The first day of school is over. I'm holding on to optimism for at least a couple more days. I am tired.
I don't know how anyone can teach without having the students active and involved. Today was a day of me standing in front of the class, telling them things they need to know. I think I need to find a different way to do it next year. I know that there is no way I could stand in front and tell the students what they need to know all semester long. I need them to take an active part in their learning. I need them to bear a little of the burden. Tomorrow I'll start giving them the opportunity.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Project Based Learning
The staff at Evanston High School has spent the last two days (and much of the last year) studying project based learning (PBL) with the Buck Institute for Education. I'm sure that you've all heard of PBL, so I won't waste time explaining what it is. I do, however, want to take a second to note a couple of my likes and concerns.
First, I like the authenticity in learning that PBL provides for. Students are able to learn and produce in the same way that professionals in the field do. They are able to encounter problems and dilemmas not found in traditional curriculum and be forced to work through those problems. Their final audience is someone other than the teacher. I really think that these things will help get students engaged in what they are doing and away from "playing school."
I also really like that PBL encourages failure. Not failure in the way that we think about it in traditional education. There is no lack of learning. No lack of ability of effort. There is only a product that turned out differently than the student expected it to, and as long as the student understands why the failure happened, then the failure becomes one of the most teachable moments for students and they are not punished for it. If you haven't seen Honda's video "Failure: The Secret to Success," take a minute and check it out here. I love encouraging my students to fail!
I do have some concerns about PBL. They're not necessarily concerns with the approach itself, but rather the execution of that approach. What I see as I look over many of the projects being proposed is that the project does more to take the student away from the intended content, rather that reinforcing and adding to that content.
As a literature teacher, I'm especially wary of how PBL is being used to teach novels. Many of the projects seem to focus on the theme of a novel and strive to develop that theme further. Personally, my goal is not to teach the theme of a novel, because I want students to understand that theme. I don't teach "To Kill a Mockingbird," because I think students need to understand racial equality or traits of character (however, if I were teaching racial equality or character, I think "Mockingbird" would be a great tool to help teach that). I teach the methods, devices, and style by which Harper Lee came to create a novel that effectively illustrates her intended theme and I teach how to recognize what that theme is.
I may approach the teaching of literature differently than others and they may disagree greatly with the last statement that I just made. There is a good chance that I am wrong.
Overall, I'm excited for the PBL approach to education. Now, to incorporate the 30 other things that they're stressing in our district right now...
First, I like the authenticity in learning that PBL provides for. Students are able to learn and produce in the same way that professionals in the field do. They are able to encounter problems and dilemmas not found in traditional curriculum and be forced to work through those problems. Their final audience is someone other than the teacher. I really think that these things will help get students engaged in what they are doing and away from "playing school."
I also really like that PBL encourages failure. Not failure in the way that we think about it in traditional education. There is no lack of learning. No lack of ability of effort. There is only a product that turned out differently than the student expected it to, and as long as the student understands why the failure happened, then the failure becomes one of the most teachable moments for students and they are not punished for it. If you haven't seen Honda's video "Failure: The Secret to Success," take a minute and check it out here. I love encouraging my students to fail!
I do have some concerns about PBL. They're not necessarily concerns with the approach itself, but rather the execution of that approach. What I see as I look over many of the projects being proposed is that the project does more to take the student away from the intended content, rather that reinforcing and adding to that content.
As a literature teacher, I'm especially wary of how PBL is being used to teach novels. Many of the projects seem to focus on the theme of a novel and strive to develop that theme further. Personally, my goal is not to teach the theme of a novel, because I want students to understand that theme. I don't teach "To Kill a Mockingbird," because I think students need to understand racial equality or traits of character (however, if I were teaching racial equality or character, I think "Mockingbird" would be a great tool to help teach that). I teach the methods, devices, and style by which Harper Lee came to create a novel that effectively illustrates her intended theme and I teach how to recognize what that theme is.
I may approach the teaching of literature differently than others and they may disagree greatly with the last statement that I just made. There is a good chance that I am wrong.
Overall, I'm excited for the PBL approach to education. Now, to incorporate the 30 other things that they're stressing in our district right now...
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Motivation, motivation, motivation, sir.
Get some, got some, good, huah!
-something we said back in my Air Force days-
Ten days ago I completed a 111 mile bike race. I didn't win. I didn't even go very fast. But, I did finish. Nobody paid me to do the race and I don't think anyone judged me or scored my performance (at least I hope not). I had no reason at all to do the race, other than I wanted to do the race.
