Wednesday, March 6, 2013

What if we....DO instead of KNOW?

In this article, Bill Ferriter of The Tempered Radical discusses just that: creating a school culture based on doing instead of simply knowing
He mentions that grading would have to change from a "...focus on content mastery to a focus on demonstration of an ability to apply content in novel situations." This is something I get frustrated with when entering grades all the time. There is such a disconnect with students applying the skills we teach to NEW and novel situations. But if students felt that it wasn't about what they knew and instead knew that the focus was on the way they carried out assignments, it might be easier to join the two worlds of what they practiced on and what they need to apply the skills to.
Ferriter also encourages his readers to make a change. Obviously if you are "just a teacher" like little ol' me, you cannot up and change the whole system. But, as Bill points out, you can "[f]ind a step you can take tomorrow.  Find a step that you take a week from now.  A month from now.  A year from now."

It would be interesting to hear from others; what steps will you take?

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