Archive
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Cdn EdWire – Short Term Labour Peace for Long Term Labour Strife?
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Ontario Catholic teachers reach deal with province; agree to wage freeze – Toronto Star
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Teaching and Type Two Ignorance
Comments Off on Teaching and Type Two IgnoranceI am a bit worried about the popular assertion that students should be allowed to follow their passions, because if they do that too much they may never know what they don’t know. Deepening your understanding in areas of personal interest is constructive and rewarding, but it can become a downward spiral of diminished horizons unless someone or something disrupts this self-referencing process from time to time. For this reason, adults, and educators in particular, have a responsibility to expand students’ thinking as well as respond to their interests.
Although I strongly believe that students can and should take a more active role in their own education, it would be the proverbial ‘throwing the baby out with the bathwater’ error if we were to decide that students will take the lead.
As they get older they can take more of the lead, but at all ages students need teachers to challenge them, figuratively speaking, “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”1 Sometimes this means insisting that they do things they don’t want to do. Otherwise, how will they ever grow beyond the bounds of the comfortable and familiar?
Moreover, there is the matter of the curriculum. Society sets certain expectations for what students will learn and neither they nor their teachers are free to ignore that mandate. Students can neither opt out of parts of the curriculum that don’t seem to interest them nor focus exclusively on the ones that do. No matter how passionate they may be about, or how much they may detest, Art or Athletics or Technology or Poetry, the curriculum requires them to participate in a broad liberal arts program until the last couple of years of high school, at which time there is more individual choice. This is in the best interests of both the individual and society; it serves both the private good and the public good.
Student-centered learning does not mean letting the student decide what s/he wants to do. It means starting with the student’s circumstances and characteristics in order to build towards the outcomes that society has decreed through the curriculum. The teacher’s job is neither merely to impose the curriculum uniformly nor to accede to individual student preferences, but to mediate between the two so that students both deepen and broaden their understanding within the framework of the mandated curriculum.
The goal is to increase understanding and to diminish ignorance.2 One way to do that is to expand the boundaries of what students know and can do; that is, their competence. Another is to expand their awareness of the existence of that which they do not (yet) know and cannot (yet) do; that is, their awareness. Both increased competence and increased awareness represent learning. Lacking competence in some area is unfortunate but potentially remediable, whereas lacking awareness in some area is tragic because students are then blind to what is possible and dangerously presumptuous about their prowess. If we don’t shine a light in unfamiliar corners and lead them out of their comfort along surprising pathways then we are not truly educating them, we are merely indulging their interests. Ultimately, of course, we hope students will develop the curiosity and the courage to forge new pathways into the unknown, perhaps discovering new passions that they had not previously imagined.
Students should be given much more choice in how they learn and how they demonstrate their learning, and they should also have some more choice in what they learn – they should definitely have opportunity and support to discover and develop personal passions – but teachers and parents also need to exercise their responsibility for expanding the boundaries of students’ inclination and shining a light as far as possible into the infinite ignorance that surrounds their, and humanity’s, current knowledge.
Sometimes what students don’t know they don’t know is what they most need to know in order to enable them.
1 This was the mission of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek TV series, which was intended to capture the pioneering spirit, not only physically but also intellectually.
2 Type One Ignorance is what I don’t know. Type Two Ignorance is what I don’t know I don’t know. The former is finite and the latter is infinite.
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A Co-Planning/Co-Teaching Approach to Instructional Practice
Comments Off on A Co-Planning/Co-Teaching Approach to Instructional PracticeTeaching can be a very isolated and isolating enterprise. Many of the teaching frames, images and design principles on which our modern-day schools are based are, themselves, rooted in the early one- and two-room schoolhouses that dotted the rural landscape of 19th and early 20th century Canada. The teacher-learner ratio has almost always been one-to-many and this organizational principle, coupled with the closely monitored grade level expectations that have become part of the way that curriculum is developed and implemented has, until now, remained unchallenged in any notable way.
