I'm sure we've all heard that old saying "Give a man a fish and you feed him for day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." I think of this for many things in life and learning is one of them. If you can teach a student how to learn, how to ask themselves the right questions, how to be perceptive, how to question facts instead of accept them and how to go in search for knowledge you can change their entire life.
Instruction in the classroom is important for getting the information students need. However, when you can take it to the next level and get the students to answer question for real-life problems they will have in whatever field you are teaching, well then you're on to something.
Supervised study allows students to do their own research, experiment and problem solving to discover the answer to a problem. This helps students gain the knowledge of the subject they are on but also the process of finding their own answers. This correlates with an activity my cohort will be participating in on Wednesday called genius hour. This is used by Google for their employees and has created many great ideas. The idea is that the employees, or in my case students, will be given an hour for them to discover whatever they want. Completely unstructured school time for students to learn about WHATEVER they want. It so empowering for the students and as a teacher it is slightly nerve racking. I will definitely try this with my students to see how it works. I predict that a mature class will benefit more from this because they are thinking more about their path in life and have more discipline.
I get very excited about these new types of teaching that grows the student into a life long learner. I love to see classroom knowledge that can grow and blossom into real life situations.
Thank you for reading!!
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