Although this reflection is a short one, it is a powerful one. I am asking you to consider taking away my thinking and put it into practice. Think about how your students learn best, do they teach, model, display, discuss, collaborate. Not just at school but 24/7? Are we creating people who can learn for life? Learning never ends ….
How do students learn? My experience in Education over the past 10 years has proven to me that the best way to learn something is to teach it – so why are educators not using this more often in their classroom? It baffles me!
It is something I use and promote every day and I frequently contact parents telling them that their children will be coming home to share something that evening, giving them a heads up (when often a prompt is needed). It is a part of their goal setting process, something that makes them accountable.
I prep the students to do this before they leave – I say make a change tonight, you know your parents are going to say “Hello darling, how was your day?” and you are going to grunt and say fine and they will ask “What did you do today?” and you will say “nothing” – that is how it goes, but make a change today and before your parents can say a word surprise them by saying “Mum/Dad, guess what I learnt today” and go on to tell them several things you learnt 🙂 Then when you get home model it by teaching it to them – show them how to do it – even if it is a dog or cat that you are sharing with 🙂 make it fun and make it a habit!
The effect of positive parent involvement in children’s education is clear. The more involved a parent is in the education of their child, the more successful they will be (on most occasions). There is of course always the ‘helicopter’ parent that will hover and hover and do everything for their child, not letting them learn for themselves, but as a teacher and a parent, I will be aiming for that happy medium.
I always go by the motto “if you can teach it, you know it” and I expect that of every student that I teach. Give it a go, you are a lifelong learner, attitude is everything.
I am definitely going to encourage more reflection and teaching from my students.
At our last home school partnership meeting, we gave out learning conversation starter fridge magnets to parents to help them go beyond, what did u do today. Had them made in our four biggest languages incl Maori and Samoan.