ad-free
Channel / Source:
TEDx Talks
Title: Reimagining Classrooms: Teachers as Learners and Students as Leaders | Kayla Delzer | TEDxFargo
Published: 2015-10-13
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6vVXmwYvgs
and the first day of school this year I had a little boy get up in my face and he screamed at me he said I hate school I hate teachers I don't want to be here I mean we're taking a calming breath finding my biggest smile and I got down on his level and I sat I promise you're going to love school this year if we
take a look at class arms over the past seventy years we're seeing the same types of classrooms and the same types of learning environment spending up to seventy years it is my goal to continue we revitalize learning and the classroom this is a picture in my classroom this last school year I think classrooms differently these are some of my students I see my students differently and
I see the way that they learn differently the results I get are incredible as teachers and educators we must embrace the students of today to reimagine tomorrow first we must wonder how we can release the power for as long as schools have existed teachers have been the main source of knowledge in the classroom teachers are the gatekeepers for pretty much everything that happens in the classroom
where in charge everything that students do you or don't you as teachers let's not miss you is this power in twenty fifteen we have far more resources available at available at our fingertips than ever before this gives us the ability as teachers to make our classrooms less teacher centered and more student centered let's embrace that teachers don't need to master every single act or every single
tool before we handed over to students in my classroom I like to use a student teaching students model so I will give an accurate tool to a student I will have them learn how to use it and then I'll have them go teach all the other students and myself how to use that teachers going to master at all %HESITATION let's get kids involved with projects like
genius our genes are is actually based on Google's twenty percent policy where kids would actually get one hour a week to study things and they are passionate about instead of telling them things that they have to learn every single day this really gives kids ownership in their learning and it makes it very relevant to them this also means that lots of the time my students are
going to know more than me that's awesome embrace their knowledge and they'll embrace their learning second we must wonder how we can embrace purposeful technology using technology just for the sake of using technology is wasteful if it doesn't transform your classroom where you're teaching or you're learning just skip but don't use it if the same project can be done using paper or pencil it's not transforming
your classroom always always always start with your purpose if something is boring on paper it's still gonna be boring when you put it on an iPad %HESITATION let me tell you what I mean by that if I give my students a addition worksheet on paper they're going to think it is mind numbingly boring they're hysterically if I take that same addition worksheets and I put it
on and on yeah guess what it's still mind numbingly boring for them to do okay boring things on paper are still wearing when you put them on an iPad even absent different purposes now some apps are still based in repetitive while other apps are actually project based let's turn kids loose to go create something and not just play games if you actually have to leave your
classroom to go to like a computer lab the technology is not at the point of instruction let's get technology in the hands of kids when they need it and where they need it this is a picture of a little girl in my class that I had this last clear her name is Melina and Melina is following along right now with a classmate's recording of the book
that she is reading she scanned the QR code taped to the back about book to access this recording this app transformed my reading block this app helped instill a love of reading and a sense of pride among my students not to mention my reading fluency scars improved exponentially third we must wonder what my mentor once told me he said Kayla don't feed the fears schools are
still banning cell phones principles are still banning cell phones from teachers staff meetings school there even building what they call these things cellphone hotels this is the real thing let me tell you how this works so when kids come to school in the morning they check their cell phone at the cellphone hotel okay at the end of the school day when they're leaving they go home
they get to check their cellphone back out of the cell phone hotel we have more technology in the palm of our hands now then what put man on the moon yeah we're telling our students leader technology at home keep your mobile device in your locker are you writing a cell phone did you check your cell phone into the cell phone will tell what are we doing
schools in the United States are still blocking you to did you know that new too but the number one US search engine among students in grades five through twelve this is utterly incomprehensible so much learning is blossoming black all of these resources from our students we might think that we're protecting our kids when we keep them in this little bubble for eight hours of the school
day but guess what these kids they leave they go home they graduate they try to get jobs if you block all these things from them into it during the school they were not protecting them were actually hurting them we need to put kids in real world learning authentic environments during the school day and give them the tools that they need to be successful so that we
can actually protect them for a lifetime while jumping in the new technologies or social media can sometimes be scary we need to always keep in mind that if it's right for kids it's right sometimes the comfort level of teachers is less important than doing what's that and then doing what's right for kids my kids have never lived in a time without wifi or mobile devices my
kids have never felt the pain of T. nine texting they've never had that experience dial up internet technology is the language today's students speak Furthermore as educators it is now our job to be champions of digital citizenship ninety three percent of employers now use social media in some way to either recruit or hire employees that means that our students leave us with a new trial or
a negative digital footprints they have just a seven percent chance of getting a job seven percent my friend George curls challenges us as educators to make sure that every single high school graduate as well Google's I challenge you to Google yourself Gartner students Google themselves and like what they see what does your digital footprints say about you we must wonder as educators how we can make
global connections it is now our job to make sure that we are connecting our students globally this probably sounds a lot harder than it actually is with now it's just a few clicks you can do a virtual field trip to the Smithsonian institute or you can bring your students on a virtual field trip to the Sistine Chapel learning is no longer limited to just our classroom
or our school or our state or even our planet's you can now take your students on a virtual field trip to the stratosphere do a Google hangout with the classroom in Hong Kong to expose your kids to new and different cultures get a practice that they're going to need with the real life speaking and listening skills of the twenty first century set up a classroom Twitter
account have your kids treat with experts from around the world like Brad weight or Jenny Jones have your kids to meet with other classrooms around the world to share and compared their learning don't be the four walls that hold your kids back or limit their learning break down those walls and go global we must wonder how we can reinvent the skills of today while standardized tests
might have a valid place in our schools we need to start assessing teachers and students in other ways too SS my students on their creativity collaboration critical thinking and communication skills assess my kids on their grips and how they're a bit and how they're able to find success through failure assess my kids on their digital literacy skills and other skills that they're going to need when
they graduate to be successful employees citizens and innovative individuals in the real world a sesame and how well I prepared my kids for their future when they meet my classroom while difficult to assess this should serve as our daily mission it should guide our teaching and learning values a compass for a true educational north okay everyone here's my challenge for you we are now fifteen years
into the twenty first century we need to make sure that our schools and our classrooms are as engaging responsive and dynamic as the world around us here's my dear member that little boy that I talked about at the beginning well his name is Christian he came to me that first day of school literally one to be any place else in the world but my classroom well
on the last day of school Christian was crying out of control he was refusing to leave my classroom why because he didn't want to let go of our very last hug pretty different than the first day of school for the first time in his life Christian who loved school he loves coming to school he loved learning he loved everything about being with me I saw amazing
growth not only in Christian but in the rest of my students as well what does it often to talk about though is the impact that my students have made on my life everyday my students taught me about humility and being a real and authentic person they taught me to have tons of patience they taught me to have a sense of humor and be able to laugh
at myself and so many more things technology changes the laws that we have will change the standards that we use to assess our kids are going to change again but one thing remains constant through time relationships between students and passionate teachers will always be the foundation of successful classroom mmhm
