting to me that what has been taking place for many years in preschool and other early learning environments is now coming to be recognized as best practice in older grades. Of course the most effective learning takes place when it is based on the student’s own interests and experiences. In the early grades, this is embraced while children learn about themselves and then the world around them. In the later grades, what the children know or want to know is considered secondary to what we “need” them to know. As behavior specialists, we know that innate rewards are far more effective than external rewards, which lose impact over time. Thus, it can be assumed that internal interests would far outweigh external instruction in effectiveness.

More teachers would benefit from considering the fundamentals of the Reggio Emilia approach to education:
• Children must have some control over the direction of their learning;
• Children must be able to learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening, seeing, and hearing;
• Children have a relationship with other children and with material items in the world that children must be allowed to explore and
• Children must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.
While based on the education of young children, these fundamentals are adaptable and appropriate for all students.
“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel” -Socrates

All good points. Constructivism is not just for the young learners, either. Many students enjoy working through problems and puzzles together, trying to wrap their minds around a new topic and figuring out how to incorporate the new knowledge with their current ideas. As an advocate for technology integration, I think recent developments in technology only serve to strengthen constructivism and make it a global experience.