Lately, there has been a great deal of energy in Ontario around an approach to professional learning that seeks to extend images of teacher collaboration beyond gathering together to plan lessons and assess student work with a grade level partner to an understanding of the classroom as a type of public space where teacher learning, collaborative inquiry and professional conversations can take place.
While currently, the co-planning/co-teaching model is being used to build more powerful practice in the area of mathematics instruction, it is a model that shows a great deal of potential for transforming school cultures, open some doors, and energize conversations between teachers across many domains and curriculum areas.
In the co-planning/co-teaching approach educators from across the same school, across the street, or across the district gather together to plan a particular lesson. In the planning process, learning expectations are selected and clustered around the big ideas that teachers wish to explore. Teachers discuss the subtleties and nuances of how the lesson might best be taught, select a problem on which students will work and actually do the task themselves in order to better appreciate what they are asking students to do. This allows teachers to anticipate and discuss the types of difficulties, misunderstandings and misconceptions that might arise during the lesson.
If the collaborative process were to end there, and individual teachers were sent back to their classrooms to implement the lesson, one might well marvel at the power of the experience.
But that’s not what happens. Instead of the planning team disbanding and going their separate ways until their next meeting, they proceed immediately to one of the team’s classrooms and teach the lesson with a group of students. Actually, two of the team members are responsible for “teaching the lesson” while the remaining participants attach themselves to a group of two or three students and act as unobtrusive observes watching, but not intervening, while the assigned tasks is completed.
The conversation that takes place among the team after the co-teaching session allows them to reflect on how the students reacted to the experience and the specific work in which they learners were engaged. They are able to use the student work collected from the lesson as a type of assessment for learning, make decisions on how to proceed with specific groups of students and plan for the next stages of the lesson.
It’s interesting to note that the co-plannng/co-teaching approach is not about visiting someone else’s class to watch them teach. Instead, its a commitment to gather around a particular curriculum idea, an understanding that the shared expertise in the group will help to create a powerful learning experience and the confidence to engage in shared, embedded, professional practice.
Teachers don’t enter the profession to be isolated and shut off from their colleagues. Yet, many of the visible and invisible structures define schools–even in this 21st century–do just that. Co-planning/co-teaching seeks to alter this relationship by deepening what we mean by collaborative inquiry and student-focused teaching. It’s a model that is just starting to seep into the cracks that separate teachers in our own district, but it is showing a great deal of promise and meeting with tremendous support from teachers, administrators and the support staff that are working in consultative roles throughout the province.
A fairly extensive set of videos explaining the approach can be found at http://resources.curriculum.org/secretariat/coplanning/ and, although the main focus for the strategy in Ontario is mathematics, readers may be able to imagine how the co-planning/co-teaching dynamic might find a home in other curriculum areas.
I would love to hear about your experience with this particular approach, or with another model for collaboration that has been powerful for you and your colleagues.
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Cdn EdWire – The Impact of Funding Shortfalls Felt in Saskatchewan Schools
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Full-day kindergarten not on provincial agenda – Saskatoon Star-Phoenix
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Democratic Deliberation – A Basic Skill for the Future
Comments Off on Democratic Deliberation – A Basic Skill for the FutureIn 1651 Thomas Hobbes famously asserted in Leviathan that without a “commonwealth” based on a “social contract” the world is a jungle “where every man is Enemy to every man … wherein men live without other security than what their own strength, and their own invention, shall furnish them.” He argued for a strong central government to counteract man’s fundamental nature—I presume he meant hu-man nature—and contended that without it life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
Was Hobbes right? Can a society thrive only if its members’ basic instincts are constrained by external forces so that their higher ideals and collective potential can be realized? If so, what scaffolding is required? Which of our basic human rights are inalienable and what constraint on the others is justifiable, if any? In a more positive vein, what about our interdependence? Clearly, as Hobbes’ contemporary John Donne commented in his Devotions,[1] “no man is an island” and connection only increases as numbers crowd Spaceship Earth, but does this mean that we must be “our brother’s keeper”? What is our responsibility to others? Do we see collective “peace, order and good government” as the ideal, as stated in the Canadian Constitution, or is it individual “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” as stated in the American Declaration of Independence? Does an excessive focus on our personal liberty lead us towards the Tragedy of the Commons?[2]
These are examples of fundamental, recurrent questions that underlie our response to critical social issues such as public safety, healthcare, education and environmental protection. Such starkly phrased choices are, of course, more properly expressed as complexly nuanced dilemmas, but at the heart of things there are some foundational decisions to be made about what we believe and value, and those decisions determine who we become. But the issue is not merely personal, it is also political, and the collective answers inevitably and inexorably shape the society we create. If one abstains from the public discussion of this issue then the ability to decide it is ceded to the most fervent and their answers will be the ones that determine the sort of world in which we will live. This would not be wise!
