I will be presenting at the IFHE World Congress in Daejeon, South Korea on 3rd August 2016,. The theme for the conference “Hope and Happiness” had me wondering. As I started to pen down my ideas, I reflected upon the strategies that were having a significant effect on student progress in my classes, the things that made me happy and the ways in which I was breaking down barriers/silos for my students.
How do we track progress? Are higher grades a true reflection of student engagement? Is student engagement and enthusiasm the-be-all of our education system? How do we measure engagement and enthusiasm? Shouldn’t building hope and happiness be at the heart of all we do as educators? And how might we as educators create such opportunities for our students? To me, knowing my students, forming connections and believing in my students are key to creating a classroom environment for SOLE (Self Organised Learning Environment).
A year ago, I felt and would have said otherwise. Although, I knew I was evolving as an educator and taking risks, I was still very reluctant to give up all control in the classroom. Then around the same time last year, I signed up to be a granny in the cloud. The desire to pay it forward was so strong, that I felt compelled to take up the opportunity. However, a few sessions into it, I was awarded the Next Generation Teacher Scholarship to study Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Practice (Digital and Collaborative Learning) and I got pretty busy with a full time job, study and my Twitter educational chats. The things I remember most and found priceless about the granny sessions were that our simple actions, words; for me being multilingual broke down barriers and put a smile to the kids’ faces. Collaborative activities gave the students confidence, created a buzz in the labs and provided opportunities to demonstrate leadership and mentoring skills. Here are some snapshots of my presentation slides.
In December, 2015, I had the honor of meeting Prof Sugata Mitra. I remember saying to him “my school is not BYOD (Bring Your own Device) and I find it hard, sometimes, to engage students with completing the written aspects”. He said to me 1. Give students a big question (a question you yourself don’t know the answer to, well enough) 2. Limit devices and let students organise themselves into groups 3. Stand back. I tried it and I was amazed at the students’ ability to manage themselves. We like to control and it is hard to let go, but it is important to stand back sometimes, and see the real magic happen. It builds a culture of mutual understanding, trust and respect. I have more time now to give one on one feedback without having to worry about behavior management. This led me to write the blog post #ibelieve
This year my school also offered me an opportunity to be part of the Professional Development Committee. I was also asked to facilitate a Professional Learning Group for staff, with the key focus on Independent learning and self-management in students. It tied in beautifully with my vision and educational philosophy of empowering students to be their own teachers. Staff and students tell me I inspire them but I think it all stems from a dominoes effect where by, my mentors and connections have an impact on me and the passion and learning is somehow relayed onward. My vision now is to create leaders who would pay it forward. I want my students to view education as over and beyond credits and achievement; to understand that knowledge and skills learnt must extend beyond just specific subject knowledge.
This is what SOLE in my classroom looks like. I have an open door policy where I invite Senior Leaders, experts from industry and my own tutors. Everyone plays a critical part in creating this environment and as students take ownership, I have learnt more and more to step back; allow room for student innovation and creativity to prosper. Who says SOLE works well just with younger kids? I have tried it with my Year 13 students and seen great results. I have found that when we articulate our vision and expectations, students will rise up to meet them. The things most of my learners valued, according to their feedback were me believing in them, sharing passion for teaching and learning and extending their thinking. I have been asked by other staff how some students who do not otherwise comply in their other classes, do so in my class and achieve great results.
