C4T Summary #1

Joe Bower is a Canadian teacher who focuses on non-traditional education and discounts the use of grades and testing in his blog, for the love of learning.

His post, I'm Learning About Project Based Learing, gives a list of things that need to become more prevalent in schools and another list of things that need to become less prevalent. There is a need to shift towards active learning and comprehension as apposed to short-term memorization. Bower got the lists from Methods that Matter by Harvey Daniels and Marilyn Bizar. It seems like a it would be a great read and helpful when brainstorming ideas on how to transform classrooms from testing centers to learning centers.

Does this tell us more about the student or the teacher? is discussing the comical test above. Whether the test is real or created to be funny, Bower uses it to make a strong point. As teachers, we ask the wrong questions. Boring questions that simply ask for memorized answers do not promote understanding and comprehension of material. He suggests that as teachers we: allow students to ask as many questions as we do, have students share their new found knowledge with others as opposed to just turning it in, and utilize projects instead of fill-in-the-blank tests.