In order for students to be prepared not only for the future but also to forge that future, they must have opportunity to engage with such foundational questions in age appropriate ways so that they, first, realize that they are questions and that multiple responses are possible, and, second, develop a conscious personal point of view on them. Then they have to learn how to deliberate respectively with those who hold a different point of view.
This is a critical aspect of becoming “educated,” not simply absorbing answers that extinguish perplexing questions but developing the ability to engage continuously with them and to deliberate with others in order to understand their perspectives and thus develop the “commonwealth,” or “social contract,” that enables society to flourish in a diverse and finite world. This is essential for democracy.
Unfortunately, this democratic inclination and deliberative ability seems to be in decline. Increasingly we see polarization of views and vilification of those who disagree. More and more people seem to hold the fundamentalist perspective that those who disagree with them about taxation or education or drug abuse or climate change are not only mistaken but evil.
It’s not “this is a complex issue upon which we disagree and about which neither of us has total insight so we need to learn from each and work together to resolve it,” but “I’m right and you’re wrong so I need to vanquish you in order for the right to triumph.” American politics has fallen deeply into this dysfunctional pit of arrogant, implacable advocacy in which compromise is seen as weakness and Canadian politicians seem to be increasingly adopting the approach. It seems to win elections but it is a selfish, short-sighted strategy that also creates a great danger for our country and for the world at large.
What we need is just the opposite—a democratic hospitality to difference. The knowledge, skills and attitudes that enable respectful democratic deliberation are arguably even more basic and essential than the traditional 3R’s. What good is powerful literacy and numeracy in a self-absorbed bigot?
Some would say that it is not the job of schools to teach values but surely nobody would argue that it is not the job of schools to teach democratic ideals, skills and behaviours. This is not a matter of indoctrinating students with any particular viewpoint or belief, but it is a matter of developing their skills and dispositions, and it is a matter of inculcating the value of respectful engagement with differing or unfamiliar viewpoints and beliefs. It requires the humility to know that you may be wrong and yet the courage to be appropriately assertive in support of what you believe. It is a matter of developing a deep keel rather than an anchor.
As we add “new basics” to the list of 21st Century Skills, this is one not to be forgotten. We allow democratic deliberation to continue to decline at our peril.
[1] “No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.” Cited from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditation_XVII
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Aboriginal Education
Comments Off on Aboriginal Education(Note: What follows is a letter I wrote to Laura Tait, District Principal for Aboriginal Education in Nanaimo School District, BC, after meeting with her the other day.)
Dear Laura,
This morning I came to you with some questions – questions that have paralyzed me for the past five years.
About seven years ago, during my first year of teaching, I had a conversation with a colleague while carpooling home one day. Tom asked me what was my big goal – my big motivation for teaching.
“To make things better,” I said.
“What does that mean for you?” Tom asked.
“Well, for one thing, I think it’s crazy that we teach an African Lit unit in English 10. Why are we teaching African Lit when we don’t even teach a First Nations’ unit? Why are we doing fancy ski trips but not cultural exchanges with some Aboriginal kids up North?” At the time, at my school, I couldn’t identify any Aboriginal students in my school. The next year administration told me I had one student who self-identified as one-quarter Aboriginal.
I grew up in Squamish and, while my formal Aboriginal education has some gaping holes, I had learned enough to know that just because we didn’t have many Aboriginal kids in our school didn’t mean we should ignore the fact that there are Aboriginal kids in our province and that we share a history with Aboriginal peoples (except that my understanding of it being a “shared” history is a result of my learning from you – I wouldn’t have framed it that way before).
