It starts with a word.
This is how I teach now. I start with one single word. Not just any word, but a word that has action to it.
As I head into my fourth year of teaching online here’s what I’ve learned.
Teach naturally. We teach babies one word at a time. This is natural. Our brains are weblike. We learn through association. Teaching for a resonance to connect neural dots its natural. Humans need a break from screens. We need to be human, that means we need to laugh, talk to each other, try, fail, try again, make new connections. This is all natural. Teach naturally, in line with how we naturally learn and interact as humans.
21st century education stands on three legs: collaboration, communication and creative process. This creative process piece is what the institutions are critically missing. To determine the answer, the right way, the only possibility misses the point entirely. Education is learning naturally. For everyone to become an original thinker requires a process for achieving skills that deliberately allow originality to emerge. Some are gifted. For the rest of us, skills matter for all domains, including how to process information.
High student talk time online is tough. And still it can happen. The turn and talks might not come easily in every culture. And still, when students feed back their learning, new understanding emerges and a reformulation for original thinking can occur.
Fun while learning is crucial. Let’s laugh.
And now let’s bring on Season Four.
Tanya teaches online in Madagascar and Pakistan.
Handmap WoC Class 2024
Handmap WoC class 2024
