‘The classroom, school, and community are all interrelated. Any success you have on one level can be blocked by inadequate capabilities, resources, or understanding on another.’ (Senge p. 25). I found Senge’s orientation informative and insightful on the relationship between the three key elements that create a school that learns: the classroom, school, and community. In order to produce organizational learning, all three levels must work together. The complexity of the community level made me realize just how many roles the community plays in the overall educational experience. The members of this community who should have the biggest impact on students are the parents. As facilitators, I think we all recognize parents as the primary educator to their children. Senge suggests that teachers, students, and parents must work together in a continuous cycle in order to produce a successful learning classroom. While I agree with this idea of mutual influence, I find it hard to conceptualize because I’m not sure it’s possible to form that relationship with every single student and parent. As I read and came to understand the bigger picture of the other two elements, a learning school and learning community, I realized that Senge is absolutely right when he says to focus on one or two new priorities for change, not twelve.
As I read through the five learning disciplines, I think the discipline of Team Learning is probably one of the most important. I recently experienced just how effective collective thinking can be within a classroom. Our 7th graders have been working on developing complex sentences for their Language Arts class. We gave each student a different Kindergarten reading book. The books contain sentences with three to four words. We had the students rewrite the book using complex sentences. The class completed the activity individually and then in groups. The creativity, energy, and effort put forth in their group work far exceeded our expectations. They were all so excited about their final product; they were begging to present their ‘books’ in class!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Blog #3 - Reaction to Ozar Ch. 5
As I read Ozar’s chapter on choosing a set of outcomes, I found her simplistic approach extremely thought-provoking. “Learning means responding effectively to the situation. It implies growth and leads to more learning” (Ozar, p.61). Creating an outcome-centered curriculum is the most effective way to communicate and observe what students learn. Ozar states that significant outcomes will lead to significant learning (p. 61). Although, when I think about choosing my own set of outcomes, I begin to over-analyze each outcome questioning whether or not it is ‘significant’ enough. As Ozar suggests, outcomes state the ‘what’ because they focus on student performance. Creating an effective set of outcomes that focus on discipline-specific and value-integration will help make the overall process of integrating an outcomes-centered curriculum easier. Having the learning outcomes specific to both planes will help remind me that I am teaching to the whole student. It's important to be cognizant of the differences between students. Individual personalities, various learning styles, and life experiences are all elements that can affect a student’s learning.
As I reviewed Figures 5.1 – 5.4, I found myself treating each example like a checklist for both my personal and professional life. I wasn’t surprised by the results of Heath’s study on attempting to correlate school-related factors with effectiveness as an adult (p.65). I agree that involvement in extracurricular activities is imperative to a student’s growth. My class recently completed a project where the students had to write an essay on their ‘American Dream’ (where they see themselves in twenty years and the path that got them there). I didn’t think about it until after reading this chapter in Ozar, but every student’s ‘American Dream’ somehow revolved around an extracurricular activity they are involved with today. As we continue to move forward, away from the Industrial-Age model, the hope is to create a learning environment full of opportunities which provides excitement in the classroom for every student.
As I reviewed Figures 5.1 – 5.4, I found myself treating each example like a checklist for both my personal and professional life. I wasn’t surprised by the results of Heath’s study on attempting to correlate school-related factors with effectiveness as an adult (p.65). I agree that involvement in extracurricular activities is imperative to a student’s growth. My class recently completed a project where the students had to write an essay on their ‘American Dream’ (where they see themselves in twenty years and the path that got them there). I didn’t think about it until after reading this chapter in Ozar, but every student’s ‘American Dream’ somehow revolved around an extracurricular activity they are involved with today. As we continue to move forward, away from the Industrial-Age model, the hope is to create a learning environment full of opportunities which provides excitement in the classroom for every student.
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