Week #7 Contribution to Learning

Blog #7 Contribution to Learning

This week I think I contributed to my own learning a lot more than I contributed to others.  I read the assigned material, do my own research, read the blogs of others, then respond to these blogs and really start firming up my philosophies of teaching and learning by putting all my jumbled up ideas into words on a page.

I teach an outdoor survival course for Alaska Marine Safety Education Association out of Sitka, and one of the key 7 things you must do in a survival situation is “play”.  This is to keep your spirits high and your mind focused on the good things in life rather than the dangers and struggles when in a desperate situation.  That seems like it works for any job as well.  Play, whether it be a practical joke I play on my students, or taking a few days to use technology as a learning tool in game form, will help my students to have a better attitude toward my class and what I am helping them to learn.

I mentioned to Megan my newly learned idea that games can so easily be incorporated into the day to day classroom...sometimes with no preparation.  True, it is good to implement the game into the classroom environment when you are planning your lessons, but it is also good, and sometimes more fun, to “spur of the moment”, throw out a quick and easy game just to give a freshness and happy spirit to the class...even if it is to jump up, run outside, and race around the parking lot for a minute.  

I also mentioned to Shauna my fear of embracing all change.  I am of the mindset that not all change is good, and some change may be good for some teachers and not for others.  I think it is important for teachers to be a bit autonomous and able to choose the technology ideas that are best for their classrooms and not be pressured to use ideas that may be against their own personal philosophies.  Although, I do agree that “old dog’s ideas die hard” and sometimes they may need to be strongly encouraged to make changes, it needs to be done carefully.

Finally, I loved the comment that Leslie made about helping our students be explorers and search in the dark corners and discover new ways of doing things.  I hope I was an encouragement to her when I mentioned that I believe that all humans have an innate desire to learn, it’s just that many times this desire is “squashed” by others (sometimes teachers) and becomes dormant.  Then, it is up to us to do what we can to bring students to those “dark corners” where they can discover new things and get excited about learning again.

So, this week, my direction seemed to be more in the area of a philosophical change of integrating games in the classroom (not just technology type games) to help students re-establish a love for learning and self-discovery.