JCMDRSEJMAPCP These are all of our first initials. I'll try to make an acronym.
The topic of the night was the first design principle - teachers as designers. I learned that design and planning are different. When teachers design, they islolate a design problem and use principles, processes, patterns and tools to design an activity for students. Planning is taking another's design and implementing the activity for students. I always prided myself in being a good planner, finding someone else's activity to facilitate with my own students. But I wasn't necessarily taking the individual needs of my students into consideration. By planning, I might have been trying to put a square peg into a round hole, meaning the activity that I found might not have been a good fit for my cureent students. Just because it worked well with some students, it doesn't mean it was a good fit for all. Now, I will think about my students, their strengths and areas of need and try to design using a variety of processes and tools. I feel like I have to change my whole mindset and think outside of the box. It's problem solving on a teacher level to try to design problem solving for my students.
I left class having a lot to think about. This world is so dynamic and global that I need to start thinking with the world. Then apply that to design learning to prepare my students to the change that will happen.
I agree that design planning should reach out to students of all learning styles, especially those present in your class (or the group you're working with). Voice and choice is such a big part of PBL, so allowing students to take on that role in the learning process gives them more ownership for sure. When considering the connection you're making to real-world problem solving, I think it's definitely important to consider problems students can relate to, as it will be more meaningful to them at that point in time.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking a lot about planner versus designer a lot too. I have come to the conclusion that I’m both. I do design some effective lessons and projects but not all the time. I don’t always have the foresight, energy, or knowledge to be a designer.
ReplyDeleteI think some lessons need to be purposeful and planned like you stated. I am sure you took the individual needs into account and planned using supports or challenges when needed. I don't think this is a reflection of any of us a teacher. I believe thinking of approaching teaching with a designing mindset should exactly that an approach - a new way to look at endpoints and how to get students there. I am excited as you are to be challenged with this new way of thinking about meaningful delivery.
ReplyDeleteAfter this first class, I also reflected on the implications that designing a lesson brings and how many times I take somebody else's design and plan based on it. I think that when we plan we do take into consideration the individual strengths and weaknesses of our students as we modified some steps and scaffold according to their needs. However, I agree with you that designing a series of lessons can be more beneficial for each learner since we are the ones in charge of every detail and step. I believe teaching can be a combination of both designing and planning and that they go together within our daily practice.
ReplyDeleteI found that your point about placing a square peg into a round hole was the most useful for me. Problem solving is often a dynamic process. Our students come to the classroom with differences and problems, but not every student requires the same solution. Additionally, not every problem that appears in our designs will have the same solution. We should celebrate the diversity of our students, and the fact that problems present us with an opportunity to think critically about a solution. Perhaps we should think of the pegs as clay so that they can be molded into the shapes that we need.
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