Avoiding Cookie Cutter Syndrome
I had one of those classes this week.
You know, the ones where the conversation veers off on a tangent, takes a backflip, lands and runs on to another series of tangents. We were all over the map that day.
I love conversation. I love learning through conversation. Often I find that I learn a lot from my students when they are comfortable sharing in the conversation.
That day though, this openness felt more like a liability. Openness isn’t far from honesty and sometimes the “truth” hurts. What frustrates me is when that “truth” is uninformed, insensitive, judgemental.
That day we talked about the culture of school and the role of the teacher and student. We talked about the power dynamics of this situation. How teachers are not compensated based on student learning and why it might be a bad idea to do that. I was frustrated by my inability to communicate this point in a way that they could understand. And by understand I mean agree with me. Perhaps that is my problem, I want them to agree…
We also talked about designing the classroom to accommodate the various learning “styles” of those present. This was seen as the teacher’s responsibility, and failure if the students did not learn. This is what got me today. Is it really all MY responsibility when a student doesn’t learn? Are there no other factors involved in the learning process? That is too unrealistic an expectation for me to accept.
What was especially ironic and served to support my point that accommodation is difficult is that a student told me afterwards that they didn’t like the conversation, they want more textbook work, quiet reading and less open conversation.
So I went home that night and I considered this potentially discouraging development. I was discouraged right up until I walked back into the classroom the next day.
I decided to set a positive tone, welcoming those who arrived early. We had another one of our usual discussions, lots of opinions, struggles to link new knowledge with adolescent experience/perspective. As I saw some eyes begin to roll, perhaps upset that I was letting things run off in an unplanned direction, I decided to let them “behind the curtain” and addressed it head on.
“Why do you think I let the class talk so much?” Then answering my own question… “Because you can sometimes teach each other better than I can.”
Lots of surprised looks… teachers aren’t supposed to say that, right? The student who was just brilliantly explaining a concept to a peer looks embarrassed but proud of herself.
Maybe I have recovered a little of what I felt I had lost the previous day. Not control so much, but maybe a little “street cred” that I DO know what I’m doing on occasion. And that is to get them to think and believe that this education is their own and no one else’s.
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Well put, Dan. I hope that was an a-ha moment for the kids in your class. Some people don’t realize that learning doesn’t have to fall under the teacher to student paradigm until they’re adults and many others never have it.
Um…how come my avatar has a monobrow?
Not sure… mine has a triangle head. I’ve set up the comment settings to automatically assign an avatar. I’ll see if I can select the “no monobrow” option…
Dan,
Well said. Much respect for your honesty.
Further, in reading this post I feel less isolated as a teacher, especially in this particular struggle:
“What was especially ironic and served to support my point that accommodation is difficult is that a student told me afterwards that they didn’t like the conversation, they want more textbook work, quiet reading and less open conversation.”
Funny how tradition shapes values. Yet, do students truly learn best with the traditional approach to education? Though cannot recall a single thing I read from my own Grade 10 Geography textbook, I can certainly remember the day my Grade 10 Geography teacher explained Communism to our class. We were studying the USSR from a textbook. Someone asked what Communism really means. He told us to put down our pens. A conversation ensued.
Dan, twenty-one years later, my understanding of that concept may have developed somewhat, but what matters is that my understanding remains based on that one, unforgettable lesson; a lesson which was itself nothing more than a meaningful conversation.
No test required.
I am depicted as an angry diamond. How did it know?
Thanks for the comments. Shine on you angry diamond!
I had an experience similar to your Geography one in History class. Mr Werstine (hope I spelled it correctly) had us run a pre-WWI peace conference simulation in Gr 12 History. He rarely spoke, never taught directly but facilitated the discussion by creating some structure through the sim rules. When he was vocal it was usually a positive, affirming comment… he really was kind of a cheerleader if you could call it that. Anyways, that experience was so formative for me, not only intellectually, but socially as well. I know that I am a different person because of that week in class. It was self-directed, problem-driven, inquiry-based… all these concepts we hear about in FFP and in education in general. There was also room for failure and then learning from it. Essentially it was a conversation between the class, who had taken on various perspectives of each country initially involved in WWI, to try to reach a settlement and avoid armed conflict. Debates were furious! Fact checking equally so. I remember combing the UW library for books on the subject.
The best part is that I don’t have a clue what mark I got, but even then I knew that wasn’t the point.
I like this post. We can all recognize the frustration in trying to do something “better” for our students, but not having it received as such. I appreciate your honesty, “I want them to agree…”
I, too, take a very conversational approach to teaching and find that is the best way for me to learn. However, we are both outgoing, social people. What of the shy kids? Does the kid who wanted more time to read and reflect individually and less open conversation have the opportunity to feel as empowered as the kids engaged in the conversation?
I try to employ the idea of “behind the curtain” teaching often. I like that you revealed your intentions, maybe that’s the real lesson, those times when we try to connect with all learning styles, we have to openly ask for students’ help in identifying and codifying those learning styles and with what/if we reach them?
Glad to have you blogging again!