In the classroom, there are very distinct roles. A teacher works with a classroom of students to guide their development of knowledge and skills. Students learn from the teacher and the course by completing assignments and projects. When imagining this, we visualize a teacher at the front of the room and students working at a desk. Furthermore, often when collaboration is discussed, we’re referring to the communication and cooperation of students working with other students in a group. In the classroom, these roles are seldom described in any other way. So while it’s expected for students to learn from an educator, how often do we ask ourselves: How can we learn from our students?
A Lesson from 12-Year-Old Adora Svitak
This week our Social Media Specialist and Thinkspiration Ambassador, Sarah Cargill, brought a video to my attention by Adora Svitak titled, “What adults can learn from kids” from TED.com. This video blew me away. Svitak is incredibly poised and truly an example of how much we can learn from students today. I encourage you to watch the video below:
Positively Shift to the Connotation of “Childish”
Svitak is correct in her evaluation of the word “childish” when it comes to criticizing behavior. While she argues that it should be abolished from the English language, I believe we can shift the connotation of childish to be a positive one. There’s so much to learn from students’ imaginations, bold ideas, big dreams, wild creativity, endless optimism and youthful outlook. If we are willing, we can learn from the “childish” views of today’s youth.
Students’ Dreams Need High Expectations
Svitak makes the point that underestimating students’ abilities is often restricting to their development. She says, “We love challenges, but when expectations are low, trust me, we sink to them.” She’s right. Let’s not ask students to just meet the bar of standard, but to exceed it. I think this begins by helping students explore and manifest their imagined, big dreams.
We often tell students, “You can be anything you want to be.” Is this an empty promise if we consistently ask students to conform to the roles of the classroom, meet the standards and follow “the track” to adulthood? How are we helping students keep their dreams in sight and meet their own high expectations in life?
I think this is where Project-Based Learning (PBL) comes into play. In my past post titled “How Do We Encourage Students to be Advocates of Their Own Learning?,” I discussed how the PBL model can drive self-motivated learning. By tasking students to further explore their own interests in a classroom environment, we’re asking them to truly work toward their “childish” dreams and meet high expectations.
If we shift the roles of the classroom to give students a little more reign on their learning, I believe we’ll find that there’s a lot to learn from our youth. After all, Svitak is a great example of this, proving that when students grasp hold, they can truly blow us away and exceed our expectations.
Thanks for stopping by!
Mona Westhaver
President and co-founder, Inspiration Software
