Crystal Berry

When I read the article, I had flashbacks from my student teaching days and the many sessions on teaching in the 21^st Century.  San Angelo ISD has a proactive approach to curriculum and the teaching aspects of Rotherham and Willingham’s (2009) article on change. 

     The application of curriculum: prior to teaching a subject, we researched the TEKS then connected the requirements to the lesson plan.  Then we connected the curriculum to student learning. Every day, for each topic we posted the TEKS as a visual reminder for the students.  The plan for the student was, this is the goal of the day, and when we finish this topic, “I will be able to ___”.  The concepts instilled student confidence and accomplishment because the student had control over learning curriculum and a tool to measure the progress. 

The application of teaching:  I remember a staff meeting and the principal announcing the goal for teaching was no longer to push the student through learning a subject.  The new focus was to guide them or pull from the top.  The principal performed a demonstrated with a piece of ribbon.  The 4-inch piece of ribbon lies flat on the table.  The principal took a finger and pushed the ribbon from the bottom and the ribbon bunched.  Using the same piece of ribbon, the principal took a finger and a thumb, and then pulled the ribbon from the top.  The projected educational environmental change was motivating the top students to pull the bottom students through the learning process.  

 

Thank you for sharing.

 

Sandra B.

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References

 

Rotherham, A., J. & Willingham, D. (2009). 21^st century skills: The challenges ahead. Educational Leadership, 67(1), 16-21. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept09/vol67/num01/21st-Century-Skills@-The-Challenges-Ahead.aspx