I will start this post off by saying you will not find any answers here. At best you might be more confused than when you started. This year has been the year of change for my German students and myself. We have been pushing the envelope when it comes to technology integration in a foreign language class. Overall, I can honestly say things have been going quite well. Students seem to be actively engaged and interested, and most importantly they have taken great strides when it comes to taking control of their own individual learning. After reading this one would think everything is going perfectly well, however the realist in me believes when it sounds too good to be true, it's probably not true...
In the past week I have had two of my best students vocalize their dismay with some of this year's activities. Whether the students are my best or my worst students I will always listen to what they have to say. However, in this instance I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt just a little more coming from two of my best kiddos. Their claim was simple and straight forward; "We don't think we are learning as much this year in your class as we did last year." Who would have thought a simple sentence like that could hurt so much, but I felt as if the air had been knocked out of me. The sirens and bells were going off in my head and I immediately thought, "What am I doing wrong?"
The more and more I thought about these piercing comments the more I focused on the particular students making the claims. They are two of my B.O.B.S (best of the best students), and obviously if they think they aren't learning as much this year then I must be doing something wrong. Or am I...?
I have been trying to infuse a little of Dan Pink's book "Drive" into my classroom. Additionally, I have set a goal of transforming my role as the teacher. I no longer want to be the only person with knowledge...I no longer want to lay out the learning process for my students like a puzzle...I no longer want to be a teacher; I want to be a guiding hand helping to facilitate an environment of exploration and discovery. No longer will the responsibility of learning be on my shoulders; I want my students to share that burden with me. I want my students to teach themselves, each other and even me.
Though I still remain hurt by the comments of these two great students, I think something much more devastating is being revealed. Even amongst our best students, we have ingrained the idea of book work and worksheets as the only source of learning. I am just as guilty as any other educator in creating this misconception, but I now have an added motivation to rectifying it. I will continue my assault on traditional book work and worksheet learning. I am not saying it should be entirely eliminated, but I think we might have a problem when our best students associate learning only when they have a book or worksheet in hand. Or, I am entirely off base, and my two awesome students are 100% correct in their findings...
In the past week I have had two of my best students vocalize their dismay with some of this year's activities. Whether the students are my best or my worst students I will always listen to what they have to say. However, in this instance I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt just a little more coming from two of my best kiddos. Their claim was simple and straight forward; "We don't think we are learning as much this year in your class as we did last year." Who would have thought a simple sentence like that could hurt so much, but I felt as if the air had been knocked out of me. The sirens and bells were going off in my head and I immediately thought, "What am I doing wrong?"The more and more I thought about these piercing comments the more I focused on the particular students making the claims. They are two of my B.O.B.S (best of the best students), and obviously if they think they aren't learning as much this year then I must be doing something wrong. Or am I...?
I have been trying to infuse a little of Dan Pink's book "Drive" into my classroom. Additionally, I have set a goal of transforming my role as the teacher. I no longer want to be the only person with knowledge...I no longer want to lay out the learning process for my students like a puzzle...I no longer want to be a teacher; I want to be a guiding hand helping to facilitate an environment of exploration and discovery. No longer will the responsibility of learning be on my shoulders; I want my students to share that burden with me. I want my students to teach themselves, each other and even me.
Though I still remain hurt by the comments of these two great students, I think something much more devastating is being revealed. Even amongst our best students, we have ingrained the idea of book work and worksheets as the only source of learning. I am just as guilty as any other educator in creating this misconception, but I now have an added motivation to rectifying it. I will continue my assault on traditional book work and worksheet learning. I am not saying it should be entirely eliminated, but I think we might have a problem when our best students associate learning only when they have a book or worksheet in hand. Or, I am entirely off base, and my two awesome students are 100% correct in their findings...
Justin,
ReplyDeleteWhen you institute something radically different there will always be some kids who have difficulty with the transition. This has nothing to do with whether they are learning, but the perception of learning. Last month I tried a flipped classroom where I podcasted my lectures (which the students watched on their own) and then had the students completing activities during class every day. There were no teacher-led lessons for an entire unit. Many students loved it, but some said they felt they learned more when I lectured and they just took notes. Now, the podcasts were identical to the lectures given in class, but they were virtual yet the students felt the teacher needs to be doing all the work.
So, keep pushing forward and slowly these students will start to realize that learning comes in a variety of ways and it doesn't always have to be what was intended from the curriculum.
Just the fact that you are listening to your students and reflecting is awesome. Based on your comments about what you don't want to be you transforming your teaching and becoming the change you want to see. Be okay with feeling uncomfortable. Isn't this where real learning occurs? Pushing one's comfort zone is never easy. PS there is no doubt most students have not been engaged as thinkers and active learners. They should feel some discomfort also as you create the conditions for their learning. Mgalindobassett on twitter
ReplyDeleteI can fully understand how you feel. When I used to have teachers review the educational materials that I wrote at times there would be just one who did not like what I had done. At first I would be upset and feel that this person did not get it. However, after careful examination I realized that there was definite merit in what they had to say. In many cases they were correct. You have to listen to everyone and see where they are coming from. Seek their ideas on ways to improve your approach. Of course, when you first start a new way of teaching it will take time to iron out all the wrinkles and improve the product. I will also take time for your students to adjust to this new approach as well. Always remember that Rome was not built in a day!
ReplyDeleteToday I was finally given my edline activation code and decided to finally get a chance to check out all of your blogs. Being one of the students that made this comment to you, I would like to clarify my statement, and hope to help you understand where I'm coming from. I'm posting this here because it is much easier for me to say this in English rather than German.
