No big changes last week as I continued to adapt my teaching to a less formal style in order to accommodate the small class size. I think that the Unit I am teaching right now has been about as successful as any have been. This success probably stems from how clear cut the unit is. The students see that there is a solid and meaningful goal and they understand that there is a process that we must go through to meet that goal. I suppose that, as I think of it now, perhaps education is as much a process as a science experiment--purely experimental. The difficulty with this, of course, is that to some extent a science experiment requires a certain degree of faith and trust as there is no guarantee of any meaningful results. I am coming to think about the education of English in this way (I suppose I am coming to see life in this way as well). Students need to trust in the beginning (that's the hard part) and then carry out a process that will yield certain results.
Well, I suppose I am being a bit abstract but last week I was thinking a bit about this as I noticed that although many of my students choose not to participate occasionally, few students who participate fully for the first ten minutes of class decide later not to participate. Those students who do not participate tend to give up immediately or barely try and then quit. I suppose that a good test for the success of a lesson is whether or not, upon attempting a lesson, students becomes interested. If the students participate in the beginning and begin to see meaning in it than they will continue to carry out the activity. Conversly, if the students participate and then quit then perhaps that means that the lesson was not meaningful to the students' lives.
Just some thoughts and reflections.
2 comments:
I really enjoy reading your blog. And I must say: You are such a cerebral teacher, Witty! By now, I'm sure you've gathered something of the assets and liabilities associated with this approach. It's a life approach, not just a teaching approach, I know well. Sometimes intellect can float you though, smooth--other times, it sinks you... bogs you down in layers of self-examination. It's almost impossible to escape, but it it's any consolation, it is something that is almost universally admired--like a really, really nice car... perhaps so nice that you can't even drive it.
In any case, you're right about the power of structure. But, of course, being right about things ain't the key to everything. Stick with it, E.
It's interesting to think about whether or not the students are aware of the process of working through information in order to achieve a goal. In one of my classes, my own education (learning about the Holocaust) seems to be having a big effect on how the students are engaging in the material. Since reding the memoir Night, the information is being presented in non-traditional ways (a guest speaker coming to the school on one day, a gallery walk of photographs that I put together the next day). It's hard to assess their learning until I receive their 500 word reflections on Tuesday. Still, it feels like authentic learning at the moment, and they seem infinitely more interested than they did a month ago. Then again, maybe that's just my own projection because of my own interest.
Post a Comment