In ED 307 this semester, we have been learning about the partnering pedagogy in education. This pedagogy redefines learning and the roles of both students and teachers.
In partnering, students guide their own learning. This is supported by research that has been gathered from students on how they prefer to learn. Students gave the following activities as ways they prefer to learn:
trips
connecting with other students via technology
group work
sharing their own ideas
hearing peers' ideas
Partnering prepares students for real-life situations and skills for the workforce.
The Flipped Classroom - The flipped classroom is a new strategy for teaching in the classroom. In this strategy, the students learn the content at home and then participate in the "application" (see PAR model below) portion of the lesson in the classroom.
Here are some benefits of flipping the classroom:
students receive instant feedback
students don't get as frustrated
teachers revisit concepts students don't understand
teachers support students in class
Check out my video on the flipped classroom approach!
A big part of partnering is that the teachers make learning REAL for the students. This is often mistaken for only being relevant in teaching.
Relevant = the students only connect to parts of the lesson
Real = students connect to every part of the lesson
Constructivism = theory of meaning making that links concepts to what is already known
My Partnering Pedagogy: Service Learning
In ED 307, we all took different partnering pedagogy topics to research. I chose service learning because it is something I have always enjoyed. Service learning takes classroom concepts and applies them to the real-world in a way that makes the world a better place!
Mini Meterologists - A Kindergarten Project-Based Learning Lesson Plan
Our last assignment in ED 307 was to write a lesson plan using a partnering pedagogy. I chose project-based learning or PBL. This is a great pedagogy for any age classroom. As an early childhood major, I wrote my lesson plan for a kindergarten class. Even on a lower developmental level, this pedagogy can be so effective. I implemented this pedagogy in a study of weather in kindergarten. Through building their own weather forecasting station and producing their own weather forecast for the school, the children would learn at such a deeper level.