What Have Your Students Taught You?
Every Monday I share a different ed tech quote on our Thompson Classroom social media pages for our staff to consider.
I recently found a series on Tik Tok entitled, “Tech Tips I Learned From An 8-Year Old”, where teachers share the game-changing tech tips their students have taught them. The tips range from keyboarding shortcuts and program features to tech tool suggestions and digital “life hacks”.
The series is very light and fun and has resulted in the curation of a variety of tech tools that are assisting teachers while also creating a collaborative learning environment that honours the student expertise in that particular area. I think this is a strong reminder for all staff that teaching is a practice that is ever-evolving. There is always new things to learn and different methods that are required.
Not only year-to-year but day-to-day… class-to-class… effective teaching requires educators to interpret a variety of evidence in order to adapt to their student needs in that given climate. We often hear this while discussing the purpose of formative assessment and how we use the data we collect to change our practice through the learning journey but it is so much more than that.
During one of my last semesters in the classroom my schedule included grade 10 geography, essential math, and science. Being in a small school this meant that the grade 10 class of 16 students was with me, in the same room, for 3 of their 4 classes every day. Despite this, my approach to our learning changed drastically from class to class:
- individual student interests/strengths influenced learning needs and behaviour between subjects
- student energy and attention varied depending on the time of day, proximity to break/lunch hour, amount of sunlight in the room
- student groupings, seating preferences, and comfort levels changed between subjects
While that semester allowed me to develop a stronger understanding of my students I was always amused by how much change I witnessed. Their responses taught me a lot and helped guide my practice not only from day-to-day but also from period-to-period within the same day.