Future Learning Goals Essay: Student Led, Future Focused
Looking ahead to the future, I want to move beyond focusing simply on content delivery, to really focus on the "soft skills" or learner success skills that my students need to be productive members of today's global society. My district's mantra is "Student Led, Future Focused," and I truly believe this is the priority for my students--learning to be self-directed, independent learners, and able to communicate and collaborate well. The three major areas where I want to focus my own instructional growth to achieve this are: developing students' public speaking strategies, developing a student-led classroom, and utilizing personalized learning strategies.
Public Speaking
While many occupations and real-world interactions require individuals to speak well, students are rarely explicitly taught the characteristics of quality speech design and public speaking skills. I believe being able to both design and deliver an effective talk is extremely important to being able to communicate well in the 21st century. I have had students design and present speeches quite a bit previously, but have always felt that explicit instruction was necessary. However, I have not figured out an explicit curriculum or means by which to deliver said instruction. Erik Palmer, an author and speaker with extensive background in public speaking, delivered our opening day professional development this year on the importance of teaching students of all ages this important aspect of communication. He uses the acronym PVLEGS (Poise, Voice, Life, Eye contact, Gestures, Speed) to teach the necessary pieces of speeches, and assess them effectively. I want to use the resources on his PVLEGS website to create lessons for each of the six elements, and use his rubrics to give students both formative and summative feedback on their public speaking. I also want to use Palmer's rubrics for designing a talk for students to evaluate their scripts/plan before presenting.
Looking ahead to the future, I want to move beyond focusing simply on content delivery, to really focus on the "soft skills" or learner success skills that my students need to be productive members of today's global society. My district's mantra is "Student Led, Future Focused," and I truly believe this is the priority for my students--learning to be self-directed, independent learners, and able to communicate and collaborate well. The three major areas where I want to focus my own instructional growth to achieve this are: developing students' public speaking strategies, developing a student-led classroom, and utilizing personalized learning strategies.
Public Speaking
While many occupations and real-world interactions require individuals to speak well, students are rarely explicitly taught the characteristics of quality speech design and public speaking skills. I believe being able to both design and deliver an effective talk is extremely important to being able to communicate well in the 21st century. I have had students design and present speeches quite a bit previously, but have always felt that explicit instruction was necessary. However, I have not figured out an explicit curriculum or means by which to deliver said instruction. Erik Palmer, an author and speaker with extensive background in public speaking, delivered our opening day professional development this year on the importance of teaching students of all ages this important aspect of communication. He uses the acronym PVLEGS (Poise, Voice, Life, Eye contact, Gestures, Speed) to teach the necessary pieces of speeches, and assess them effectively. I want to use the resources on his PVLEGS website to create lessons for each of the six elements, and use his rubrics to give students both formative and summative feedback on their public speaking. I also want to use Palmer's rubrics for designing a talk for students to evaluate their scripts/plan before presenting.
Student-Led Classroom
While traditional classroom models denote the teacher as the primary deliverer of information, and the students as predominately receiving information, I want to work to reverse that dynamic. I want to have students as co-leaders in the classroom, with the teacher as facilitator. I have worked on student-led concepts a lot in the past, but have not found a way to really make it my own, and make it work for my particular classroom setting and students. Paul Solarz's book Learn Like A Pirate documents the work he has done in his classroom to let students take on full responsibility for the running of the classroom. I want to work more to implement specific student jobs, community meetings, and other means to really put students at the helm of leading the procedures and management of my classroom. Solarz's blog details many ideas that I want to look further into. While the blog isn't currently being updated, the ideas and principles of Solarz's student-led classroom are still widely used. I want to try his class jobs (such as goal-setters each day, morning greeters, and daily recappers) and concept of working towards a day where the teacher does not talk at all. I look forward to seeing my students take initiative, reach goals, and reflect on their leadership skills.
While traditional classroom models denote the teacher as the primary deliverer of information, and the students as predominately receiving information, I want to work to reverse that dynamic. I want to have students as co-leaders in the classroom, with the teacher as facilitator. I have worked on student-led concepts a lot in the past, but have not found a way to really make it my own, and make it work for my particular classroom setting and students. Paul Solarz's book Learn Like A Pirate documents the work he has done in his classroom to let students take on full responsibility for the running of the classroom. I want to work more to implement specific student jobs, community meetings, and other means to really put students at the helm of leading the procedures and management of my classroom. Solarz's blog details many ideas that I want to look further into. While the blog isn't currently being updated, the ideas and principles of Solarz's student-led classroom are still widely used. I want to try his class jobs (such as goal-setters each day, morning greeters, and daily recappers) and concept of working towards a day where the teacher does not talk at all. I look forward to seeing my students take initiative, reach goals, and reflect on their leadership skills.
Personalized Learning
With students at such a wide range of levels and abilities each year, I really want to do more to personalize learning for students. Not just to differentiate to different skill levels, but to allow students to select aspects of both what and how they are learning, so as to increase motivation and engagement. I have worked on modules via the PowerSchool Learning Management System for my higher math learners, and have developed flipped lessons for math, but I would love to work more to create interactive lessons, using technology resources, to teach more subjective or invisible skills in reading, writing, and the language arts. These lessons would provide options on both the path and the pace of learning. This Education Next article details some of the why and how of personalized learning, while this Edutopia article describes some ideas on how to implement it in the classroom. I want to use these to experiment with different platforms for personalized learning, and different ways to individualize the learning, using varying technology resources. I look forward to trying some of these strategies in my classroom, and reflecting on their effectiveness.
With students at such a wide range of levels and abilities each year, I really want to do more to personalize learning for students. Not just to differentiate to different skill levels, but to allow students to select aspects of both what and how they are learning, so as to increase motivation and engagement. I have worked on modules via the PowerSchool Learning Management System for my higher math learners, and have developed flipped lessons for math, but I would love to work more to create interactive lessons, using technology resources, to teach more subjective or invisible skills in reading, writing, and the language arts. These lessons would provide options on both the path and the pace of learning. This Education Next article details some of the why and how of personalized learning, while this Edutopia article describes some ideas on how to implement it in the classroom. I want to use these to experiment with different platforms for personalized learning, and different ways to individualize the learning, using varying technology resources. I look forward to trying some of these strategies in my classroom, and reflecting on their effectiveness.
Thinking about the skills required of a productive contributor to our 21st century global society, and particularly, skills that employers feel are necessary for long-term success, I really want to do more to explicitly teach the learner success "soft" skills that my students need. By learning about the ways in which I can teach, make visible, and assess these skills, I will be able to more effectively integrate them into my curriculum, as well as find ways to draw them out in already-existing lessons. By focusing my future efforts towards public speaking, student-led classroom, and personalized learning, I will be learning about cutting-edge techniques that will not only set my students apart in the workplace, but give them the foundation of lifelong learning that will carry them through their future endeavors.
Sources:
http://pvlegs.com/
http://www.learnlikeapirate.com/
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/785128426003496961
http://pvlegs.com/
http://www.learnlikeapirate.com/
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/785128426003496961