Un-schooling students
My son is in third grade. I have had a chance to watch him get started on his journey as a student. He was ecstatic to enter Kindergarten but within a few months was resistant to getting ready in the morning…my favorite quote was "7 hours, Mom, we have to be there for 7 hours". He's said something along those lines repeatedly each subsequent year. I keep hoping for him to fall in love with school the way I did…eagerly taking tests so that I could get the best score, giddy about starting projects, excited to start each day. Alas, I don't think that attitude lies in my son's future (and there's a small chance I am idealizing my actual school experience). But, I am pleased that he is learning to be a dutiful student. He completes his homework willingly, he strives for good grades, he enjoys not getting his name written on the board (this year's behavior modification first step). And he loves learning. He is fascinated by facts and curious about how things work and always, always wanting to use advanced vocabulary to understand and describe viruses and books and why one nerf gun is better than another. He knows google is a source for answers and knows that I am not going to give him a direct answer to a question. But what I am afraid has already happened is that school for him isn't a place to learn, to think, to wonder, to imagine. It is a place to complete assignments and answer questions and find out if he is an A or a B or a C student.
I observed in a high school English class today. The students were compliant mostly, or asleep. The lesson was interesting and the teacher frequently stopped to check that the students were understanding, but you could see in their faces that they were putting in time. We have done such a good job of teaching students to be students, to do the worksheets and expect small packets of information to memorize and regurgitate on a test. Where does the thinking happen? Not the listening and memorizing. you can't learn something without thinking about it. you can memorize and not think. you can say the pledge of allegiance every monday through friday and never once interpret or internalize. We've made good students, but not good thinkers. Are there teachers who aren't just cultivating students? Who are instead engaging thinkers and igniting life-long learners? Yes, and I know I tried during my last year in the classroom to be radical, to expect students to think without me telling them what they were supposed to think. To read and make connections and care. But I started too late and I got them too late…they hated the projects and missed the spoon-feeding.
A few weeks ago, I observed another English teacher who had learners and thinkers filling her seats. You could see that they valued the time in that class, enjoyed the hard work it took to succeed. They were freshmen, still somewhat moldable. I asked how they were responding to these radical methods she employed…"oh, they hated it at first". But she's been successful in her retraining. So it can happen…
Extreme, almost dangerous ideas here? A little Pollyanna, over-the-top optimistic? Well, sure. But then, if I have seen one great need in my role as instructional coach, it is that change is on the horizon and that it is going to take something radical to keep school relevant for these digital natives.
So, I was supposed to answer in this post about students resisting or being unsure of how to use a device as an educational tool. These are big concerns! But they are only an issue if we try to continue to hold on to the methods of educating students we have relied on for 100 years. I don't have the answers on exactly how to do this, but I know we need to figure it out. And I hope it is before my son is too conditioned to be a student.
I observed in a high school English class today. The students were compliant mostly, or asleep. The lesson was interesting and the teacher frequently stopped to check that the students were understanding, but you could see in their faces that they were putting in time. We have done such a good job of teaching students to be students, to do the worksheets and expect small packets of information to memorize and regurgitate on a test. Where does the thinking happen? Not the listening and memorizing. you can't learn something without thinking about it. you can memorize and not think. you can say the pledge of allegiance every monday through friday and never once interpret or internalize. We've made good students, but not good thinkers. Are there teachers who aren't just cultivating students? Who are instead engaging thinkers and igniting life-long learners? Yes, and I know I tried during my last year in the classroom to be radical, to expect students to think without me telling them what they were supposed to think. To read and make connections and care. But I started too late and I got them too late…they hated the projects and missed the spoon-feeding.
A few weeks ago, I observed another English teacher who had learners and thinkers filling her seats. You could see that they valued the time in that class, enjoyed the hard work it took to succeed. They were freshmen, still somewhat moldable. I asked how they were responding to these radical methods she employed…"oh, they hated it at first". But she's been successful in her retraining. So it can happen…
Extreme, almost dangerous ideas here? A little Pollyanna, over-the-top optimistic? Well, sure. But then, if I have seen one great need in my role as instructional coach, it is that change is on the horizon and that it is going to take something radical to keep school relevant for these digital natives.
So, I was supposed to answer in this post about students resisting or being unsure of how to use a device as an educational tool. These are big concerns! But they are only an issue if we try to continue to hold on to the methods of educating students we have relied on for 100 years. I don't have the answers on exactly how to do this, but I know we need to figure it out. And I hope it is before my son is too conditioned to be a student.