Reflection on High School

In high school most of the lessons were largely chalk and talk except for sport (there were no theory lessons), visual arts, music and chemistry, and they were very much teacher centred. I cannot remember any excursions. There were no computers or TVs at school. A few times old silent films were shown in history and geography lessons. The quality of these films was shocking!

Most of the time teachers stood in front and wrote onto the blackboard that which we had to copy, or they told us what to work on in our textbooks. New concepts were explained and there were class discussions. That was about it. There were several students who were not engaged in the lessons, especially when they were not interested in the particular subject. This is where the first of Marzano's Dimensions of Learning, (DOL 1), attitudes and perceptions, comes to mind. Who is responsible for students' negative attitudes towards subjects, the student or the teacher? According to Marzano the answer is both.

We, as teachers, should
1. help students foster positive attitudes. This includes helping them to develop strategies for improving their attitudes and perceptions and
2. design lessons which keep students engaged.

Kearsley and Shneiderman's Engagement Theory implies that learning activities should
1. happen in collaborative teams
2. be project-based and
3. have a real-life focus

There are three components to the Engagement Theory, Relate-Create-Donate.
Relate: students work on a problem task they can relate to
Create: students create a solution to the problem
Donate: students give the solution to the world

When I watched and listened to George Lucas, the founder of Edutopia, talk about 21st Century education, I realised that this is the Engagement Theory in action. Teachers are there to help students nurture their interest and confidence. Students work together on projects that have a real meaning, work on something they can give to the community.