Be Creative With Teaching

We need to make learning fun and different for our students. This means that we need to try new things and not just do the same old tests and activities. We need to let our students have more choice and voice in what and how they learn. We need to find out some things about our students, like: How do they like to learn? What are they interested in learning? Why do they need to learn certain things or do certain tasks? We need to be okay with letting go of some control and talking with our students about how we learn together. We need to be learners and partners with our students. We also need to make time for ourselves to learn something new that we are passionate about. It can be something related to what we teach or something different that challenges us. This is important because we can show our students why and how they need to keep learning and growing. We can’t just teach what we know and are comfortable with. That limits what our students can learn. We need to be open to taking chances with learning in the classroom and not knowing everything. We give more power to our students when we stop being the only ones who give information and start being learners with them. We can do this by: 

• Asking students what they want to learn or are curious about. 
• Helping students see learning as a journey.
• Letting students choose their own learning goals. 
• Trying new things and letting students make things in the classroom.
• Asking students for ideas on how we can learn better in class. 

Employ Project-based Learning

Schools today should help students learn about what they are interested in, how to solve big problems, how to connect with people around the world, and how to choose their own way of learning. We can do this by using different kinds of learning experiences, such as project-based learning (PBL), place-based learning, or experiential learning. We can stop doing the same old projects and instead, look at the resources we have to see how other schools are using these different ways of learning and why they are good for us. With project-based learning or inquiry-based learning, we can let students connect with the community or even the world and find problems or challenges that they care about. 

PBL helps students and teachers learn how to think critically, be creative, work together, and solve problems. PBL lets students choose their own way of learning, and it can be very good for teachers to try PBL for themselves too. When we ask students to use a new tool, try a new method, or do an activity, we should be ready to do the same. With place-based learning, we can use the community to make learning more fun and real for our students. But the best way to do this is to think about where our school and community are. This kind of learning can happen anytime, anywhere, and can be influenced by where we are and how we use technology to make learning more personal. Our students need to see how the world works, find challenges that exist, and work on finding solutions. As teachers, we also need to get out of our classrooms and bring in the real world, things that are happening now and matter to us, so our students can connect and do meaningful work.