Comments on: What is world-class education? http://joelzehring.edublogs.org/2009/05/23/what-is-world-class-education/ "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." William Butler Yeats Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:08:24 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 By: tmchick http://joelzehring.edublogs.org/2009/05/23/what-is-world-class-education/comment-page-1/#comment-41 tmchick Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:03:43 +0000 http://joelzehring.edublogs.org/?p=186#comment-41 Joel, I agree that we need to acknowledge of students’ strengths. The expectations of students are ever increasing. It seems that students today have to learn more information then I did when I was in school. With this being said it is important that teachers build on their strengths in order to help them process and retain the information. This may mean that the teachers will have to use more then one teaching style or approach. They may also need to expand their resources and adopt new teaching tools. As a teacher, I am always looking for ways to enhance their background and build upon what they already know. I take their interests and needs into account when developing a lesson. Also, you are 100% correct about empowering our students. If students became empowered they would become aware of learning styles that work best for them as well as identify areas of their learning that need improvement. I believe that one way to do this is to create student portfolios. Together students and teachers discuss the types of work should be included and why. At the end of the school year students should be encouraged to show these portfolios with their families. This activity alone helps students critically think about the quality of their work and identify ways to improve. Using portfolios would help students take ownership of their work. Joel, I agree that we need to acknowledge of students’ strengths. The expectations of students are ever increasing. It seems that students today have to learn more information then I did when I was in school. With this being said it is important that teachers build on their strengths in order to help them process and retain the information. This may mean that the teachers will have to use more then one teaching style or approach. They may also need to expand their resources and adopt new teaching tools. As a teacher, I am always looking for ways to enhance their background and build upon what they already know. I take their interests and needs into account when developing a lesson.

Also, you are 100% correct about empowering our students. If students became empowered they would become aware of learning styles that work best for them as well as identify areas of their learning that need improvement.
I believe that one way to do this is to create student portfolios. Together students and teachers discuss the types of work should be included and why. At the end of the school year students should be encouraged to show these portfolios with their families. This activity alone helps students critically think about the quality of their work and identify ways to improve. Using portfolios would help students take ownership of their work.

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