This webinar was to address the using a balance of technological innovations and traditional teaching techniques to assure that students become creative learners. The speakers suggested that a “change in procedures” is necessary to make educating our children the highest priority among the students and the adults who support their efforts.
Mr. Armstrong’s students are expected to do their own research in their social studies class. He introduces a topic, guides them to a variety of sources (links), and allows each student to gather their own information in response to the prompt. According to Mr. Armstrong, rarely do any of his students respond with the same material after doing the research. With such varied responses, this generates terrific in-class discussion that can offer a wide variety of opinions.
The session also stressed the importance of re-thinking how we assess what our students have learned. Mr. Armstrong believes that it’s necessary to begin to distance our assessment techniques away from standardized testing and implement a “what can you tell me that I can’t Google” sort of response. In other words, the students are encouraged to respond with original and informed thoughts gleaned from their own research.
The webinar was filled with some good information and was definitely worth the listen. I attended this session on 10/25/10.
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