Blog Post #9
Can we give students more opportunities for elastic thinking? Can we go as far as to “flip the school on its head” (pg 233) and still do the job we are hired to do and evaluated on?
Blog Post #1
Imagine you just won Teacher of the Year for not just the 1st time but the 3rd time in a row, like John Taylor Gatto. What would you talk about with a national platform in regards to education?
I think it is very possible to give students more opportunities for elastic thinking in school. We can do this through projects, group work, and giving them choice. This will allow them to plan, collaborate, invent, grow, and revise if needed. These things are great to see in schools and have many benefits for students to grow in their thinking. As far as flipping the whole school, I would love that, but it would require a whole new shift of mindset/perspective and we are up against things like curriculum and standardized tests. I think if we do things little by little it may be possible, but if we look at the picture as a whole, it seems like quite a feet and almost impossible.
ReplyDeleteI think we can give students more opportunities for elastic thinking, but I am unsure about what that really looks like in practice. The idea of “flipping the school on its head” sounds amazing, but it also feels overwhelming. I want students to have more freedom to think and be more creative, but I am not always sure how to start and still cover everything I am expected to cover. Will it impact how I get evaluated? Will it meet the expectations from our district assessments?
ReplyDeleteI do not know what flipping the school would look like but I do like the idea! I think adding small lessons here and there and adding more student choice with more open ended questions is a great place to start. I just need to spend some time reflecting on how to do that and what it looks like in my classroom.
We can students more opportunities for elastic thinking by designing our lessons around open ended questions, projects/challenges, and allow students to brainstorm. With this, it makes me wonder, how I can do this in my classroom along with follow the tight schedule we have when we’re suppose to cover the curriculum at a specific time. I think it’s possible that we can do allow more opportunities for elastic thinking depending on the lesson we are teaching, but not all lessons. Once we get behind in the instructional framework, it’s hard to get back on track. I believe that if we added more opportunities for elastic thinking our lessons would be more engaging and students would be more engaged which I think could positively impact our evaluation by admin.
ReplyDeleteI think it is very possible to give students more elastic learning in our classrooms. We can do project based where after we teach some key learning concepts like adding or centripetal force we open it up to the students creating a project or example to show what they learned. Then we can move to allowing them to further look into those interests to expand on their knowledge. The problem with flipping the school is that we not only have to have a major change in the mindset of how to teach, but in public school we face the problems of state standards/common core standards and standardized testing determining if teacher keep their jobs and schools are teaching adequately. I feel like there needs to be a major mind shift in the government requirements of teaching and in how the schools and teachers prove the students are learning. So I feel like as teachers we need to supplement in more chances for elastic learning in our classrooms because I have seen the difference in my son with going from public school and standardized testing focused learning to his educational learning he is doing now.
ReplyDeleteI do try and believe we can add elastic thinking into our classrooms. With the help of AI, I have found it easier to give guidelines and create rubrics for evaluation that can run across many open-ended projects. That had always been my roadblock with creative, customized projects. I struggled with how much time and creativity, on my part, it would take to mix ELA standards with these projects that could vary by interest and work involved. AI has really helped me create checklists using writing, reading, listening, and viewing (ELA Skills) that could be required for all the choices students make. So, I do think elastic thinking is more possible now that I have help with scaffolding and application to customized possibilities. Flipping the school, with work, could be possible too -- for my curriculum. Again, as a process subject (reading, writing, listening, viewing) it can apply to many ideas that allow for exploring, etc. So, I am excited about this possibility and will explore it even more. Love learning about learning and the names of these models, etc, that I have always thought existed, but didn't have name for them. I am excited about making school less boring and more engaging.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that we can use more elastic thinking in schools. Project based learning is a huge step in the right direction. Challenging their creativity. Less rubrics and just an end goal, allowing students to arrive at that goal however their brains take them there. This gives choice, allows for individuality and make a group project for collaboration. The students will learn more from what didn't work than what did... But that's what we want. Our classrooms have to be safe mistake zones and we have to model that mistakes equal learning every single day! Learning through play and experience are more valuable than studying for hours and not learning a thing.
ReplyDeleteI think we can definitely use more elastic thinking in schools. I am an AWFUL test taker, and sometimes I think this is true for most kids. Sometimes a number doesn't define how educated or smart a child is. Instead let's give them a project they can create on their own, and let's see what they can truly do. Or even creative writing !
ReplyDeleteYes, I believe it is possible to give students more opportunities for elastic thinking while still meeting the expectations we are hired and evaluated to fulfill. Elastic thinking allows students to develop original ideas and explore creative solutions to problems, which can deepen their understanding of concepts. Even within required standards and curriculum, teachers can provide opportunities for students to think flexibly by allowing multiple ways to solve a problem, encouraging curiosity, and giving students choices in how they approach tasks. This does not mean abandoning structure or expectations, but rather expanding how students engage with learning. While completely “flipping the school on its head” may be difficult within current systems, small shifts toward creativity, problem-solving, and student voice can still support both innovation and accountability in education.
ReplyDeleteYes, we can give students more opportunities for elastic thinking and still meet the expectations of our jobs. In a lower elementary classroom, elastic thinking can look like giving students chances to explore ideas, try different solutions, and think creatively while still teaching required standards.
ReplyDeleteFor example, instead of always showing one way to solve a math problem, I can ask students to show their thinking using drawings, manipulatives, or words. During reading, students can predict what might happen next in a story and explain their reasoning. In writing, students can create their own endings or change characters. These activities encourage flexible thinking while still addressing learning goals.
“Flipping the school on its head” does not mean removing structure. It means shifting from teacher-directed learning to more student-centered opportunities. Students can ask questions, make choices, and explore ideas within the lesson. I can still teach the standards, assess learning, and maintain routines, but students have more ownership in how they learn.
By building in small opportunities for choice, creativity, and problem-solving, I can promote elastic thinking while still doing the job I am hired and evaluated to do.
I think in allowing students to design their own summative evaluations, we can help give them opportunities for elastic thinking. Of course, as educators, we have learning standards to hit and curriculum requirements to which we must adhere, but nothing says we also have to be the ones to determine if those standards and goals have been met? I started having my upper-level French class create their own summative assessments at the end of a unit and have found that it results in greater engagement and buy-in on the part of the student. Of course, they must present their ideas to me, and I reserve the right to suggest edits and/or additions in order to meet the requirements. The ownership they gain in designing their own evaluations has been so valuable. As a bonus, they want to make everything fun, so they build in "fun" in a way that is personal and authentic, something the teacher cannot always pull off.
ReplyDeleteCan we give students more opportunities for elastic thinking? Can we go as far as to “flip the school on its head” (pg 233) and still do the job we are hired to do and evaluated on?
ReplyDeleteI do believe we can give more opportunities for elastic thinking within our schools and our homes, however I don't know if I completely agree with the idea of "flip the school on it's head" - I think as we already have begun to see - students would not always learn the skills to be good human beings - we see a huge lack of regard for authority today and respect - which should be taught and modeled in the home but it is not - I think often this thinking/idea looks great on paper and in a perfect world it could maybe exist but so much basic learning has been lost on what parents should be doing that suddenly the responsibility is falling on teachers and it's just too much. I don't disagree with giving students opportunities to engage, and pursue self directed projects and experiments but there has to be parameters and expectations in place as well or we really are not preparing them for the "real world" - because most work environments don't work unhinged like that.