Which school do you want to support?
Great teachers are leaders. They persuade students to care about what they are learning.
Some make it exciting. Some make it fun. Some make it feel important and grown-up. Some make it part of a journey that leads to a destination that students care about. But one way or another, great teachers make learning relevant.
If "curriculum" is the insider buzzword for "what" is taught, "pedagogy" is the buzzword for "how." Teachers are accustomed to this word, and use it without blushing. (If you are new to education it helps to practice saying it in different ways: "she's improving her pedagogy," "my concerns are pedagogical." Better yet, don't.)
Good pedagogy engages students in curriculum. A 2012 survey of 220 students about what they find engaging was featured in Edutopia, a magazine for teachers. The students’ responses included:
The good news for students is that the Common Core State Standards tend to encourage these approaches. One example is project-based learning, an approach to teaching that enables students to show their knowledge through projects that are connected to the real world. This is the type of instruction that supports both academic knowledge and the “habits of mind” that are a central goal of the Common Core.
In the coming set of lessons, we will explore many of the subjects and approaches that educators use to make learning spicy, cool, relevant, and interesting. We begin with the idea of making school a place for creative experiences.
Updated July 2017
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Susannah Baxendale February 2, 2019 at 12:15 pm
Albert Stroberg May 1, 2016 at 8:09 pm
I would be terrible as the Dance teacher, I just do not get it. But let me loose in Biology- we are going for a ride.
And so it should be- looking for the expertise & enthusiasm rather than the warm body at a low price.
Mamabear March 23, 2015 at 11:49 am