New Culture of Learning (EDLD 5313)

One of my colleagues at my school mentioned this in his post and it was the exact thing I was thinking. My school is currently in the process of having us essentially standardize our summative assessments by uploading them to a program and having us align them with standards. In the math department, they are pushing us towards multiple choice questions and away from the critical thinking and problem solving aspects that have been discussed so frequently. I believe we are moving backwards and away from authentic learning.

Learning should be based around student interests and passion. We all know when we are interested in a topic, we are much more inclined to do our best work. Learning needs to be open-ended. Structure has its pros and can provide students with a more ideal setting to be successful, but time for discovery also must be present. Viewing the learning environment is not something that you can learn in school when preparing to teach, but rather develops when you first step foot in the classroom. Classes take on different personalities and it is important to view them as such. There are times where I find myself teaching the same concepts to three different classes three different ways as I attempt to tailor to their needs, goals, interests, and passions.

I believe that holistic thinking in learning can certainly lead to success in the classroom but can be interpreted many ways. I often try to zoom out and remove my math teacher lens and just thinking about a group of individuals trying to achieve a common goal rather than myself leading a group of students. At this point in my career, I take pride in the culture and learning environment that I have in my classroom and feel that my students would echo the same. However, I know during my first year or two I was certainly reactive and took a more passive approach, and I did pay for it. The learning was not what it could have been, but this ended up being a learning experience for me in the end.