On a personal level, I also felt compelled to educate my students about Aboriginal history. Before I was born my aunt was adopted into her best friend Rose’s Haida family – so Rose became my Haida auntie. Having a relationship with Rose both directly and indirectly through my blood-aunt made Aboriginal education a personal and deep moral imperative for me. I saw how my race, my colonizer race, affected Rose’s daily life. During her cancer treatment she endured the most abject racism from our medical community, our political system, and some of the business community.
So it was with my good intentions and naivety that in my second year of teaching I jumped into a lesson on residential schools with my grade 10 English class. My students reacted with horror, sympathy (not empathy) and, most unfortunately, an anger and resentment at the “white guilt” this history brought up for them. I found myself back-peddling, scrambling to salvage the situation. That was the last time I attempted any formal Aboriginal education. The fear of doing it wrong again, as I clearly did that time, paralyzed me.
Then I saw you speak at the NOII seminar last year and I felt, once again, that urgency I had shared with Tom.
A year later and here I am. Heading home on the ferry after spending time in conversation with you in Nanaimo.
I am a changed person. Having moved forward with my own learning today, I am ready to move forward with my students.
Today you gave me a safe place to ask my questions. Questions like,
- How can I talk with any authority about Aboriginal issues and history when I am not Aboriginal myself – and, maybe even worse, when I am a member of the colonizing race?
- What do I do when/if my students respond with anger and blame?
- How do I do Aboriginal education right?
Even now, only hours later, I can see the bias in my questions. When I asked you these questions, you didn’t point this bias out. Instead, you validated my curiousity and honoured that my questions came from a good place. You also asked me questions in return and pushed me to make my own meaning from your ideas and experience.
Here is my learning from today:
- I can’t speak “for” anyone but myself – nor does anyone want me to. I don’t need to be an authority on Aboriginal education – I can learn alongside my students.
- It isn’t my job to teach students what to think – nor do I want to – but it is my job to teach students how to think for themselves, how to critically engage with Aboriginal texts and ways of understanding the world.
- It isn’t Aboriginal history that I should teach – it’s our shared history as British Columbians and Canadians that I need to make students aware of and help them engage with.
- When students respond emotionally to Aboriginal themes, I should deal with their reactions in the same way I do when students respond emotionally to any subject in my class including sexuality, sexism, violence, injustice, etc.: I should help them understand their responses by teaching them how to be reflective.
- I am doing Aboriginal education “right” if I am reflective and doing it with moral purpose and to the best of my capacity – which is as “right” as I can teach anything, ever.
- That I don’t need to go immediately for the jugular (i.e. introduce students to the horrors and tragedies of residential school), but that I can introduce students to Aboriginal writing and texts and help them develop their own inquiry around those texts. Inevitably, some students will investigate themes of suffering and healing and in this way the class will learn about residential schools and colonization. However, other students might investigate themes of resilience and hope – also important themes. To do what I did – which was hammer them with what I thought was most important – totally missed the point because in so doing I ignored the multitude of other aspects to Aboriginal education.
Today you walked beside me in my learning; this is what I want to do for my students. I couldn’t walk beside them when I felt paralyzed… but now I’m moving. After a long hiatus, this journey will continue.
Thank you.
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Cdn EdWire – Edmonton ‘Zeros’ In On Grading and Assessment Practices
Comments Off on Cdn EdWire – Edmonton ‘Zeros’ In On Grading and Assessment PracticesZeros for missed work unfairly skew grades: education experts – Edmonton Journal
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Professionals Don’t Use Marks to Motivate
Comments Off on Professionals Don’t Use Marks to MotivateRecently a teacher in Alberta was suspended for giving a student a zero. There followed a lot of weak analysis by the media and emotional commentary by the public, including other teachers. Lots of heat was created but not a lot of light. So far I have found it, for the most part, to be a depressing example of our inability to hold a thoughtful discussion in the public sphere.
