Allowing students to think outside of the classroom is the future. Communicating with peers in the lunch room and at recess is only a small portion of communication, for students now and of the future. Mr. Crosby is that teacher! You know the one you remember everything about even twenty years later. Teachers that make adjustments based on the students needs are always successful. I spent 12 years in retail and I watched the business change. Many workers and management couldn't make the move to the future of the business, and they were left behind. Schools are in the same process and many teachers and administrators are having trouble adjusting. There are new waves of educators that are embarking on a journey to the next dimension of learning. This a journey in which guidance is key and allowing the students to experiment and experience versus serving up a worksheet or study guide that has a predetermined outcome. Who knows what our students are capable of, and old school teaching is hindering that creativity.
The blended learning cycle allows a new way of learning that the students of today need. I have four children the oldest is seventeen and the youngest is two. I love music of all types, and I can take the eldest son's iPod and listen to music that he is listening to and make a choice. I can choose to persecute him for the type of music he listens to, or I can accept it and learn to understand it and why it appeals to him. Who doesn't want to understand their children? Once he sees that I am willing to learn new things it allows him to open up to experience new(old) music. Its all about the approach. Mr. Anderson is an expanding teacher that is setting the bar high for his students. His approaches to learning allows the students to be in control of their learning process. This not only teaches the students the content but it also teaches responsibility in an innovative way. This preparation reaches far beyond the current classrooms and into their future success as adults.
I am studying to be a social science and history teacher. I feel that I have an unrelenting challenge ahead of me in my field. History has been taught relatively the same for centuries. Read, listen to lectures, take notes, study, and take an exam. It will be challenging to be innovative especially if my future department head is quote "old school" and isn't excited about the way I want to teach. That is when I have to see the wave, feel it and pop up on up on my board and ride it to the beach. Wipe-outs are expected and are recoverable. Everyday will not be stellar, but it must be treated that way because a students future depends on it. My name is Jarrod and I approve this message.
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