Keeping in the spirit of the education reform blog day this will serve as my submission. I know we are supposed to advocate for better rights for teachers and more support for the work we do. However, at the end of the day we are the reform within our own classrooms and schools. The reality is, we work in districts and schools that have rules and parameters that we must follow. While we might not always agree with them, those are what we must deal with. As a result, I choose to “change” my own world within my classroom. I want to reform what I do to give my student’s the best learning chances possible within the constructs of the parameters of my school. I will still work for change and reform, but if I keep waiting for the change, I miss the opportunity to make small changes every day that can go a long way.
Waiting on the World to Change
Many people have seen the video from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o&feature=related about the “new” vision of students. This video was set in a college setting but I think the points mentioned were valid and apply more universally. I took that video and formed my own set of questions and asked some colleagues in my building with is a 6-8 Junior High. The questions were aimed to see what teachers were doing to help get kids engaged and involved in their learning. This is the product with the help of John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change”. I tried to do it in one continuous take but that didn’t turn out like I had hoped… here is what I came up with though. All of the teacher responses are genuine and self-created from their own answers.