Howdy Marcie -
I feel as though it has been too long
since we last spoke. Everything on my end has been going swimmingly.
My students have really responded to the ideas you had of
incorporating music into my class. And they all LOVED the album of
children's songs that you created. The kids have all been drawing
robots in outer space eating donuts every chance they get. And they
keep asking me to share my donuts, but you and I both know that
nothing, nothing comes between me and my donuts.
Truth be told, I feel kind of guilty
for how well things are going on my end when I know that you and your
colleagues are struggling a bit. Getting your email made me wish I
was closer so I could sit in on some of your classes and offer some
suggestions. You did though given me quite an all encompassing
overview of what your students seem to be struggling with. Working
with students of such low socioeconomic status can be incredibly
difficult at times. From what you have detailed of the area in which
you are situated, it must be difficult for students to arrive in
class each morning and feel any sort of motivation toward learning.
The difficulties of an unmotivated
class upon entering the school is assuredly leading to difficulties
in subsequent years. The curriculum you attached was a bit
distressing. It sounds as though the administration has you
pigeon-holed into an almost dictated teaching style. When will people
learn that children learn when they are truly engaged and are an
active part of both the learning and teaching experience? I
know I always learned soooooo much by sitting in my
chair all day and having my teachers talk AT me. Is my sarcasm
thick enough there for you?
Fear not, for I am here to help you my
dear friend! No knight in white armor, more just a geeky teacher in a
flannel, button-down. Sitting at the laptop the other night I dove
into the information you passed along. I broke out an old-fashioned
notepad and went to work. After taking many notes of my own, I needed
to truly see what the problem is that you are facing. If only all
issues stemmed from a single problem source. Sadly, I think you are
dealing with multiple problems in the lack of motivation for your
students. I would suspect that you are facing three different reasons
for the problems you are facing:
- Your students are coming from homes of extremely low socioeconomic status. Imagine if you were leaving a home each morning where the majority of the money coming into the household had to be spent on the necessities of life – food, rent, utilities, and maybe clothing. You have routinely said that your students enter the class each morning as if they were just finishing working one job, just to start a shift at their next job. They are leaving a home environment bereft of happiness and coming to a class where they are tied to their seat for six plus hours a day.
- You school district has formed some fairly strict guidelines as to the curriculum and methods of teaching. No Child Left Behind seems to have them worried that anything that is not rote in nature must be wrong. “TEACH THE TEST! TEACH THE TEST!” I am confident in saying that someday soon, legislation will be enacted to alleviate some of the mandates that NCLB has established. Needless to say, your students are simply not getting what they need from the environment that you are giving them. Woah! Woah, WOAAAHHHH...I know it is not strictly you. Stop with the pouty face. I know your hands are mostly tied, but I also know you and how you can be so incredibly creative! I have faith in you!
- Lastly, your students just do not seem to be getting nor enjoying the material. This could perhaps just be that they are not fans of the assignments in front of them but it seems more accredited to the fact that they are not stimulated enough and being engaged enough to form any kind of link or emotional connection to what they are learning.
Knowing why the students are not
performing well in your classes and in later years is key to figuring
out ways in which the learning environment can be adapted to meet
their needs. I truly feel that by tweaking the way you are teaching
them you will see a tremendous impact. I can already hear you saying,
“But Jason, the administration...” Yes I understand fully. But
there must be an approach that you can take that will address the
concerns of the curriculum at meeting the demands of standardized
testing while at the same time making sure that your students are
active participants in the learning process. And trust me, they will
be anxious to come to class each and every day! No, I do not sound
like one of those late night informercial guys...
Now it is time for you and I to hop
into Mr. Peabody's “Way Back Machine”. Recall back if you will to
those early days of undergrad and then even in graduate school as you
sat in your psychology classes and began your study of learning
theories. One of the earliest theories belonged to this Vygotsky guy.
Remember him? I always pictured him in a big furry Russian hat and a
massive beard and mustache. I think I actually checked one day and
was greatly disappointed that my idea of him in my mind was nowhere
close to how he actually looked. Oh well, in my mind he will always
have that big black beard. Anyway, Vygotsky was a huge proponent on
social learning - that students should be brought together in groups
where they can and will learn in a very active manner both from the
educator/expert and from each other. In a sense you as the teacher
would lead groups of students in learning activities and would act
more as a facilitator than a giver of straight-forward facts and
figures. The technical term for what you would be doing would be
either mediated learning or scaffolding. I personally prefer
scaffolding as it conjures mental images of an actual scaffold along
a building. That scaffold is not there to do the work of the
construction workers, but it facilitates and helps them get the job
done. Sometimes these little mental pictures help me keep all the
theories clear.
Right about now you are saying, “Yeah
great but how does this help alleviate the problem and how can I
bring these concepts into my classroom? Also, I wonder if I have time
to go pick up some mint chocolate chip ice cream?” Knowing me as
you do, I am a huge fan of ice cream. Go grab some and come back and
we will figure this all out together. Fear not, I will be here when
you return.
Back? That was nice and quick. I
barely noticed you were gone. Hahaha!
Okay, back to work. Think first and
foremost of the environments that your students are exposed to
outside of their educational setting. Not very cheery are they? You
need to get them out of their chairs. You need to get them moving and
interacting. Get them talking and engaging in discussions. Social
learning will accomplish all that and so much more. You had noted
specifically that your students were having difficulty with their
reading of Tom Sawyer. No lie, I am happy to hear your
administration has embraced the classics once more. My curriculum is
slowing doing the same. As you sit there with your students desks all
lined up and spread out, and you ask questions and have them read in
turn, how is that making the environment any more exciting or
engaging from their home life? Spin those desks around and have them
form their own reading clubs. Break them down and balance out the
groups. By balancing out the groups I mean put a stronger student in
each group that can help mediate their group. They can be your little
mini-scaffolds! A scaffold within a scaffold!
Now, as each of your better students
begins a discussion in their groups you can act as the overall
mediator. You can listen in and ask questions of each group or of the
class as a whole. Try and stay away from yes or no questions or ones
that have a definitive answer. Kids love to think and rationalize.
You will be amazed at what they will come up with with just a small
nudge.
I have the utmost confidence though
that with your scaffolding, you will get them into the best learning
environment while at the same time still maintaining the standards
set forth by your administration and curriculum. I am shaking my
fists at those standardized test!
Now, you are going to find that once
you begin these kinds of social learning practices that kids are
going to start to extrapolate those methods and utilize them in other
subjects. Perhaps you could also have mini science labs and students
can all work experiments together? Small group math clubs anyone?
Often I think that students are scared to voice opinions to their
teachers. It can be a scary thing to raise a hand and put your
thoughts and opinions out to a teacher who hold your grade in their
hands. On a peer-to-peer learning level though, they can speak freely
to each other and offer more creative thoughts and solutions. You
will see that they will quickly begin to expand their thinking and
become immersed in the learning environment. They will walk through
your door each morning beaming and excited to be there. They will be
enthusiastic and craving the next foray into social learning.
Having read all of the above I hope
that you find the value in social learning that I and my students
have. Seeing their enthusiastic faces as we enter each new learning
unit is worth more than all the Stafford Loans I have ever had to
apply for. I hope in my heart that you can put some of these ideas
into practice. Once your students are engaged they will be craving
more and more learning. It is your job to guide them along the
process not force feed them facts and opinions. Do me a favor, give
it a try over the course of the next few weeks. If you struggle with
lesson plans, email or better yet, call me. Just be mindful of the
time zone differences.
Your friend and comrade in arms,
- Jason
No comments:
Post a Comment