"Have I been taking chances? Have I actually been putting myself out on the line and figuring out who I am and what I am going to do? "
What really struck me, while listening to this TED Talk is when Dr. Michael Wesch admitted that he had gotten too comfortable and actually stopped learning. He admits that he did not teach in "the real world" and that his classroom teach was designed to "dump information into the heads" of his students. This reminds me of so many teachers I've seen and worked with in districts across Rhode Island who just don't get it! They are jaded and grumpy and who do not teach with "care". Everytime I hear a teacher as their student "What is wrong with you?" or blatantly ignore a students who raising their hand in the air, vigorously needing to ask a question as if their life depends on it only to be ignore or to be shouted at "What?!?" It makes me think that that teacher doesn't even enjoy learning, so how could they expect their students to?
So then he decided to challenge himself and change things up, he decided to start drawing. He started to create animations all about illustrating what he past students learning and what mattered to them, from his classes. One of the stories he shared was a student who said that the class taught him more than to how just to make a living, it taught him how to build a life worth living! (I'm crying!) Through these stories, Dr. Wesch decides to redesign his course, scaffolding it with plateaus and supports and help from one another to make sure that everyone learns from the class and completes the final project only to find out that the final project was really themselves * This reminds me SO MUCH of the way YDev is structured and my experience in the MA program <3*
For myself, as a Youth Worker in non-traditional educational spaces, I always knew that systematic classroom teaching was never something I wanted to be a part of because I knew that was not the way I learned, so I did not want to teach my students that way. I think through my career in Out of School Time programs these themes of learning that Dr. Wesch brings up about "real learning" and "loving yourself" enough to get up and try again, has always resonated with me when teaching youth. Its the hands-on experiential learning that should be valued by teachers, and the relationships you build with others to support that learning and the building of you "real life" in the "real" world!
I love this piece too... and it reminds me that even those of us who DO care still get stuck "not learning" or growing as teachers.
ReplyDelete