Challenge: Think like Sir Ken Robinson

Everyone should watch this video:

THANK YOU KEN ROBINSON!

What an awesome video! The sad part is....I AGREE. Why is it sad? Because I feel helpless. I teach about 80 kids this year: 8th graders and 10th graders. How much can I really do to change this "epidemic"?? 





There are still teachers that teach next door to me that lecture every day. They give out worksheets and expect the kids to be motivated and learn on their own. Or, they stand at the board, write notes, and tell the kids to copy. The kids feel tortured. They hate it. And do they really learn anything? No. 

What about the teachers who are "successful"? They stand at the board EVERY day. We would classify these teachers as bad teachers and yet, they are revered by some because of the great scores they get at the end of the year. What's wrong here? I personally think the problem is that a lot of times "drill and kill" actually works. Well, works in the sense that kids can regurgitate the information for the exam. This happened when I was in school. I had a teacher I thought was great. But what was so great about her? Okay, maybe she was funny. Maybe she talked to us like we were adults. I did well in her class and on my state tests. But what did I really learn from her? Probably just how NOT to teach. Looking back, there's nothing she taught me that I use today. She didn't affect my life all that much. She just showed me how to pass.

What can I do though? The system is the system. I'm pressured to conform because test scores are what "matter." Standardized tests support convergent thinking - students are asked to choose the best answer, not analyze the possibility of different answers. I argue that most thinking done in the workplace, in REAL LIFE, needs to be divergent.

The video really brought up a lot of questions for me and I'm not really sure how to answer them.

• Can I balance my class time so that students do well on the standardized test, but are divergent thinkers? 
• Will I have enough time to cover all the material I'm supposed to cover, but allow my students to think creatively and work collaboratively? 
• This is my third year teaching. If my students don't do well on their standardized tests, what will happen to me? 
• After being taught the same way from Kindergarten through 7th grade, how will my students respond to this new kind of teaching and learning?

I can't change the system, but I can change my classroom. Can you?