Thursday, May 24, 2007

Students as Teachers

My students never cease to amaze me and I feel truly feel blessed that I have the opportunity to show them that often! Positive feedback can be important for anyone and the more authentic the better. What is more authentic than teaching your teacher something that she couldn't do on her own?!?!? One of my seventh graders showed me today how to properly embed a YouTube video on our class wikispace and I was amazed at how easy it was - and how proud he was.

This seventh grader is quite tech savvy (the same student who gave me my "Blinky") and this gave him an opportunity to use his knowledge appropriately while receiving authentic feedback. He was also assisting his class in preparing for a neat activity since the video was for making chainmail which we will be doing next week as we study guilds.



He then shared with me the new videos he's embedded on his home page of our wiki and I was again struck by how giving a student their own space can really support their growth and self-esteem. He has posted categories of videos on his home page twice since we've started our wiki this semester, he taught the other students how to create their avatars and he selected one for me:

How cool is that! Out of all the images he searched, he chose one of Einstein for me (I do have a poster of Einstein in my classroom, especially since he is thought to have had a learning disability). While it might have because of our similar hairstyles, it ranks right up there in my favorite teaching moments!

I learn from my students every day and THAT is when I usually feel like a good teacher . . . in fact, it's because I can learn from my students that I believe I am a good teacher!

1 comment:

Beautiful Designs by Tian said...

I think it's important for not only teachers but all adults to give kids a chance to teach, even when the child is not teaching. We all need to open our minds to the possibilities of knowledge, no matter the source. Everyday my 3 year old teaches me something, because I allow myself to learn from him and not just dismissive of him.