I want to address a story about a friend I knew in college who was very good at pratical learning. We were both working toward engineering degrees - and in many ways the learning was easy for me. This particular friend - the learning was not easy - and he never did as well on tests, etc - the common assessment criteria. Yet, I always said, I would have hired him over me any day of the year. He was so much more prepared to 'solve problems' in a real life way. I could academically get the answer - he could get the car started! I always thought it was a shame his talent was not recognized. I wonder if he had been taught in an environment more as described in this article if he would not have been better served.
Another aspect that I was glad to read had to do with the children's responsibilty to make it work. "This approach combines an emphasis on high standards and high expectations for student achievement with emphases on students' active involvement in learning activities and on a collaborative, caring, supportive and participatory school environment." What a wonderful learning environment - teachers who set high standards and kids who work hard to attain them!
And there was so much more in this article that was good. I liked the talk about discipline - how it's best for the children to be vested in the development of the definition of the classroom guidelines or norms. That they are more likely to follow them if they understand why they are there - and they understand the 'why' better if they help develop them from an understanding of how they help make their community a safer and happier place for all of them to learn.
And then I would like to touch on the 'Emotional Practice of Teaching'. I loved this since it touched on the 'passion' of teaching which is a word and feeling I have always felt. I think that it is important for a teacher to have a 'passion' for both the subject as well as the children. This passion - or lack of it - is very clear to the children. And this article talked about that passion. "Good teaching is charged with positive emotion". "Good teachers...connect with their students and fill their work...with pleasure, creativity, challenge and joy'. Wow - what a goal!!! I hope that I am that teacher. In the classroom I have been helping in, one of the real joys has been the developing of the relationships with the students. I am not defining any curriculum - but I have been actively helping this same group of students for the entire year. To watch them grow and try to share this passion with them has been a thrill.
I enjoyed the discussion of pedagogy. How there are so many ways to teach. But, how the best teachers don't have on 'best way to teach' - they have a bunch! And they use various ones at various times to help different students. I think that has been an important lesson from this quarter - that no one way works for all kids. So, it is imperative that we learn to teach in a variety of manners. The list was impressive from concept attainment, mind mapping all the way to dramatic presentations. I would like to keep this list and refer to it often - to make sure that I am not missing a way that might be the best way to connect with a child that isn't connecting. And I have come to my favorite line - I was trying to find it when I was talking above about the child's responsibilty:
"Having a wide repertoire could enable the teacher to 'help any kid learn anything as long as he is motivated'.
I like several parts of this line. First - EVERY child can learn!!! They might learn at different rates and certainly from different styles, but all of them can learn. I find myself so often saying this to the students in my class. It's so sad to see how many of them, by 7th grade, have convinced themselves they can never do math. I often find my hardest job is convincing them - that yes, they can learn this!!! We can provide the different styles - and hopefully we will have a 'wide repertoire' as is stated. But, another necessary part is the motivated kid. Sometimes it will also be our job to help motivate the child - but ultimately it needs to come from them. I do think our teaching style affects this - we need to make the lessons real and keep them interesting.
Last was the "A Teacher's Awesome Power". I don't even know what to say about this - so scary and so inspiring. Our job is so important "the emotional impact teachers have on adolescents... can set up a chain of events with enormous consequences". Again - wow! It's just a little intimidating to realize what power we have. May I have the strength to always use this power to benefit and never to harm.
Summary:
- Have a wide repertoire of teaching styles should enable the teacher to 'help any kid learn anything as long as he is motivated'.
- Keep the list of teaching methods to try out - from "Emotional Practice of TEaching"
- Remember the power of a teacher - always use this power to benefit, never harm, the students. This about this in every decision.
- Teach with passion - Good teachers...connect with their students and fill their work...with pleasure, creativity, challenge and joy'
- Remember the 'Beyond the Three R's" - there is so much more to teaching than just the academics.
Yes, teaching is passionate at its best, and something that I really appreciate about this piece is how he also notes how challenging and taxing it can be to sometimes have to stir up that passion, to convey passion to the students when we are instead discouraged and defeated, and to work so hard to stir connections among the students when they see little connection to the very things that we care most about.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, when kids feel ownership and are actively given responsibility, that connection is more likely to happen.
Your friend sounds amazing. It's good to remind ourselves of how narrow a range of skills we do assess in schools -- and worth asking how we might devise ways to confirm the much broader range of talents and strengths that students do bring to school.
Every child can learn: This is a new idea in the history of education, and an idea that makes teaching more exciting now than ever! And an idea that should spark us to rethink so much of what we do, given that for decades, schools were instead designed to sort those those more capable of learning from the others...