Active Learning

Very much like technology, teaching and learning evolves and changes throughout the years and generations.  Before technology existed, a classroom would most definitely not reflect at all what a current, modern classroom with technology looks like.  With new, modern technology and new generations,  a new way of teaching and learning in modern, recent times is Active Learning. 

What is it?

To summarize, active learning is meant to fit the learning needs of newer generations.  This new way of learning intends for the students to be “active” and take control of their own learning, not relying on the teacher to obtain that information.  A post that I explored, Student Feedback Part II, outlines a great example of activities that promote active learning.  In the post, the lesson outlines a series of different activities that happen in the classroom.  All of the activities are student centered, the students are the ones doing all the work while the teacher is just facilitating, it promotes student voice and definitely choice, and most importantly, it allows the students to assess their own learning.  These identifiers of active learning are seen when the teacher has the students record their book reviews, then create covers for their recordings, and after that, provides the students the opportunity to provide feedback on student work.  You can see it further, when the teacher prints the transcripts of the feedback, cuts them into strips, gives them a short presentation on feedback and then uses those strips of student provided feedback for students to then sort them as great, not so great, and terrible feedback.  To see a visual summary of that post you can take a look at the following image. 

Image source; personal photo

Should Teachers Keep It Mind?

According to what Tim Elmore explored in his books, Generation iY and Marching Off the Map, teachers definitely need to keep active learning in mind when they are planning for and teaching their students.  Elmore explores the idea of how new generations are adapting to their new environment, and therefore, their learning is also changing and adapting to the new environments.  Hence, to be able to teach newer generations, the teachers also need to adapt and change their teaching methods to fit the current student’s needs. 

Personal Experience

Upon reflection of my 10 years teaching experience, I think I have attempted active learning in my classroom, but I cannot say I feel I have done it well.  Elmore explored in his book, Generation iY, that teachers need to explain the relevance of what they are teaching.  This is something I also realized how important it was maybe around 7 years ago; therefore, since then, every year, I always begin the school year with a small, mini unit, where we explore as a class why they should consider learning Spanish and how learning it will benefit them overall.  At the end of the unit, after we have explored all the benefits, students create a mini presentation where they outline how they will use Spanish and how it will benefit them, personally.  

Also, as I was doing the research, I realized that a lot of what I learned in my summer AP Training course also aligns with what active learning is.  Therefore, I intend to fully plan a lot of different activities that are meant to be for active learning this year with my students.

Image source: giphy.com