Implementing Positive Change In the Classroom

Seven Thoughts on Implementing Positive Change in the Way We Teach our Students
by Jeffrey Billard, M. Ed.

1. Engage students more in what they are learning.
Getting the student interested in what he or she is learning is engaging and thought-provoking. We need to get away from what Paulo Freire calls "the banking theory of education" where teachers deposit learning into student's heads and make withdrawals for tests. The old factory model of education is just that...old and outdated; we need to reach out to students, find what's important to them, what they enjoy and reach them that way. "Teaching to the test" and "drill, drill, drill" are outmoded and need to be done away with.

2. Make what we are teaching relevant to our student's lives.
Can we turn the standards we need to address into situations that have meaning to our students? Definitely.

3. Teach kids instead of teaching content.
We know what has to be taught-that is clear, but it's in the delivery and how we treat the students as people in an empathetic and human way that is key.

4. Make our classrooms into "safe containers" where students feel welcomed, appreciated and valued.
Building community in a classroom is incredibly important, yet often overlooked. If more students felt safe, emotionally as well as physically, then more would come to school and learn.
Schools all over the country are attempting to curb rising drop-out rates. Doesn't making schools more appealing for kids mean that they'll want to come?

5. Assess students in a more global, inclusive way.
If the main way students are being assessed is through traditional forms of testing, then we are only appealing to the linguistic and mathematical learners. What about all of the other intelligences as put forth by Howard Gardner- spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist? After all as Sir Ken Robinson says we think and process things in all the ways we experience the world. Doing that with our kids would speak to them, as we hit all the intelligences and learning styles.

6. Foster creativity and creative thinking.
Instead of a generation of students who are good at taking standardized tests, we need to foster creative and critical thinking. This makes school exciting and fun. What better way to get students to want to come to school and help prevent drop-outs.

7. Get students up and moving in the classroom.
Kids, no matter what age or level, want to get up and move in the classroom. Sitting for an hour in a hard chair is not conducive to learning. Creative movement activities make the room crackle with excitement and energy. This is especially effective if you have students with ADHD-think about it. I would guess that if asked, most students would tell you that they would rather be up and doing at least some of the time instead of sitting and listening all of the time.

We don't need to design new, elaborate systems as we re-think how our schools should look; we need to re-think the instructional methods we use in the classroom everyday and invest in restocking our teachers' toolboxes with methods that integrate the arts through creative movement, drama, poetry, storytelling, visual art and music in all grades and all levels.

Integrating the arts into the curriculum accomplishes all of these points and more. We all need to advocate for this type of approach as we take our first steps into the 21st century.

Posted by Jeffrey Billard, M.Ed. at 9:51 AM 0 comments
Labels: Examining our teaching practices, Jeffrey Billard, Rationale for integrating the arts