This, I think, is what we call intrinsic motivation: doing something because you like doing that thing. I see it occassionally in my photography classes. There are students who love to take pictures and the will go out and take pictures regardless of what I assign. I see it in my English classes. Students with their noses buried in books. Occasional poets in the making writing from cover to cover in their spiral notebooks. Performers entertaining the class at the wrong time. Artists doodling when I'm lecturing. Etc.
One of my biggest goals this year is to somehow influence students to want to do what I want them to do. Not for the grade. Not for the experience. Not to prepare for college. Just to do it.
I'm just trying to remember the last time someone made me want to do something that I didn't want to do, and how they did it.
-something we said back in my Air Force days-
Ten days ago I completed a 111 mile bike race. I didn't win. I didn't even go very fast. But, I did finish. Nobody paid me to do the race and I don't think anyone judged me or scored my performance (at least I hope not). I had no reason at all to do the race, other than I wanted to do the race.
This, I think, is what we call intrinsic motivation: doing something because you like doing that thing. I see it occassionally in my photography classes. There are students who love to take pictures and the will go out and take pictures regardless of what I assign. I see it in my English classes. Students with their noses buried in books. Occasional poets in the making writing from cover to cover in their spiral notebooks. Performers entertaining the class at the wrong time. Artists doodling when I'm lecturing. Etc.
One of my biggest goals this year is to somehow influence students to want to do what I want them to do. Not for the grade. Not for the experience. Not to prepare for college. Just to do it.
I'm just trying to remember the last time someone made me want to do something that I didn't want to do, and how they did it.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
I'm starting to feel like I might be coming off a little bit negative here. I blame a double dose of Malcolm Gladwell for that. I'll try to be more positive from now on...starting tomorrow.
I think that using Twitter in the classroom is awesome and I've read many accounts of teachers effectively using it. I've heard of history teachers using it to create twitter accounts for people that they are studying to check student's understanding of the people through the tweets that they make. I've read (and plan to do this) of English teachers having students follow the tweets of authors of books that they are reading to gain a greater understanding of the writing process and of the author as a person. Twitter can be a useful tool in the classroom.
BUT, in the real world? This is another one of those things that I don't understand. I really don't care to know what your doing each moment of your day, no matter how exciting those moments might be. The few people that I do care to know what they're doing are the same few people that I care enough about to call and ask myself. To this day I've never heard of a single use of Twitter outside of education that I thought, "hey, now there's a useful addition to my life." However, every time I hear someone talk about Twitter, I think, "well now, there's another big waste of time."
Someone disagree (or even agree) with me, please!
Monday, August 3, 2009
More Malcolm Gladwell: "Outliers: The Story of Success"
I have to give Gladwell some credit. Anyone who is making as much money as he is must be doing something right. What that something is, I haven't figured out (even after reading his "story of success"). I will admit that this book did get me thinking, but I don't think that's what Gladwell intended.
Let me sum it up for you. Bill Gates became the increadibly-uber-rich-window-washing stud that he is because of the time and place of his birth and the resources that he had available to him. Nothing more.
Oh wait, Gladwell did have one more point and it's this: In order to be an expert at anything you must have 10,000 hours of practice at that thing. I'm kinda wondering at this point how many hours Gladwell put in to studying success.
There's so much more that I could say. Some of it might even be positive. But, I'm not going to. I've had enough of Gladwell. Up next: Stephen King's "Cell." It's my quick intellectual break (should Gladwell count as that?) before school starts up again.
Anyone else out there read Gladwell? I'd love to hear from someone who likes what he has to say. Surely there's another side of the argument and it's bound to be better than my side, because the guy is rich and published after all.
Let me sum it up for you. Bill Gates became the increadibly-uber-rich-window-washing stud that he is because of the time and place of his birth and the resources that he had available to him. Nothing more.
Oh wait, Gladwell did have one more point and it's this: In order to be an expert at anything you must have 10,000 hours of practice at that thing. I'm kinda wondering at this point how many hours Gladwell put in to studying success.
There's so much more that I could say. Some of it might even be positive. But, I'm not going to. I've had enough of Gladwell. Up next: Stephen King's "Cell." It's my quick intellectual break (should Gladwell count as that?) before school starts up again.
Anyone else out there read Gladwell? I'd love to hear from someone who likes what he has to say. Surely there's another side of the argument and it's bound to be better than my side, because the guy is rich and published after all.
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