Wow this was a great presentation. I loved how honest he was about his challenges as a teacher. It was refreshing to hear how he continued to try to problem solve why his students received particular assessments. It shows his his dedication to his students.
The changes he has made in his classroom really make sense. He lectures a bit, asks a question, gives his students a chance to come up with an answer and an opportunity to discuss it with each other. This really helps to let the information sink into the students and formulate their own reasoning to the answer. I also like how he has the students pre - read assignments before the class. This allows for the class to go deeper in discussion of the material.
I think that when we also include the use of technology in our class, our students can have discussions on-line or working together on a group project. We can up-load reading materials and have students blog about the material before they come into class for a deeper discussion. This gives each student the chance to digest the material at their own pace. Not all students read at the same level or work at the same level. Plus, the students can always go back and re-read material if they need to. To me this formula seems like a great way to help present material that goes from instructor to student and back again.
I like what you said about material presented going from instructor to student and back again. Learning should be a cyclical process not a linear one. It seems like in a lot of environments you have one chance to get the information and then the class moves on. I really appreciate that during the question and answer part of the video someone asked if Dr. Mazur had to sacrifice content while using the peer instruction model. Dr. Mazur's honest answer was that he had to sacrifice a small amount of content for a great increase in comprehension. I think it's important to remember that as we spend more time reinforcing concepts for solid understanding, we might not get to every topic in the book. It's nice to hear a Harvard professor reinforce this.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea about students blogging about the reading selections before coming to class; what meaningful homework that would be! Dr. Mazur's research was so closely related to Responsive Classroom that I have to wonder if he ever worked with the creators of the program. His conclusions are similar to other research-based curriculum models, thus it must be accurate. I agree with you about how refreshing it was to see a professor be honest and open with his teaching practices. If only all professors could do this, right? We are so lucky to be living in a digital age and I hope that more teachers/professors begin to use these incredible tools.
ReplyDeleteI often post a short interesting video clip and have my students comment on it on our classroom blog for homework. I feel like it gives us another "dimension" to reach them on. As was stated above, there may be a small sacrifice in terms of the quantity of the topic covered but what is covered is at a greater depth of understanding and connection.
ReplyDelete-Kristie