Common Core...Think Different

 

I shared this image in an earlier post that I saw on a blog that  I found about iPads.  Now I want to talk about this simple statement...Think different. 

As we change to the Common Core Standards, I find that I keep asking myself questions like... "What is my job?"  Today, my answer is simple, my job is to get my fifth graders to think harder and understand more.  If I can get the kids to think differently than they have before then they will have a true understanding of what they are learning.  Although my answer is simple, it doesn't mean it is always an easy thing to do.

I have done my job when I can get students to study the abolitionist John Brown and they can come to the conclusion that the world needs people that are willing to stand up for what they believe in or nothing will ever change.  I didn't just ask them to tell me who John Brown was, they need to be able to figure out why he is a significant person in our history.

Common Core isn't about making things more complicated, but it is about making things more challenging.  We aren't going to prepare our kids for the future by asking them to memorize steps and facts.  It's okay for school to be challenging and it's okay to change the way we teach.  We often hear, "What's wrong with the way we learned?"  Nothing is wrong with the way we learned years ago, but we live in a different world now.  You wouldn't teach a child how to learn Spanish and then send him to France.  We have to teach in order to prepare them for a very different world and that mean critical thinking and problem solving.

Presentation for Cobb Chamber of Commerce

I was recently asked to speak to the Cobb Chamber of Commerce Education Committee about how I use technology in my classroom.  It is hard to share what I do without also sharing why I think it it important.  I created this presentation on Google Docs.

Cobb County School District Video

A glimpse into my classroom...

I recently had a visitor from the county office of Curriculum and Instruction.  She wanted to take some video in my classroom and share it on the county website.  I truly believe int he way that I am teaching and want to share it with as many teachers and parents as I can.  My students are becoming independent students who are willing to learn how to advocate for themselves.  It is exciting to watch them start as fifth graders that simple wait for instructions to students who are willing to email or come talk to me about something they would like to see changed and be able to articulate why they would like to see it changed.

I am extremely lucky to have administrators in my school who are willing to support all of my efforts and who are willing to do what it takes to keep it going.  They are also willing to go the extra mile to find out how everything works and not expect the same kinds of lesson plans that they are used to seeing.  INstead of expecting me to fit into a mold, they allow me to work on creating a new mold that other teachers may be able to use to integrate new technology into their own classrooms.

Although the video isn't long, it is a glimpse into how we do things.  The levels of differentiation that this type of classroom allows is truly amazing.  I am able to extend for those that are ready and I can give support to those in need.  I can change how some assignments are completed or they can make a plan and decide how they would like to complete an assignment.  With the use of Edmodo, they can upload their work directly to the assignment and I can still grade that one assignment all at one time even though everyone chose a different way to complete it.

Although my students this year took longer to take ownership of their learning, they are light years ahead of where they were when they walked into my classroom.