"Changing Pathways"

The video that jumped out at me the most this week was the video that talked about engaging native Alaskan students. The teachers at the school profiled attended a neuroscience workshop emphasizing emotion, and thus created a curriculum that interweaves cultural activities with state learning standards. Teaching in Boston in a school with a very diverse population, I can imagine how positively some of our students would respond to a similar initiative. Occasionally, throughout the year we'll have 'cultural pride' dress down days, and they always have very high participation rates. Of course, some of this stems from the fact that our school has a dress code, and the opportunity to wear jeans isn't one most middle school students will pass up. But, along with the ubiquitous skinny jeans and sneakers, most students are proud of their heritage, and will bring in t-shirts, flags, music, and food to share. We need to explore new ways of promoting that sense of self through cultural identity and pride for our diverse student body, and find ways to incorporate this into our classroom lessons and our school culture.

I also enjoyed the video profiling the teacher in LA who uses Socratic questioning and discussion to promote learning in her students. She said in the video that the job of the teacher is to provide the environment for students to learn, and I really like that philosophy. Students should be engaging with the learning individually  when defending their position, or collaboratively, when debating a point. The role of the teacher isn't to control the discussions or provide the "right" answer; it's to facilitate and support the cognitive learning that is happening.