As a music educator, I believe it is easier to create significant learning environments. Not all students learn the same way and it is up to us as educators to create environments that support how our students learn. Students learn best when they are in these environments and feel safe. Creating significant learning environments focuses on more being student centered. Students can take ownership of their learning process.
While many classroom teachers have their students for the majority of the day, each and every day, I only see mine for forty minutes at a time twice a week. I can often tell which classes have teachers who are old school and lecture versus those that try new inventive strategies. The main difference is student behavior. Students coming into my class from an old school approach tend to act up right away because they feel they finally have freedom from not sitting perfectly still working on assignment after assignment. Many students struggle under these circumstances because they do not have coping mechanisms to help them or they are not interested and are bored.
While reading, A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change, something that stuck out was the constant mention of learning in the collective. Thomas and Brown (2011) discuss three principles that the new culture of learning is based on. The first principle tells that the old ways cannot keep up with a constantly changing world. The second principle is the natural use of new media forms makes peer-to-peer learning easier. And lastly, the third principle is technology is shaping peer-to-peer learning and participation with these media forms. These three principles really ring true when I think of the classroom today. When students get a chance to collaborate with each other, it creates community and helps improve learning. This is part of my main goal while implementing project-based learning in my music classroom: creating a sense of community and belonging while increasing participation.
My main challenge will be getting the students to change their mindset so that they can be creative and not feel singled out. By introducing project-based learning in steps, this will help to alleviate this. While I want my students to be able to have choice, voice and ownership over their learning, I also know that it needs to be implemented slowly so that they are not too overwhelmed and shut down. Once they get the hang of what is expected and what they can do, then it will be easier to let them loose in the PBL process. If implemented too quickly and without guidance, many of my students my resist the unknown. This is why I tried to allow ample time for planning and using a pilot group to test it on. This allows for adjustments to be made to the plan before expanding PBL into my entire student population.
As with all change, there will be obstacles in the road. One major obstacle for me at the moment has been ongoing construction at our school. It has made it harder to begin PBL with my pilot group as I have had to combine classes, can’t get to materials and supplies, and my room is up next to be completed. So I’m not sure what that will entail or for how long. It has definitely made the year interesting to say the least. Instead of beginning with my pilot group, I was at least able to start with a smaller group of students that were able to work together to collaborate with some of the guidelines that I gave. In the end, they were able to create a video and record the song they were working on for Veterans Day for a surprise for our resource officer and other veteran within our building. Although the deadline that we wanted it was missed due to the many scheduling interruptions, it was still completed and will be presented to them soon. This group surprised me on how well they worked together and what they were able to come up with given the parameters. They were given choice and voice and took ownership of their work and even approached the principal about how they wanted to present their video to our veterans. Here is their video using PBL:
After seeing this small group work so well, I’m excited to get started with my full pilot group (which will happen as soon as my room construction is completed). By adopting the perspective of CSLE (creating a significant learning environment), my music program will be able to build a collective community increasing participation, motivation and a sense of lifelong learning while building 21st century skills. This is just the beginning of what will be a fantastic learning journey for both myself and my students.
Reference
Thomas, D. & Brown, J.S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: Create Space.