Changing is hard to do!!

Education as we know it is in the process of changing - for the better, as far as I'm concerned.  There needs to be a concerted effort to make the student central in their education instead of the teacher.  Through the studies that I am doing in this cohort, I'm starting to realize when my classes are teacher-driven, and have started to make a deliberate effort to make my lessons student-driven.  Sometimes it may be as simple as asking the students to work through some problems on their own, trying to find the answers without help from me (but with help from each other - that way they are responsible for what they are learning, not me!).  I love it when I give my students a project and they take off and go in directions that I never thought of.  I have to admit - this is a scary adventure.  It is so easy to depend on the teacher's manual, and just work through the book like everyone else (after all, if the book tells you to do it, it must be right!).  Changing is hard to do, and thinking outside the box sometimes makes people think you changed in not a good way - you're not like them anymore!!

Sometimes it surprises me how much of the techniques that we're learning for online teaching I'm able to apply now in my traditional classes.  I'm starting to look at how I can differentiate my classes, and how am I reaching everyone.  I'm trying to try different techniques to give the students more autonomy with their education, and to give the kids permission to have fun with their learning.  This cohort has made me a better teacher.  Thank you.