Teacher Amy Alonzo of
Lynnbrook High School has created a unique learning environment that has consistently
tapped her students’ creativity.
Describe a learning task that
you might craft within your content area that would capture the elements of
innovation that Alonzo references.
As a student of history and an aspiring history teacher, I find the biggest ingredient to capturing attention/innovation is establishing the meaning Amy refers to. When I was a young person, I didn't much care what happened 10 minutes ago (unless I was directly affected, and even then it was arbitrarily determined on a case-by-case basis) much less 1,000+ years ago.
ReplyDeleteI think developing learning tasks to achieve this varies with the group of learners you have to a degree, but I really think it would be awesome to have a class blog set up, where each week students were required to write about something covered during the week and why it's important. (In addition to class discussion of course). It would give me an opportunity to dialog with my students outside of class in a way they are more used to communicating.
Jenny, I believe you have made an excellent argument in how you want to incorporate innovation in your classes. I also appreciate your wants to use the lessons we have learned in this class to reach your students. Very good understanding about using blogs and I appreciate your thoughts on this.
DeleteBecause I work with mainly" at risk " students, when students they complain about a consequence from an action they did, primarily negative, I tell them that all our actions have consequences if we make good decision, most of the time we have good results and vice versa. When an is a good action but did not work out ,sometimes we have to see what went wrong, tweak it, and try again.
ReplyDeleteIn the classroom, I would do a project about a certain food chain; what factors would change that or maybe asked them to research certain extinct species of the last 100 years and see how man or their action affected the environment, themselves and/ or others. So that they viewpoint can see that all actions have affect not just on us but also others.
I think it is so important to students to have a passion and have innovation when it comes to that passion. In my history class I would have them look at real life problems and see what they could do to help. Students need to know what is going on in the world and their community.
ReplyDeleteYour response reminds of the saying," That history tends to repeat itself," Students nowadays are so disconnect form what is going on in the world. One time I was working with a group of students and I ask about a current event and they were clueless. I said does any of you watch news all of them said no. That is really tragedy. I know that you going over real live problems will really make an impact in their lives and you do not know that might plant the seed so that in the future they might have a careers in the problem you went over.
DeleteI think that one of the best ways to incorporate innovation in second grade is to create an atmosphere of higher learning by challenging the students in their daily activities. For instance, when teaching a lesson about our judicial system; I can have the students act out and have a mock trial. This would teach them the different parts that make up our system and allow them to use their imagination in real world activities.
ReplyDeleteI have always been a believer in creating an environment of creativity and imagination. These types of activities can prove positive results if done correctly at any age or academic level.
DeleteIn the special education classroom I think it is important to have real world applications that they would be able to apply that is within their abilities. For example: have the classroom as the "Lab" for the subject matters like science, history, ect. Then finding ways that the students can experiment in the real world through homework or field trips. Connecting special needs students to the community, I feel, is an important part of their success in the future.
ReplyDeleteI think in general that all students want to make a difference in the world they live in, however many of them lack a mentor to guide them. So it is imperative that in my classroom I establish a self concept that allows students to grow internally to be successful on our society.
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