Learning to Unlearn

In the book The Connected Educator the authors talk about how as teachers we must learn to unlearn. This a hard concept to think about at first. When I first read about this concept I had a hard time understanding it. I thought about it as I am in college learning to teach so why would I unlearn? Aren't we supposed to build on our prior knowledge? The whole concept left me feeling lost.

After the initial shock wore off and I had time to think about this I saw where this can be useful as a teacher. I can see a few ways where it would be beneficial. First, I think that when someone decides to become a teacher they have preconceived notions about what a teacher does and who a teacher is. Through my classes and experiences in schools I have seen these beliefs challenged and in many cases shift.

We also have to unlearn how to teach in many cases. The ways that I was taught information in school, in most cases, are no longer acceptable. This has changed based on research that is constantly occurring to see if children can learn content easier if it is taught in a different way. I think that there is a constant cycle of learning that occurs as a teacher.

I also think that as teachers we need to unlearn every new school year. Every year we learn about our students. We learn how they learn and about their personal lives. We learn how to reach them and how to teach them. We have to unlearn all of this with each new year so that we can relearn about our new students. Some practices might carryover, while others need to be adjusted for the new students. It is the teacher's job to learn about their students and create a classroom that meets those needs. If they don't, then the students are the ones who suffer.

Flipped Learning

I had my first introduction to Flipped learning over the last few weeks in my Technology for Education class. Before this class I did not know anything about flipped learning.

Personally, I think that Flipped learning is an interesting concept for older students. With my degree being Pre-Kindergarden to fourth grade I don't know if this is something that I will use in my classroom, however. I do think that there is a possibility that I would use this style of video for extra enrichment. I might create videos that the students could reference at home if they were having difficulty with a certain topic. The school district that I am working with now for my field experience has a lower socioeconomic status and most of the students do not have internet access at home. Because of this I have a hard time seeing this as a practical approach for the students I am working with.

Here is the video I made while learning how to flip a lesson.

                  

It is an introduction to area. The following day I would have the students work with different problems to see if they understood the material.

I liked how my boards came out. I think that it was fun making them. Also, I think that these are boards I can use in my future classroom. I like the idea of a Daily 5 so I could use these in the various centers around my classroom. I recently played a game that had three teams. It would have been nice to give each team their own board for recording their score.

As far as filming went I didn't think it went too badly for my first time. In the future, if I were to do this I would position myself higher in the frame in relation to the boards. I think that this would result in a better looking final product. I also think that doing this more would give me more confidence with it and make me more comfortable being on camera.

While I don't think that I will be running a flipped classroom in the future I am glad that I am aware of what it is. If I am asked in an interview I have an idea of what they're talking about. I also might use these techniques in my future classroom. I can see applications where this could be used to help struggling learners as well as enriching the advanced learners.