Student Voice and Choice 2/14
This week's readings were jam packed with information and more challenges to the way I see myself as a teacher. My highlighter was working overtime, I don't want to forget any of the important nuggets of information. As I read all of the passages, I continued to return to the idea that the most important part of my teaching will be to build authentic relationships with my students.
CO-TEACHING
The Edmin reading was not what I expected it to be. I was anticipating some strategies to teach with another adult, and the beginning of the piece reinforced that notion. While he describes the different ways that educators co-teach, it was the principle of co-teaching with the students that really surprised me. It does not escape my notice that I am continually surprised by what I'm reading. As a middle-aged mom, I thought I innately understood how to be a teacher, and I'm constantly reminded of how much I have yet to learn.
I especially liked Edmin's description of the way that power is separated in classrooms. His opening anecdote is a perfect example; he was part of the crowd that was complaining of a late professor, then he was completely separate once he revealed who he was. It's a reminder that being connected to the students cannot happen through a trick or something disingenuous. Edmin's ideas of co-teaching with the students changes the power structure significantly--and for the better. While some of the co-teaching strategies with students seemed time-consuming (for example, having the students come up with full lesson plans) I very much like the notion of recognizing students as experts. My husband is a big-data analytics consultant for a global firm that speaks a language consisting mostly of acronyms. My favorite is "SME" (pronounced smee) which stands for "Subject Matter Expert." That kept popping up in my mind as I read about how Edmin recognizes that his students may be better equipped to drive their own learning. They are SMEs in their own right, and I respect that as an educator, Edmin was able to set aside his ego and learn from the students.
I have to imagine that this "reality pedagogy" is difficult to buy into if you are a seasoned teacher who believes that it's your job to bestow knowledge and the students job to absorb knowledge. I am grateful to take all of this in before stepping into a classroom. Additionally, considering that Rhode Island is headed to being the first state to implement Personalized Learning state-wide, Edmin's idea of students "taking ownership of their learning" is critical to the success of personalized learning.
Two last things: Edmin describes "peer to peer" learning, and last Tuesday, on a visit to the Green School with my 407 class, I was able to see that in action, in an eleventh grade science class. Pretty amazing. Lastly, I need to familiarize myself with a few terms that he used: "cogen classroom" (I somehow missed what that meant) and neoindigenous. I understand the latter term, but I have never heard it before this article, and am going to hang on to it.
CHRISTENSEN'S NARRATIVES
As she was describing how she teaches narratives, something resonated with me. She said "students will write better if we take the time to teach them how to write instead of expecting that they already know how and blaming them if they don't." It first reminded me of our discussion of Structural Ideology and the problems that arise from it. It hit more personally, though, with my daughter. She recently got a D on an exam in her 5th grade social studies class. She was devastated. She studied for days, I quizzed her on vocabulary. After a meeting with the teacher, I learned that she was told to "take notes and study" but she had no idea how to do take notes or what it meant to study. The teacher never looked over students' notes, and it was unclear what exactly would be on the exam. She and I sat and talked, and I reminded her that kids don't inherently know HOW to take notes or study, they have to learn! We developed some ways for her to take notes (read the passage, synthesize the information, write it in your own words) and how to review for the next exam. I was so frustrated with the teacher for making assumptions about what ten and eleven year olds KNEW how to do. It totally set them up to fail.
Christensen had some really incredible and practical ways to teach narrative writing. I LOVED the highlighting of text, the use of blocking, and of sharing. While all of these are ways to improve narrative writing, the way that it connects the students to one another was powerful. Her "collective text" seems like it brings the class together as a community, and I'm totally behind that concept. I can see myself using all of those techniques in a classroom. I especially liked reading the student examples that she included, and that she honors the real issues that students face on a daily basis. In a social justice classroom, this seems like one of the most important pieces--by connecting learning to real life (echoes of Edmin's "reality pedagogy") with real audiences, the learning is more meaningful and more lasting. Powerful stuff right there.
I really liked the way she has the students write down compliments as someone is sharing their story, and that they share directly with each other. Again, her notion that "all dialogue in the class does not funnel through me" is important, and I REALLY loved her phtase "BE A HUNGRY LISTENER." Yes.
When students connect on a deeper level and trust each other, moving into the "acting for justice" is easier and more effective. In this day and age, injustice is easy to spot, and my feeling is that many students want to stand up to it, but don't know how. It's my job as a teacher to give them the tools to recognize the injustice and how to confront it.
Lastly, I really loved her notes on "tightening writing." On a practical level, I'll be using these techniques with my own writing starting now. :)
GALLAGHER'S CHOICES
Talk about a chapter full of incredibly useful tools! I liked starting off with the reminder that "writing anchors a literate life" and that he has his students write. A lot. Reinforcing both Christensen and Edmin, Gallagher recognizes that "kids don't write well...[if] they don't care what they are writing about." His techniques of helping students narrow down what they are writing about, helping them discover where they are SMEs in their own life, changes how they write. His examples of "writing smaller," using a "topic blast," and a writing fountain are practical ways to bring out the writer in his students.
I think one topic I would love to cover in my own class is the "pearls of wisdom" from To Kill a Mockingbird. I can see myself doing that entire lesson. His prompts for "I wonder why" and "what annoys me" were creative and something I can also see myself doing in a class.
One of the more important lessons I read about was his "four-sided argument" in which he chooses a controversial topic, and students must write from the perspectives of four people involved in the topic, with differing viewpoints. Recognizing there are valid differences of opinion will go a long way toward understanding each other in this divided world we are living in.
