Analysis Of How Engaged And Alive We Can All Be !

From No Child Left Behind to Common Core education has taken a complete turn. It is no longer controlled by people that actually take part in the routine day to day, yet maybe it never has been. New people come into the office for the board of education and change education to what they think is best, even though they have never been in the classroom themselves. When it comes time to change the standards once again because the current standards are no longer working, a real teacher needs to be placed in the situation to decide how and what students learn. It is time to take the democracy out of teaching. Although this is not the main topic discussed in the chapter “How Engaged and Alive We Can All Be!” by Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, it is an important

With Common Core now teachers have many opportunities to change education and make it better. Teachers can take a state standard and add a twist to it. They can incorporate student’s likes and interests into a lesson. Teachers could also add fun experiments or crafts that go along with lessons. There are so many things a teacher can do to spice up a classroom and engage students, it just takes time and effort. Although it can be difficult for teachers to make time to do something new in the classroom, it is never impossible to try. Students need teachers that care enough to teach to the best of their ability, not just teach the standards and get by. In the chapter “How Engaged and Alive We Can All Be!” Jeffrey D. Wilhelm states that, “with some simple reframing (of curriculum into inquiry, of teaching for engaged transaction instead of information transmission), we can meet our students’ basic human needs for motivation, accomplishment, community, and much more” (Wilhelm 14-15). This idea can not be stressed enough. Making a difference in the lives of students starts in the classroom. Teachers need to stop being lazy and caring about the state testing and start caring more about their students. Teachers need to start making school engaging. Teachers need to start trying harder to make lessons geared towards students. To do

For science this teacher did an series of experiments where students would get in groups and have to design an invention. There were stories that went a long with the lesson. To begin the lesson, the students were stranded on a desert island. They were given a packet of information. Each week the teacher would give them a new invention to build. The first invention was to build a bridge to get across a river. The students were given an scenario and supplies, and they went to work. The students actually had to build a bridge out of simple classroom materials, and to test the build the teacher would stack as many rubber erasers as she can before before it collapsed. There were four experiments in total, the others included: waterproof capsule, catapult, and a boat. This was so much fun for the students. They all seemed to love this activity. It was great to see so many subjects combined to make a lesson. This idea took work and time to complete but it was worth it in the end. The students were engaged and they learned a lot. I would definitely use this idea in my future