What do we need?

It’s not easy being G+T.  We ask a lot from our teachers.  However, this post is basically what we want and need in the classroom.

We need challenge and choice.  We should be able to do projects as we choose, and different learning styles in the classroom is vital to having kids’ needs.  We need to be given engaging and interesting projects.  We need to be able to develop 21st century competencies and persistence.  You can’t do that with a worksheet!

Beyond that, teachers should try to counteract the belief that “failure is bad” that seems to be so pervasive in our culture.  In the PRISM room, we all know that failure is a learning opportunity and can lead to success.  However, in some other classes, people are so concerned with not making a mistake that they never test the boundaries of their knowledge.  Teachers need to give us support and teach us that failure is expected and encouraged.  If necessity is the mother of invention, the father is failure and prototyping.

What we DON’T need in our classrooms are endless worksheets and rote memorization.  Teachers should foster curiosity and a love of learning, and these don’t develop when kids don’t care about the work and feel like they have to do it or they’ll get in trouble.

The two best way to build a classroom where every student feels eager to learn is by giving them a voice. We need to know that our voice matters and we should share our views to help improve our learning.  Students can be surprisingly insightful, especially when it comes to their own learning.

The other way is to teach not just reading, riting, and ‘rithmetic, but also the “soft skills”- perseverance, creativity, communication, problem solving and more.  School teaches two things- the “what”- photosynthesis, ancient rome, algebra, and the “how”- life skills like resilience and responsibility- that will stay with us forever.