"...kids are good at connecting ideas and making things their own. If we provide them the supportive environment and tools to foster these connections and ideas, schools are doing their jobs.”

Steven Berlin Johnson

We've been trying to do just this, at least in the grade 8 English classes I teach. Inspired by a video I saw on ted.com, by an Educational researcher named Sugata Mitra, [His talk centred on the child-driven-education.] I have had my grade 8 students working in groups over the last month on a number of activities centred around improving their understanding of certain Literary elements like plot structure, irony and symbolism. It was wonderful to see the groups stand up in front of the class and teach each other through a variety of different media. We saw giant books, pop-up books, slideshows, puppet shows, skits and videos all used to communicate the student's learning.

Which brings me back to the quote with which I started this entry. I like to think that the environment within the grade 8 English classes has been the one described in that quote. Let me know.

D/I workshop

I was away from school today because I was attending a workshop on Differentiated Instruction. Much of these strategies are things good teachers do anyway. Still, I found the speaker, Karen Hume, very interesting and upbeat. She was very knowledgeable. (Of course, she is a former teacher-librarian.)

What I walked away from the day with was the desire to try out some of these strategies. The overall message was a positive one. We should want to try these things because we want all of our students to be as successful as possible. Knowing that students and all of us really, learn in different ways, it would be irresponsible of me, as a professional, to not try everything I can to help my students succeed.

So look out, students. Some new strategies are going to be making an appearance in our English class.