tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15932919.post509840632969962268..comments2024-03-26T07:07:14.304-07:00Comments on Teacher Tom: ProjectsTeacher Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14606781724784785338noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15932919.post-32311336092087488212015-03-06T07:17:02.794-08:002015-03-06T07:17:02.794-08:00"I've never observed a child engaged in a..."I've never observed a child engaged in a self-selected project who was not working hard." Unfortunately, some students never get experience in the PBL experience. I've had fifth graders struggle with what they want to learn about - they know they want choice in their learning, but they just have a hard time with the process of choosing. Of course, this is when they start "goofing off." As Alfie Kohn would say, "If a child is off-task, then perhaps it's not the child, it's the task." This would be true in a case such as a fifth grader goofing around when left to his own devices - it's not that he's trying to get into trouble, or even that the task is bad. He just doesn't understand the task - he has so little experience in self-selected learning, he doesn't even know how to learn for the sake of learning.<br /><br />This is also true when a teacher asks a student to select his own book to read. When parents ask me about why I allow students to read what they want, I tell them: "As we were growing up, the teacher always told us what to read - for reading, social studies, science, etc. If we ever had a choice in our reading, then it was a period of fifteen minutes, two times a week. We need to have kids figure out what they like - I didn't realize what I like to read until I was in college."<br /><br />There is hope, however! Many teachers are finding time to have Genius Hour in their class. GH is based on Google's 20-Time, where they give their employees 20% of their workweek to work on projects they are passionate about. For our GH this year, students have studied manga art, designed video games, completed surveys about the best FIFA goals, wrote a report about favorite bears, wrote a weekly blog, and the list goes on.<br /><br />Kids have gotten so good at "playing the game of school" that they struggle with learning for the sake of learning.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15932919.post-73442756421237328572015-03-06T06:47:48.787-08:002015-03-06T06:47:48.787-08:00Exactly. That's why I always balk when teacher...Exactly. That's why I always balk when teachers say that children do not have long attention spans. Watch them at play or exploring a puddle with a stick--<br />They only have short attention spans when required to do what doesn't interest them. Judi Pack Thinking About Kdisnoreply@blogger.com