If you ask a group of students if they enjoy going to school, the majority of them would say no. Some may not dislike the idea of learning, but they don’t like the thought of their school as a whole. Some of the reasons why they don’t enjoy going to school could vary from them not like waking up early in the morning, to them despising a teacher because they wouldn’t let them use their phone in class.
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| Stringer |
Although all of these reasons can be understandable from the students’ perspective, there is another reason why students don’t like going to school that stands out to teachers and schools a little more.
Many students don’t like the fact that their school has a structure where they are placed into a large pool of other students and are forced to learn at the same pace as everyone else, even if they can not keep up (Wabisabi Learning).
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| ChildTrends |
Ken Robinson did a video for TedTalks, and he talked about divergent thinking. He stated that divergent thinking is having the ability to see more than one answer to a problem. If schools started using this method of thinking, more students would do better in school and they would be noticed for the ways they get to the answer of a problem.
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| Divergent Thinking |
Multiple schools have also been trying to find a new plan for the issues student’s seem to be having, and there haven’t been too many successful answers.
Recently, Elizabeth Warren has been trying to get her new K-12 education plan to be used by more schools. What Warren wants to obtain with her education plan is to make sure public schools have adequate funding, no segregation in schools, student safety, and nutrition in schools (Nilsen).
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| The National Center for Education |
Personally, I think her plan has a few good ideas to improve the education system.
One thing I like about her plan is how she wants to give public schools more funding. I know many public schools have difficulties in their school because the school doesn’t have enough money. Being able to have more money in schools would have the schools benefit from having better quality things such as utilities. I think that by having more opportunities to buy update and improve the school would make the students not hate the school as much and would perhaps make the students want to go to school more.
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| Yeager |
According to Alescia Ford-Lanza, a writer for Harkla, another thing that may make students want to go and participate in school more is their sensory breaks. Sensory breaks are breaks that teachers will take in the middle of their class to let their students minds’ get off of school for a few minutes by playing different games, by watching a video, or even by just letting their students have a few minutes to talk to their friends.
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| Thurston |
There are many different activities that teachers have done for sensory breaks, but a few for example are playing a giant game of Pictonary on the whiteboard, playing a class-wide game of rock, paper, scissors, and a class game of Kahoot.
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| Holly |
As a student who’s done sensory breaks in a few of my classes, I find them to be very helpful. It can be difficult to stay on one topic in a subject for a long period of time without getting bored or distracted. By doing these breaks, I am able to let a lot of the energy I have from sitting out, and then I am able to refocus for when class starts again.
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| Holly |
I think that if schools started using new and different methods in teaching and learning, more students would want to go to school, and more students would want to succeed.
ChildTrends. High School Dropout Rate. 2017. High School Dropout Rates,
www.childtrends.org/indicators/high-school-dropout-rates. Accessed 22 Nov.
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Elizabeth Warren marches with striking Chicago teachers, a day after releasing
new K-12 education plan. Vox, 22 Oct. 2019, www.vox.com/2019/10/22/20924725/
elizabeth-warren-chicago-teachers-strike-k-12-education-plan. Accessed 20
Nov. 2019.
Holly. The Brain Break Board. 26 Brain Break Ideas for the Classroom , 18 Oct.
2016, www.teachstarter.com/us/blog/26-brain-break-ideas-classroom-us/.
Accessed 22 Nov. 2019.
---. Brain Break Test. 26 Brain Break Ideas for the Classroom , 18 Oct. 2016,
www.teachstarter.com/us/blog/26-brain-break-ideas-classroom-us/. Accessed
22 Nov. 2019.
The National Center for Education. More than Half of Schools Need Repairs to Be
in "Good" Condition. A Great Public School Education For Every Student,
elizabethwarren.com/plans/public-education. Accessed 22 Nov. 2019.
Robinson, Ken. "Changing Education Paradigms." TED Talks, Oct. 2010. Speech.
---. Divergent Thinking. Changing education paradigms, Oct. 2010, www.ted.com/
talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms. Accessed 22 Nov. 2019.
Stringer, Kate. Stress and Boredom and Fairly Common among High School Students.
Bored in Class: A National Survey Finds Nearly 1 in 3 Teens Are Bored
'Most or All of the Time' in School, and a Majority Report High Levels of
Stress, 16 Jan. 2019, www.the74million.org/
bored-in-class-a-national-survey-finds-nearly-1-in-3-teens-are-bored-most-or-all-
of-the-time-in-school-and-a-majority-report-high-levels-of-stress/.
Accessed 22 Nov. 2019.
Thurston, Andrew. How to Get Your Students Sweating. Moving to Improve, 11 Jan.
2016, www.bu.edu/articles/2016/moving-to-improve/. Accessed 22 Nov. 2019.
Why Some Students Dislike School But Love Education. Wabisabi Learning, 17 Jan.
2019, www.wabisabilearning.com/blog/
why-some-students-dislike-school-love-education. Accessed 20 Nov. 2019.
Yeager, Fred. 2013 and 2016 California Plumbing Code. K-12 Toilet Requirement
Summary, 24 Sept. 2019, www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/toiletrequire.asp.
Accessed 22 Nov. 2019.
I agree about the sensory breaks and changing some of the learning methods to make school more enjoyable for kids. I think sensory breaks are really helpful for students especially when the class has been sitting for a long time and I think that it helps kids focus better. I also thought the images that you used were really interesting and went well with your writing!
ReplyDeleteHow would you see divergent thinking in our class? What does it look like as a teaching tool or strategy? From my perspective, teaching students how to think (which is really my goal more than teaching you what to think) is really difficult.
ReplyDeleteSchool funding is a perennial issue, especially in NH since we rely on property taxes not sales taxes. It is a topic you might explore further in another blog post.
I think that teachers should not limit the answers to questions to only one solution. Specifically in writing pieces, there should be multiple answers that a student can give if they explain their reasoning. Students shouldn't be trained to all think the same way.
Delete