ReplyDeleteWhen I come to school, I have seven classes to go to along with an Advisory. My classes are given a specific name and that name comes from what I'll be learning in that class. When I come to German class, the first thing that comes to my mind is "I'm going to enjoy this hour." Last year in German II, I learned so much. I learned the basics of a language, and how to form sentences that you along with my classmates can understand. This allows us to communicate in another language, and in my mind, that's a huge thing. Now, since German III has begun, I've just added to what I've learned with things such as grammar, about fifty more vocab words, and how to use the thinking process when I'm trying to say something in a language that I've been speaking for just over a year. I can't help but feel like I haven't learned as much German as I've learned last year simply because we aren't studying the German language alone and how to improve our Grammar every day. Instead we're practicing using it, which if you can't use it, there is no point in knowing the grammar.
Now, this year in German, I haven't learned as many new words, and how to talk to you and my friends in German (because I already learned how to do that last year), but I've learned so many other things that it's impossible to list all of them because I seem to sometimes learn them without knowing it. For example, you've taught me how to make a blog, post on a blog, resize pictures and add captions to them (for my glog, not blog), you've inspired me to learn the ins and outs of a few computer programs such as paint, and the alt keys for umlauts which inspired me to learn other cool alt codes such as the blank character, a triangle, a smiley face, and a few others. These are just a few things you've indirectly caused me to learn, but the list goes on for an incredibly long time, and this is all happening while my German speaking skills are being constantly reinforced as well as added to.
When I made that comment, I didn't truly think before I spoke. What I should have said was something more along the lines of "I haven't learned as much German this year as I learned in the whole year last year." When I came in to German III the first day, I felt like German III would be much faster paced, and we would learn a whole lot more about the language than in the previous year, but I have come to the realization that this isn't the truth. We are learning not about German alone, but about everything no matter how hard we try, because you somehow manage to find assignments to assign that cause me to keep thinking and learning. For that, I think you're a great teacher and have truly taught me more in your class than any other class has taught me in my time in High School because you are not focusing on specifically German (like the name of the course), but more of a "learn as much as you can while doing something related to German" type of thing. So please don't be so hard on yourself about the comment because I feel I probably shouldn't have said something like that so quickly, and should have thought it through more thoroughly before saying it.
Tut mir leid für Englisch.
-Alex Bailey (B.A.D)
Today I was finally given my edline activation code and decided to finally get a chance to check out all of your blogs. Being one of the students that made this comment to you, I would like to clarify my statement, and hope to help you understand where I'm coming from. I'm posting this here because it is much easier for me to say this in English rather than German.
ReplyDeleteWhen I come to school, I have seven classes to go to along with an Advisory. My classes are given a specific name and that name comes from what I'll be learning in that class. When I come to German class, the first thing that comes to my mind is "I'm going to enjoy this hour." Last year in German II, I learned so much. I learned the basics of a language, and how to form sentences that you along with my classmates can understand. This allows us to communicate in another language, and in my mind, that's a huge thing. Now, since German III has begun, I've just added to what I've learned with things such as grammar, about fifty more vocab words, and how to use the thinking process when I'm trying to say something in a language that I've been speaking for just over a year. I can't help but feel like I haven't learned as much German as I've learned last year simply because we aren't studying the German language alone and how to improve our Grammar every day. Instead we're practicing using it, which if you can't use it, there is no point in knowing the grammar.
Now, this year in German, I haven't learned as many new words, and how to talk to you and my friends in German (because I already learned how to do that last year), but I've learned so many other things that it's impossible to list all of them because I seem to sometimes learn them without knowing it. For example, you've taught me how to make a blog, post on a blog, resize pictures and add captions to them (for my glog, not blog), you've inspired me to learn the ins and outs of a few computer programs such as paint, and the alt keys for umlauts which inspired me to learn other cool alt codes such as the blank character, a triangle, a smiley face, and a few others. These are just a few things you've indirectly caused me to learn, but the list goes on for an incredibly long time, and all of this took place while I was reinforcing as well as adding to my German speaking skill.
When I made that comment, I didn't truly think before I spoke. What I should have said was something more along the lines of "I haven't learned as much German this year as I learned in the whole last year." When I came in to German III the first day, I felt like German III would be much faster paced, and we would learn a whole lot more about the language than in the previous year, but I have come to the realization that this isn't the truth. We are learning not about German alone, but about everything no matter how hard we try, because you somehow manage to find assignments to assign that cause me to keep thinking and learning. For that, I think you're a great teacher and have truly taught me more in your class than any other class has taught me in my time in High School because you are not focusing on specifically German (like the name of the course), but more of a "learn as much as you can while doing something related to German" type of thing. So please don't be so hard on yourself about the comment because I feel I probably shouldn't have said something like that so quickly, and should have thought it through more thoroughly before saying it.
Tut mir leid für Englisch.
-Alex Bailey (B.A.D)
Justin, thank you for this blog! I am a French teacher and just beginning this same journey toward having my students become more self-driven learners. I also want to incorporate more standards-based grading, so that student grades reflect their skills rather than just their work habits. However, being the "lone soldier" in my school is not going to be easy. We don't have state learning standards for foreign language in Washington State, so I am writing my own, based on the ACTFL standards and Oregon State standards.
ReplyDeleteI have so many questions and many fears about this radical shift, and am expecting some similar feedback from my students (or negative feedback from those who don't want to do the work themselves but would rather have me continue to do it all myself), but I am committed to pushing ahead.
I'm finding inspiration and resources here, so thank you for sharing this. It's especially refreshing to find such an informative blog from someone in my own field with specific ideas that I can think about incorporating!