the way we instruct, the way we assess and grade, the way we engage students, the way we engage the community of parents, siblings, grandparents, foster parents, and guardians, and the way we think about our role as teachers needs to change.
Some people ask why.
Some people think that the way they teach is just fine. Some people think that if they teach what they are interested in, if they teach the books they read, if they teach what they learned, they are doing just fine.
A talk about change in education: part 1 of 7 They think that their beliefs are the beliefs for their students. They think that the way they learned is the way everyone learns, that the way they were taught is the way everyone should be taught.
They think that their way is the only way and they dont have to change.
But others dont think this view of how to teach, of what to teach, and of how we work with learners is not very open minded, nor very inclusive, nor very forward thinking.
And it doesnt work.
A talk about change in education: part 2 of 7 Lets make up a number say 90%. Lets say 90% of students graduate high school, 90% are engaged in their learning, 90% are literate and numerate, and 90% attend all of their classes and learn the material more deeply than simply for the next test.
That leaves 10%. 10% of your of students dont graduate from high school, 10% are not engaged in their learning, 10% are not literate nor numerate, and 10% dont attend all of their classes nor learn the material.
In a class of 30 students, 10% would be 3 students that we failed. In a school of a 1000 students that would be 100 that are illiterate. In a school board of 60,000 that would be 6,000 students who are not numerate. In a country of 30 million that means 3 million havent graduated from high school cut off from the chance of skilled jobs.
A talk about change in education: part 3 of 7 Does 3 million failures make one proud to be a teacher? Are you happy to report that your son, your daughter, your niece or nephew, your neighbour or friend is illiterate? That the education system let them down?
So we have to challenge ourselves. We have to accept the call to change. We have to look for that little extra that get one more student to have success.
We need to change because the old way of doing school, the old way of teaching, and the old way of motivating students doesnt work anymore.
A talk about change in education: part 4 of 7 Our students, they live in a different world. Their world has knowledge and information at their fingertips and people to communicate with at the touch of a button.
We need to change. We need to differentiate our instruction and assessment practices. We need to allow student voice and choice.
We need to provide students with authentic tasks completed for authentic purposes for authentic audiences.
We need to change how we assess and how we use assessment data. We need to give time for practice and descriptive feedback. We need to grade according to our learning goal and success criteria.
A talk about change in education: part 5 of 7 We need to accept late work without penalty, and never not accept work in order to award a zero. We need to accept that learning happens at different rates, at different times, in different places, with different people, about different topics.
We need learning to be deeper and more committed than simply learning for the next test.
We need to move the learning from being passive to being active. Move it to inquiry based, problem based, or project based.
A talk about change in education: part 6 of 7 We need to approach education with a growth mindset knowing every student can learn and every teacher can teach given sufficient time and support.
We have to know our role. We are facilitators of learning and no longer lecturers of knowledge.
We need to change how we teach, how we assess, and how we think an education system operates.
Change is not a bad word or idea; change is an opportunity to make things better.