So, what is the issue here? The teacher’s suspension is irrelevant. That was for insubordination—failing to abide by the duly created policies of his employer—not for giving a zero per se. One could inquire as to whether due process was observed but that’s not an educational issue, it’s a matter for the HR department and it’s not really an appropriate topic for public debate.
The educational issue, which really is a good topic for public discussion, is whether giving a student a mark of zero for work that is late or not completed is something a competent professional teacher would do. The answer to that question is clearly No. A teacher who understands assessment and who is committed to the best interests of students would not do that. You can contend that its “tough love” or that you are preparing the student for the “real world” but these arguments are red herrings. Its not that students should not be prepared for the real world or that they should not learn that their actions have consequences, but misusing marks is not the way to go about it.
Assessment is intended to provide students with feedback about what they know and what they do not yet know. Assessment is not about reward and punishment. It is not a motivational tool. You shouldn’t get marks for trying hard, or being a great person, or complying fully with your teacher’s expectations and you shouldn’t lose them for being offensive or absent or even lazy. You get marks for what you know, pure and simple. If a student knows absolutely nothing at all about the required content, then give him or her a zero. Otherwise don’t.
Now if a student does not hand in his or her work, what should a teacher do? Well, the logical thing is to say, “I can’t tell what you know or don’t know so I won’t give you a grade.” (Actually, the policy in most schools is to give a grade of “Incomplete,” which means just what it says and gives you something to put on the report that is informative.) Without a grade, of course, the student cannot complete the course so now he or she has a choice. Do the work and demonstrate what you know or take the consequence of not getting a grade—which is the same as failing, but if that happens it will now be clear why it happened and what it would take to change that.
Giving a zero for any other reason than having evidence that the students knows nothing at all is foolish and confusing. It mixes up motivation, which is important, and consequences, which are also important, with assessment, which is about determining what a student does and does not know. Marks should not be used to either reward or punish. They are not a sort of currency that students earn for their efforts.
Of course, there is a long history of teachers using marks in this way. The twisted and antiquated logic of that practice is deeply entrenched in habit for some people, but that doesn’t make it either right or reasonable. Full disclosure; forty years ago when I started teaching I thought this was logical and fair too. But the educational world has learned a lot since then and so have I. Now we know that there is a much better way. The fact that this has been common in the past is no reason to carry on making the same mistake forever. It’s the educational equivalent of snake oil.
Changing this bad old habit is not a matter of pandering to a student’s self-esteem or lowering standards to make sure they don’t fail, its just a matter of thinking straight and of learning from the best practices of others. There is abundant research and classroom experience to show that intelligent assessment practices are extremely effective in helping students learn,[1] and there is no research, only folklore, to suggest that using marks to motivate or control is educationally effective.
Of course, this approach is more work than just writing kids off, but is that a good reason to keep doing it? It means that those teachers who have been using marks to control student behaviour will have to figure out a better way to go about it, and its about time they did. It also means that teachers will need to explain themselves to parents, which is what many educators have doing for the past decade while assessment practice has been one of the primary topics of professional learning in education. Hopefully, when the smoke clears on the melodrama in Alberta, there will be even more of that.
[1] See, for example, http://weaeducation.typepad.co.uk/files/blackbox-1.pdf
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What Students Say About Inquiry
Comments Off on What Students Say About InquiryLast week I reflected on my experience with inquiry in my English 8 classroom. This week I turn this space over to my students who want to tell you what inquiry is like for them. The following reflection was co-written by James Telford, Nathalie Joyal, Andrea Camarena, Nina Gous, Michael Ji, Chaissan Ashcroft, and Alex Wagstaff.
What is inquiry-based learning like?
So far this year we have done several inquiry based leaning [sic] questions. We have enjoyed how using inquiry has made us think deeper in the article and lets us take our learning into our own hands. Some people can’t control themselves because of this independent learning and that hinders others who can. On the other hand this format of learning is more flexible and allows you to learn in your own ways. Inquiry allows deeper connections and thought processes towards the curriculum. A more structured question limits our personality in our work. On the other hand this work can become more challenging because you are playing the part of the teacher and finding the specifics of your question. There are many different ways of looking into inquiries.
