The initial part of the video, Progressive Education in the 1940s, reminded me of when I first started teaching. Students were sitting in rows, facing forward. The expectation would be to drill and practice math facts daily. Students would take part in a choral response. After my first year of teaching I realized these practices were not extremely effective, and quite frankly very boring. Students were not engaged in lessons, but rather simply acted as robots by repeating similar tasks daily, that required minimal critical thinking, discovery, or challenges.
My next year of teaching I was determined to do something different. My goal was for students to become problem solvers, which would better prepare them for their future. Instruction became progressive in that it allowed students to guide their own learning through project-based learning. Cooperative learning and groups were encouraged that promoted students challenging and enhancing the thinking of their peers. As a teacher, my role was to facilitate and when needed slightly guide students. While benchmark and state assessment data slightly improved my second year of teaching, the growth in student engagement and excitement about learning was evident.
When embarking on something new or nontraditional the article, People who like this stuff….like this stuff, suggested first developing a plan to help individuals move into a certain direction. This causes me to reflect upon the proposal required for this course and the components within the overall proposal. The benefit of completing an outline as part of the project can serve as a “road map” for individuals to gain greater insight into the plan and the implementation of the plan. Obtaining buy-in for a new project requires getting people who liked the old to like, or at least come on board, with the new. Guidance is provided by starting with the why, reaching out to key influencers, develop and execution, and empowering the leaders. I reflected upon theses points of guidance as I developed my proposal. I made sure to include key leaders, those that I essentially need on board to be able to effectively implement the proposal. I’ve also been pondering upon a clear, concise, and effective execution strategy to include in my proposal and within my outline.
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