... to imagine fundamental ways to restructure what goes in my department's very fine English classes.
At present, the ideal many of us strive for involves the students and the teacher seated in a large rectangle, with everyone facing in. The core activity, particularly in the IB English classes, is the teacher leading a close analysis of a text. Lots of laughter. Lots of great ideas. Kids sharing their thoughts. Teacher making new discoveries along with the students. Lots of links to kids' lives, current events, pop culture. Procative questions. Intellectual engagement. Lots of modelling of authentic practice. Plenty of close reading of text. Lots of collaboration in seeky meaning. An alive, alert teacher, surfing the text with the kids, the majority of whom are engaged - and if someone drifts away, the teacher is able to pull them back in again. Yes, there are other activities, but this is the core, the one we keep returning to.
I see the community of inquiry model at work here, as well as knowledge building, authentic inquiry, and deep learning. Weaker students might not be able to sustain this, but the higher achieving student we have in the IB stream seem to relish it (confirmed, also, by end of year surveys).
The earlier idea about moving through clusters of texts based on key questions certainly makes sense of what we are doing. And I can see how we can do a better job of drawing on online resources, and using the web to foster collaboration and peer coaching around the writing assignments (itself a big shift and a welcome change from the traditional model of "student writes/teacher comments and grades).
But am I missing something else? Should I be thinking of more of a paradigm shift?
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As a teacher it sounds like you have high ideals and are open to ways of improving the learning environment for your students.
ReplyDeleteJohn, are you familiar with Janet Murray's work. Check out Hamlet on the Holodeck http://www.amazon.ca/Hamlet-Holodeck-Future-Narrative-Cyberspace/dp/0262631873.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I like the idea of the rectangle of engaged students and the community of inquiry, knowledge building, etc. I wonder if the piece that's needed to help the weaker students is scaffolding or cognitive apprenticeship. Is it possible to follow a model where a pair of students prepare questions and lead a smaller group? As the instructor, you move from group to group to ensure that content is being covered. Each smaller group allows for the weaker students to become involved - you would have to provide opportunities for the mentor/novice technique to work.
ReplyDeleteHmmm.... interesting ....