The Big Shift
8-A-1 Big Shifts
As I read Chapter 9 “What It All Means” of Will Richardson’s book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Tools for the Classroom; choosing only one of the “Big Shifts” for reflection was hard for me. For some time my teaching practice has been moving in the direction Richardson describes. I believe knowing where to find information is more important than memorizing the information (Big Shift #5, Know ‘Where’ Learning). I believe acquisition of knowledge and skills are best demonstrated, not posed as a multiple choice question (Big Shift #9, Mastery is the Product, Not the Test). I believe in student interest driven portfolios (Big Shift #7, The Web as Notebook). I believe in teaching the skills of the 21st Century (Big Shift #’s 3, 6, 8). Philosophically I have been moving in this direction for some time, and have endeavored to incorporate these ideas in practice in my classes.
I did come away from the Chapter 9 with a vision for my classroom. I think a teacher needs a guiding vision, rooted in research, to connect the curriculum, instruction, and assessment taking place in the classroom. Until I read Big Shift #10 Contribution, Not Completion is the Ultimate Goal; did I realize a vision for the classroom of the future. Combining the shifts listed before it, shift #10 is the culminating vision for a teacher practitioner in the Web 2.0 classroom. The teacher as connector, collaborator, coach, and change agent redefines what it means to teach.
As I enter the high school next year and begin using the strategies learned in this course, I feel I will have acquired a new vision for my classroom, my role, and my expectations for my students. For me, this is my ‘shift’.
1 Comment
Thanks for reading my book. Glad it seems to have resonated. Do everything you can to model for your students effective examples of these shifts. Best, Will