CO-TEACHING
The Edmin reading was not what I expected it to be. I was anticipating some strategies to teach with another adult, and the beginning of the piece reinforced that notion. While he describes the different ways that educators co-teach, it was the principle of co-teaching with the students that really surprised me. It does not escape my notice that I am continually surprised by what I'm reading. As a middle-aged mom, I thought I innately understood how to be a teacher, and I'm constantly reminded of how much I have yet to learn.
I especially liked Edmin's description of the way that power is separated in classrooms. His opening anecdote is a perfect example; he was part of the crowd that was complaining of a late professor, then he was completely separate once he revealed who he was. It's a reminder that being connected to the students cannot happen through a trick or something disingenuous. Edmin's ideas of co-teaching with the students changes the power structure significantly--and for the better. While some of the co-teaching strategies with students seemed time-consuming (for example, having the students come up with full lesson plans) I very much like the notion of recognizing students as experts. My husband is a big-data analytics consultant for a global firm that speaks a language consisting mostly of acronyms. My favorite is "SME" (pronounced smee) which stands for "Subject Matter Expert." That kept popping up in my mind as I read about how Edmin recognizes that his students may be better equipped to drive their own learning. They are SMEs in their own right, and I respect that as an educator, Edmin was able to set aside his ego and learn from the students.
I have to imagine that this "reality pedagogy" is difficult to buy into if you are a seasoned teacher who believes that it's your job to bestow knowledge and the students job to absorb knowledge. I am grateful to take all of this in before stepping into a classroom. Additionally, considering that Rhode Island is headed to being the first state to implement Personalized Learning state-wide, Edmin's idea of students "taking ownership of their learning" is critical to the success of personalized learning.
Two last things: Edmin describes "peer to peer" learning, and last Tuesday, on a visit to the Green School with my 407 class, I was able to see that in action, in an eleventh grade science class. Pretty amazing. Lastly, I need to familiarize myself with a few terms that he used: "cogen classroom" (I somehow missed what that meant) and neoindigenous. I understand the latter term, but I have never heard it before this article, and am going to hang on to it.
CHRISTENSEN'S NARRATIVES
As she was describing how she teaches narratives, something resonated with me. She said "students will write better if we take the time to teach them how to write instead of expecting that they already know how and blaming them if they don't." It first reminded me of our discussion of Structural Ideology and the problems that arise from it. It hit more personally, though, with my daughter. She recently got a D on an exam in her 5th grade social studies class. She was devastated. She studied for days, I quizzed her on vocabulary. After a meeting with the teacher, I learned that she was told to "take notes and study" but she had no idea how to do take notes or what it meant to study. The teacher never looked over students' notes, and it was unclear what exactly would be on the exam. She and I sat and talked, and I reminded her that kids don't inherently know HOW to take notes or study, they have to learn! We developed some ways for her to take notes (read the passage, synthesize the information, write it in your own words) and how to review for the next exam. I was so frustrated with the teacher for making assumptions about what ten and eleven year olds KNEW how to do. It totally set them up to fail.
Christensen had some really incredible and practical ways to teach narrative writing. I LOVED the highlighting of text, the use of blocking, and of sharing. While all of these are ways to improve narrative writing, the way that it connects the students to one another was powerful. Her "collective text" seems like it brings the class together as a community, and I'm totally behind that concept. I can see myself using all of those techniques in a classroom. I especially liked reading the student examples that she included, and that she honors the real issues that students face on a daily basis. In a social justice classroom, this seems like one of the most important pieces--by connecting learning to real life (echoes of Edmin's "reality pedagogy") with real audiences, the learning is more meaningful and more lasting. Powerful stuff right there.
I really liked the way she has the students write down compliments as someone is sharing their story, and that they share directly with each other. Again, her notion that "all dialogue in the class does not funnel through me" is important, and I REALLY loved her phtase "BE A HUNGRY LISTENER." Yes.
When students connect on a deeper level and trust each other, moving into the "acting for justice" is easier and more effective. In this day and age, injustice is easy to spot, and my feeling is that many students want to stand up to it, but don't know how. It's my job as a teacher to give them the tools to recognize the injustice and how to confront it.
Lastly, I really loved her notes on "tightening writing." On a practical level, I'll be using these techniques with my own writing starting now. :)
GALLAGHER'S CHOICES
Talk about a chapter full of incredibly useful tools! I liked starting off with the reminder that "writing anchors a literate life" and that he has his students write. A lot. Reinforcing both Christensen and Edmin, Gallagher recognizes that "kids don't write well...[if] they don't care what they are writing about." His techniques of helping students narrow down what they are writing about, helping them discover where they are SMEs in their own life, changes how they write. His examples of "writing smaller," using a "topic blast," and a writing fountain are practical ways to bring out the writer in his students.
I think one topic I would love to cover in my own class is the "pearls of wisdom" from To Kill a Mockingbird. I can see myself doing that entire lesson. His prompts for "I wonder why" and "what annoys me" were creative and something I can also see myself doing in a class.
One of the more important lessons I read about was his "four-sided argument" in which he chooses a controversial topic, and students must write from the perspectives of four people involved in the topic, with differing viewpoints. Recognizing there are valid differences of opinion will go a long way toward understanding each other in this divided world we are living in.
I am with you on the highlighting - there was so much good stuff to remember! I appreciate that you continually recognize the root of teaching within all of the readings: developing authentic relationships with students. In the end, students will be more open to learning if they feel like they are safe to do so. A teacher's job is so much more than bestowing knowledge upon a group of kids and sending them on their way at the end of the year. We have to open their eyes to the wonders of learning, and to do that, we have to get to know them, show them that we care. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI also loved the Writing Smaller analogy that Gallagher makes! I always tend to come up with broad topics for papers and have to narrow in on one part of the paper! I actually plan to use this for my ENGL 460 class this semester!! And this is a great tool for planning to teach students also!!
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