We believe that one of the most effective ways to approach an inquiry is to gain knowledge from books and websites. There are always differences between each inquiry and each perspective so all the outcomes will be different. Everyone also has a different way of representing their [sic] findings, which can make more or less of an impact. The inquiry style of a project allows for more maturity from the student/students. Overall our opinion on an inquiry-based project is that while it is exhausting, the finished product is always worthwhile.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Grade 8s! To give the readers some idea of what kind of “product” we’re talking about here, one group agreed to let me post their video which they created in response to their inquiry, “How do people find happiness in the darkest of places?“
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Cdn EdWire – Gay-Straight Alliances in Catholic Schools Debate Heats Up in Ontario
Comments Off on Cdn EdWire – Gay-Straight Alliances in Catholic Schools Debate Heats Up in OntarioDalton McGuinty tells Catholic church he’s in charge of schools – Toronto Star
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Motivation and Mastery – Listening to Student Voices
Comments Off on Motivation and Mastery – Listening to Student VoicesA sense of emerging mastery of the craft of teaching—and consequently of making a positive difference for students—is one of the primary motivating factors for teachers, but with a process as complex as teaching and learning the definition of “mastery” is necessarily convoluted. Moreover, the impact of teaching on students is often delayed so evidence in the form of student development is seen best—and sometimes only— in hindsight. With important aspects of the evidence of impact being subtle, hard to define and slow to emerge, teachers often use immediate student response as their real time feedback.
This is natural and appropriate, but also laden with pitfalls. Student experience is subjective and as dependent on the student’s personal perceptions as it is on the teacher’s actions. Moreover, student expectations and preferences may not coincide with the teacher’s mandated role in relation to the curriculum or the operational requirements of the classroom. Similarly, what teachers hear and see is inescapably selective and their subjective interpretation of it may be either defensive or rosy.
Nonetheless, listening to the “student voice” is a logical and potentially insightful way to monitor the teaching and learning process and to determine how the students’ experienced curriculum relates to the teacher’s intended one. In fact, since students’ perception is their reality, the student’s own voice is the only way to tap into it; all else is projection. So how does one listen for the student voice? This may seem obvious, but it is not, and there is nothing automatic about it. Just as astronomers have to construct the right kinds of telescopes to detect the types of electromagnetic radiation that contains the information they seek about the universe, so teachers need to be very intentional and strategic in their listening.
Exams are one legitimate form of student voice but they are circumscribed by what we ask and the student voice that comes through them is suppressed and/or distorted by the anxiety they create. In any event, exams occur after the fact. While exams are both necessary and useful, what teachers really need is ongoing feedback.
This feedback should relate to both the teaching-learning process and its consequences. Process feedback is a critical supplement to formative assessment, which tells us about outcomes but not about experiences. It is important to understand not only what students are thinking but also what they are feeling and how engaged they are in their learning since this is the source of the outcomes upon which formative assessment is focused.
Understanding what students are doing, experiencing, thinking and learning requires that the teacher reach out actively to create an interactive classroom dynamic that may not only be unfamiliar to students but directly contrary to their previous experience. Reconstructing the student-teacher relationship as a partnership within which there is such a dialogue may not be easy for either party since it involves unlearning some deeply rooted assumptions and habits.
A partnership with students does not make life easier for a teacher. Indeed, it may complicate things, particularly if what students have to say is not what is anticipated. Some may mistake the invitation as a request for praise while others may take it as an opportunity to vent. Some may be so externally focused that they find it difficult to monitor and/or express their own thoughts and feelings. It will take time for students to find their authentic voice, and for the teacher to learn how to listen objectively, interpret wisely and respond constructively to it.
One way to start is with end-of-lesson or end-of-day responses. Of course, this is only a transition towards more ongoing and embedded feedback, but it is a good place to begin and a useful practice to sustain even when the student voice becomes more ubiquitous. This could be done in many different ways, but some generic steps towards a “closing thoughts” mechanism might be:
- Share Your Intentions: Tell students what you are trying to do and why. Share with them some of the complexities and acknowledge that this may be unfamiliar for them, as it is for you. Invite them to be co-conspirators in the project.
