The teacher-led, lecture-heavy classrooms where the culminating assessment is heavy with fact regurgitation must be left behind. It's time to eliminate the monotony of sit & get learning and create classrooms full of awe & wonder to encourage a true appreciation for critical thinking, collaboration & love of lifelong learning.
Over the last quarter of my 22-year career in education at the high school level, I have seen a drastic decline in the engagement and interest of students as it pertains to wanting to learn. They come to school largely to complete tasks which help them earn points, to get the grade they think they need, to get into the college they think will change their life forever. What this has done is create a generation of fact regurgitators who lack the critical analysis, thinking & problems solving skills necessary to positively impact the world beyond their K thru Higher Ed experience, resulting in an Awful Learning Process. In this session we will look at the latest research & studies which shine a light on this issue, while also brainstorming ways to reverse this frightening trend. It is time for educators to leverage all the data & information in front of us to help us create a love of learning within all our students, which inspires each school to build their own Awe-Full Learning Process.
Participants will come away from this session with specific skills and goals in mind of how they can instill a long-lasting love for learning in their students, both in their classroom and across their school or district. While technology plays an incredibly important role, both in this session and in creating an Awe-Full Learning Process, we must also address the pitfalls created by the misuse of technology and the impact of smart phones, social media and other tech apps and tools that are rewiring student's brains on a daily basis. Because of that, this session is deeply rooted in the latest neuro-science which gives teachers critical information and insight into the single most important piece of the learning process: a student's brain & how it functions. Participants will also discuss and reflect on appropriate technologies (apps & tools) to encourage this type of learning environment, which will also connect us to aspects of Blended Learning models, Blooms Taxonomy, and CASEL's fundamentals of SEL.
Learning Outcomes include:
- Key components of neuro-science and mind-brain education (MBE) and how to apply them to the classroom
- The core elements of the Awe-Full Learning Process and how to implement them across a school/district
- Steps to incorporate technology (device agnostic) into this process to create efficient Blended Learning where students have more control over Time, Path, Pace and Place.
Research/Articles which may be referenced during this session include:
- https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/
- https://www.ascd.org/blogs/teaching-curiosity-through-responding-with-wonderment-and-awe
- https://www.narcis.nl/publication/RecordID/oai:research.vu.nl:publications%2F2a075f6a-6796-4597-9ec0-1bc5146fb827
- https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nyas.14588