Challenging our Current Learning Environments
Amanda Williams-Yeagers wrote a guest blog for us early this month. She is also leading the HDSB Empower Book Talk. We’ve enjoy learning with her every Thursday night so much, we asked her to share her thoughts on learning environments and why the classroom landscape needs to change. I recently held a community circle with a grade seven science class. The students were feeling stressed about looming deadlines and tests, and I wanted to give them a forum to get things off their chest and discuss strategies for coping with management of the feelings they were having. After a few referenced that this was “Good preparation for high school,” I decided to change the dialogue. I asked them, “If they could change anything about their current school system and the way that they learned, what would they change?” Some students talked about wanting more opportunities for hands on experiences and less tests, some talked about wanting more opportunities for creativ...