- Provide A Scaffold: Use a variety of strategies to enable students to participate anonymously. This might include such things as exit slips, one-minute essays, 3-2-1 responses and so on. Include invitations to comment on big ideas, lingering questions, surprises, satisfaction and disappointment, hopes and fears, suggestions etc.—but only one or two of these on any particular occasion. The exact method is not as important as it being simple, short and open-ended so that neither student nor teacher experiences it as a burden.
- Report: Every time you do this, close the loop by sharing a brief informal synthesis of the input you receive, your reflections on it and what, if anything, it has suggested you might continue, enhance, change or eliminate. Include individual comments and suggestions illustratively if appropriate but sparingly. Honour and respect everyone’s input, don’t slight some by highlighting others.
- Repeat: It will take time for students to understand, trust and become proficient at this process. Do this regularly so that it becomes a natural part of the classroom process and not a special event, but vary the format so that it does not become perfunctory. Manage your expectations. Look at it from the studemts’ point of view. Modify the process as you learn about it. Celebrate emergent success. Stick with it.
The purpose of such a process for activating the student voice is to obtain useful feedback to assist the teacher in knowing that what s/he does is experienced as helpful by students and thus in developing a sense of emergent mastery that motivates and sustains. Professionalism is defined not by the perfection of generic techniques but by a constant focus on specific individual student experience, a commitment to optimize it and the willingness to engage in continuous self-critique and growth for that purpose. Thoughtfully enabled student voice may be the most meaningful source to inform the teacher in this quest.
Previous Post in This Series: Motivation and Mastery – The Problem with Deferred Data
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Learning through Inquiry
Comments Off on Learning through InquiryAwhile ago… a long while now… I posted about how one day I walked into my English 8 class, looked at my students and, feeling suddenly inspired, asked them what they wanted to learn. After much discussion, they came to the consensus that they wanted to learn “how people find happiness in the darkest of places.” So we did.
(Photo Credit: Milos Milosevic. 2010.)
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Setting the End of the Year Awards Table
Comments Off on Setting the End of the Year Awards TableThe piece below was written back in 2009 for Education Canada. It represented an attempt to open up conversation about the gap between what we say we value in education and what we actually seem to hold in highest regard. As annual awards assemblies appear on the horizon in schools and districts across the country, I wonder if we’ve made any changes to the guest list at the annual awards table. I would love to hear your stories about change in this regard. S.H.
“I have a confession to make.” I stood at the podium at our recent Grade 8 Commencement Ceremony, preparing to announce the recipients of the Academic Achievement Award in Mathematics. “I’ve never won an award in my life.” The reaction from both the students and the audience was mixed. Some smiled empathetically, others looked at each other, wondering where I might be going with my comments. I think I even heard a couple of gasps, but that may have been just my imagination. I continued, “In fact, the real irony of this moment lies in the fact that I did very poorly in mathematics as a student.” I went on to share that I had failed most of my high school math courses and didn’t really develop an understanding of numbers and their relationships until I began teaching.
“Today, I love the study of mathematics. In fact, I am currently reading a book on the history of mathematics and another on the study of algebra.” And with that personal introduction, I proceeded to announce the names of the student in each of the three Grade 8 classes who had achieved the highest academic standing.
Now, before you jump to the conclusion that I’m pushing an anti-academic agenda, let me reassure you: I believe that success should be recognized and celebrated. I also believe, however, that we are at a point in our educational reform conversation where we are going to have to start taking a serious look at some of the practices and traditions that have been dragged down through the history of schooling – practices and traditions that have been long accepted as a natural part of this place we call school but may, in fact, be working against what we want to be achieving and celebrating in the 21st century.
