Chapter 1 Reflection

The first chapter was broken down into two different parts.  The first part was just a summation of how schools of the past, today, and the future look like.  What the students are related to in terms of how they will use the knowledge that they gain in their future career paths, and to what extent the knowledge that they are learning will be relevant in the future.  Notes were made on what currently works in the classroom – group work, collaboration, field trips; and what needs to be done to help students prepare for change of the future – technology integrated into learning, investigative learning as opposed to rote learning.  The second part of the chapter goes into how the student teacher relationship must change so that these changes in the classroom can take place.  The relationship must move from an authority figure over a student to a partnership where students and teachers can learn from each other and work together to discover, create, and answer questions.

I see a huge difference in the style of classroom teaching from my undergraduate work in college and my time spent in high school to how classes are taught today – eight years later.  There is far less focus on lecturing and completing long homework assignments and more focus on handing out assignments and work together in groups through them to explore why answers are correct and how to come to the correct answer.  Technology is definitely taking on a bigger role today in my classes then in the past as well.  With using D2L and libraries.ou.edu instead of using premade copy booklets for readings and going to the library to photocopy articles for class, being able to be mobile while learning has increased significantly.  There is also more student lead teaching encouraged over the teacher doing all of the instruction.