I work hard at the beginning of the year to build a classroom climate that involves deep respect for all members (teachers and students) and a culture of acceptance. our room is a place to make mistakes and to learn from those mistakes.
The classroom culture I would like to instill in my classroom would be to create an atmosphere where everyone feels safe enough to answer questions and not be fearful of answering incorrectly. I would want students to feel confident, comfortable, engaged, self motivated, respectful and determined. Many times I see my students give up if little things do not go there way. I want my students to be determined and persistant. I also want them to know that there might be many right answers and they should continue to look and test
I have pretty much âflippedâ my classroom and made it a student-centered learning environment. It definitely gets some taking used to and you run into issues which are completely different from a teacher-centered classroom. I really like how they list the six steps to follow when students âget stuckâ. I am going to make a poster with those steps on it and post it in the room. That is good advice for code as well as project-based learning in general. In a student-centered classroom, some students want the teacherâs attention constantly which can be challenging, but through experience, they learn that their peers can assist them as well. I prefer being the âfacilitatorâ and âmanagerâ rather than the lecturer and I look forward to incorporating Project GUTS.
VMS5751:
I agree very much with the Progress not Perfection. Too many times students are afraid to explore because they might make mistakes or they are constantly asking for reconformation from the teacherâŚis this rightâŚis this right
Management (technology and behavior) and asking the right questions are integral to my classroom. I want students to feel safe and like they have a voice in the classroom environment-not afraid to ask questions or take a chance when learning something new. I want them to become independent learners and no rely so heavily on immediate feedback after each step in a task in completed. Building confidence is a challenge in middle school.
I taught a couple sections of tech ed last year, and I was amazed at the lack of persistence from the middle school kids I taught. They would rather get a bad grade than persist and figure out a solution. I need to start the year strong with the idea that failure is inevitable and itâs not a bad thing. I could do this with some kind of demo or game, but build it up to be a positive experience. I like @slwilliamsâs idea of making those steps into a poster. I might do the same!
A quote from my favorite fictional science teacher sums up my philosophy, âTake chances. Make mistakes. Get messy.â (Valerie Frizzle) Getting across to my students that making mistakes and learning from them is a life skill that they need to learn has been rather challenging. They would rather do a worksheet than an open ended inquiry lesson. The need for immediate gratification and verification is chronic. This is the biggest barrier I anticipate in the transition I plan on making to a project based learning environment. Iâm ready to step off the âstageâ and move into the role of facilitator. I would like to see my students excited to come to science every day because they are invested in the lessons and are making connections to their out-of-school experiences. I feel that coding is a non-threatening way to experience success through trial and error and will segue into a new mindset for the students.
The main problem I have in my classroom is access to computers. We only have 6 Chrome Book carts for the entire school. In order to write and run code I need computers. I would love for my students to be able to run computer simulations and models as well as be totally paperless but I canât always get computers.
I encourage students to make mistakes, I repeatedly tell them that making a mistake is not the problem, you need to learn from that mistake. The biggest issue that myself and my colleagues discuss is students are afraid to make a mistake and they give up the minute they find themselves challenged. We frequently discuss how to try and motivate the kids to keep pushing through and persevere. At the beginning of the year I tell the students about mistakes that worked and that we wouldnât have them (such as Post-It Notes) if somebody hadnât of made a mistake. Part of the challenge in this generation of students is overcoming immediate gratification and being correct the first time. They want to quit when they donât get the ârightâ answer, the first time. I am hoping that by incorporating coding into my lessons they will learn to make mistakes. I am new at this myself and know I will make many as I incorporate coding into my lessons. We also need to change the culture of education from always having a ârightâ answer.
l am not sure if lack of persistence/perseverance is just a trait of middle schoolers or bigger than that in todayâs society. I do think some of it comes from the easy immediate gratification. They think they can just âGoogle itâ and get an answer.
We all know that mistakes are part of learning for everyone of any age. I know a few individuals that will argue that is the only way to learn. However, my concern is the line between kids understanding the difference between working hard and making mistakes versus making mistakes because they didnât work hard. So many kids and adults now-a-days fall into the latter grouping. I think this in very dangerous for a number of reasons. The other issue is that teachers do not have the luxury of letting kids learn on their own and at their own pace. Realistically, we have a curriculum that we need to cover and a timeline that needs to be kept. Finding the balance between kids taking ownership, making their own mistakes and learning from them, and teachers maintaining the necessary timeline to cover all that we are supposed to cover will be an issue.
My goal is to have a classroom environment like the one described in the video â students are persistent, curious and supportive of each other. Does this always happen? Sadly, no. Its difficult to promote âjust try itâ while also stressing the importance of following directions and the emphasis on test scores (mistakes arenât exactly rewarded there.) In students of this age, they have difficulty knowing when âfollowing directions accuratelyâ is important and when âtry it! experiment!â is the way to go. This is yet another reason why Iâm excited (curious) to see how incorporating programming into the curriculum may help promote the open culture; students experience situations where they can try new things without fear of making mistakes, BUT they also learn how to take those risks âsafelyâ (i.e. making backups, keeping documentation.) A good analogy is they should be like the mountain climber; what sheâs doing is risky and exhilarating BUT she mitigates the risk by checking equipment, following safety/climbing protocol, climbing with a partner⌠etc.
A favorite quote of mine is on the classroom wall. âMistakes are proof you are trying.â I believe I have created an environment where students feel safe and accepted. I wish to continue providing this culture.
I want a classroom where all are engaged and excited to learn. I anticipate some students getting frustrated and wanting to have immediate gratification instead of working through problems.
I want my classroom to be a place where learning occurs. Some of the barriers I anticipate getting my students to do: ask pertinent questions, make mistakes and recognize that is a way we learn, be persistent and realize that if first we do not succeed - try, try again, and to use resources to help them.
April, I anticipate some of my students getting frustrated and shutting down. I am going to try to stay as positive as I can, but I may group students differently so there are students who are âleadersâ that will also be a resource to students in need. I may be asking you for advice as we start programming with our students.
I would like to see highly curious students that are motivated to ask questions and conduct experiments to get answersâŚ
Having taught pre-engineering with middle school students for the first time this past year I quickly realized that it was important to embrace the multitude of solutions that manifest themselves as students approach a problem. Many of the most productive solutions begin as theories that are well outside of the box, but with testing, and redesign become really amazing products and processes.
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I am hopeful that the problems and challenges that students are presented with will engage their curiosity and promote a culture of collaboration, persistence, and constructive feedback.
I really encourage my students to be the teachers. When they get stuck on a code their is someone else in the room who as solved and can be helpful. I donât want to be the first person they ask unless it is a hardware problem and not a code problem. This has worked really well. The students enjoy getting to ask their peers for help but knowing they have me for backup. Each of my classes seems to have a student who is an expert and they have been very useful in helping students when they are stuck.