Meaningful involvement

Quintessentially as teachers, it is our responsibility to heighten our student’s well being, and use any and all means at our disposal to prevent degradation of that well being. But what does this mean? Now I’m going to try tying Philosophy of Education, Learner and Learner Support, and digital pedagogy together.
Every student has the right to be in class, to listen and learn but it has to be set up in a way that they want to learn and want to get in involved, in dialog with the teacher, and the other learners (Vygotsky’s social constructivism). This is expressed well in   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MwbVltsHHk which says as teachers, we need to ‘create an environment of open communication’, where teachers not only parrot the info to the students for protecting themselves from questions they cannot answer, but to embrace the questions, take a chance at analysing  problems with the students, find information, evaluate it, and find a solution together, in the context of a safe democratic classroom (pro-social bonding and critical thinking environment).
Teachers must not only partake in the learning aspect but guide it to certain areas of the curriculum that need to be prioritized, thereby promoting balance with academics, social aspects and behaviour of the class. It is all about how we as teachers engage the students. Consider the article ‘Applying Mindfulness to Mundane Classroom Tasks’. The teacher didn’t sit around trying ineffectively to teach or continue coddling the learners, and then blame the lack of attention and learning on the learners. Instead the teacher changes the classroom dynamic completely by engaging the students curiosity (colourful bowls) with water and promoting a sense of responsibility (don’t spill on the floor). Along with the curiosity come questions (why was it there? why is it not there? can we do it again?), therefore with the constant changing, the setup can maintain an atmosphere of dialog, even asking the students questions about what they would like to see in the classroom can stimulate their creativity and feel like a part of the lesson. Abby Wills, in her work with teachers states “I encourage honest, fearless contemplation on what is and is not working in the classroom. This simple exercise can help you discover the mundane moments and tasks in your own classroom that are just waiting for your creativity to transform them into mindfull learning opportunities”.  
Lastly, the creativity teacher’s use does not only extent to the social aspects of the classroom and the material presented but also the mediums one uses to present the material. Teachers are responsible for using different forms of pedagogy to engage their learners, one of the more prominent ones being digital but in that teachers are responsible for teaching learners how to do effective research themselves and prepare them for their future.

Project Engage

When it comes to learners learning on their own it’s often considered by teachers to be a bad idea. They often fear that learners will not actually learn, but will resign themselves to procrastination and negative learning practices. This is already occurring in our schools today, with teachers who are unable to engaging and inspiring learners to learn. However learners have proven that they can learn on their own, especially with the Independent project. Yusef Waghid stated that “people are free moral beings who attempt to influence each other’s opinions by engaging in a public dialog”, which I believe to be the key principle that the independent project is trying to utilise.

The independent project utilises the communication between learners that come together, to generate dialog where they can exchange and discuss ideas. The learners do not simple study (memorise) material or facts to build their knowledge, but actually explore the facts, more so than they would in a classroom atmosphere. This is not the fault of the teachers, as they have large groups to inspire and at the same time a set curriculum they have to complete before year end or exams. This often means that learners who require a bit more attention slip through the cracks. The beauty of this program is that it removes the restrictions of the classroom (such as isolation of the learner from the world) and allows the learners an opportunity to inspire each other, learn what interests them, and to learn the same information presented in the classroom in a way that relates to them (like study the probability math associated with poker).

One of the key elements of/contributors to the success of this form of education is the use of internet. The internet provides a global network of learning through communication, social networking, and search engines and provides information to the fingertips of learners studying in these forms of communities/programs. The advantage of the independent project is that it is constrained by the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) literacy standards presented in the classrooms that limits the learners and teacher’s ability to engage with each other using digital technologies, whereas such interactions are encouraged in the Independent project (to expand the knowledge and the community).

The project also provides a sense of independence from the classroom dynamic. The freedom from the classroom teaches learners to teach themselves, to gather information, to test and finding new methods of learning through accessing different resources available to them. Any learners who might be academically strong or weak may partake and help each other, challenge each others attitudes to learning, and ultimately encourage each other’s thirst to learn and partake.