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In our classrooms, we often engage our students in working with partners to solve a problem, but as teachers we often work alone. Teaching can be a very isolating profession. It can be difficult and intimidating to step outside of our comfort zone and take an honest look at how we can improve. However, I’ve become a better teacher through leaving my classroom “island” and embracing collaboration. Stepping out of my classroom has helped me to develop a network of colleagues who share strategies and expertise that I have also shared at my school, my district and within my state.
I have developed a growth mindset for myself, and I am now instilling the importance of this mindset in my students. This started with changing my teaching strategies. Take mathematics, for example. Instead of presenting new ideas in a traditional way, I start by having students solve problems that develop their conceptual understanding. My students use these problems to explore new ideas and discover a deeper understanding through productive struggle. Once they gain this basic understanding, we strengthen it through developing their fluency and procedural knowledge.
Teaching in this format has allowed me to present real world applications of math as problems to be solved, which is quite different from the former drill and kill algorithm method. My students are now more inclined to keep trying, problem solve and embrace mistakes as learning opportunities.
How did this change occur? When I was willing to step out of my own classroom and to think about questions and ideas collaboratively with other educators, I became a more engaging teacher.
Via Edumorfosis