If we wish our schools to be places where civic literacy, creative collaboration, critical thinking, and a passion for learning are developed and nurtured, then one of the areas that might need our attention is the part of our system where awards, rewards, and incentives are introduced and framed. Awards assemblies, honour rolls, and commencement exercises still have as their main focus academic achievement, with the most prestigious awards going to those students who score the highest, not necessarily to those who have developed the deepest understanding or those who have diligently struggled with concepts and ideas. I haven’t been part of many awards ceremonies that have recognized risk-taking, mistake-making, or bright ideas. I haven’t seen many students walk across the stage as teams of creative collaborators. And, although I am witnessing some promising practices in areas related to civic engagement and recognition of world issues, I think that more time will pass before serious awards for this type of awareness become part of mainstream graduation ceremonies.
So, in an effort to engage my own school community in a conversation about how we might begin to make some change in this area, I have been thinking about some new awards that reflect some of the things that we say are important to us as a system. There is room for fine-tuning, but these suggestions may get our conversation going:
- The Cutting Edge Award: Presented to the student or group of students presenting the most innovative solution to a curriculum-based problem.
- The WOW Award: Presented to the student(s) who consistently demonstrated and communicated a fascination with the wonder and beauty of the world around them.
- The Connections Award: Presented to the student or team that was able to make deep connections between two or more concepts studied.
- The Outreach Award: Presented to the team of students responsible for independent design and implementation of an effective community service project.
- The DOT Award: Inspired by Peter H. Reynolds picture book, by the same name, presented to the student(s) who have been successful in recognizing and nurturing potential and growth in another student.
A few challenges become apparent when you start to play with tradition. In looking back at my proposed list, the big questions that emerge have to do with the development and communication of suitable criteria, as well as the appropriate application of those criteria. Clearly, the list of awards described calls for some new thinking on the part of educators, parents, and students. Each of the suggested awards calls for approaches to teaching and learning that deeply embed and honour habits of mind, attitudes, and skills that have generally been given only superficial attention in our curriculum design. We will have to build plenty of opportunity for what we are honouring to become part of the day-to-day activities of our classrooms and our schools.
In the beginning, we will need to be very explicit about the new additions to the awards agenda and what really counts in each category. In the end, I’m hoping that innovation, collaboration, and a sense of awe will hold as much status and prestige as achievement in mathematics, science, and history.
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Cdn EdWire – School Closures Dilemma in Hamilton
Comments Off on Cdn EdWire – School Closures Dilemma in HamiltonCC Photo by: That Canadian Grrl
Board decides new high school will replace three in lower city – Hamilton Spectator
Costs, empty seats behind plan to build new high school in lower city to replace aging buildings -
Lunch and Learn
Comments Off on Lunch and LearnLast Friday I brought soup to school, set up my crockpot in a small office off a colleague’s classroom, made sure that the ladle, napkins, a fresh baguette, and a bright Provencal table cloth were within easy reach, then hurried off to my classroom to teach. Three classes later the bell rang for lunch and I joined my students in an exodus into the hall. I jumped over a tangle of legs from grade 9s who always congregate in the narrowest part of the hallway to dine on sandwiches and leftovers. I zigzagged around a colleague having a stern talk with a student who I assumed had just been caught throwing a basketball in the cafeteria. Then, just as the East wing came into view my principal appeared out of nowhere with a solution he’d thought of to a timetabling nightmare we’ve been wrestling; I kept walking, nodding at him in relief at his ideas. But I had things to do. I had to set up the table cloth, put out the bowls, and arrange my colleague’s classroom into an oasis of calm and conversation. It was time for our third Lunch and Learn.
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Photo by: mharvey75 http://www.flickr.com/photos/mharvey75/374461497/
Last month I felt despairing about my work climate. BC teachers are in the midst of an ugly job action situation. The conversation in the staffroom often tends toward depressing and stressful themes around withdrawing extra-curricular activities, the public’s perception, radio talk show callers, and our rights as workers. I was relaying the effects of this mood to Lynne Tomlinson and she asked what I wanted to do about it. The solution? Create a place for conversation about the one thing that gets every teacher I know excited and engaged: learning.
The next day I invited my colleagues to join me over soup at lunch hour to discuss just that and I asked them to RSVP with the word YES if they wanted to come. I felt nervous: would they all smirk at my eagerness? But then the most amazing thing happened; there is something profound about seeing the word YES as the subject line to about a dozen emails in an inbox.
I felt relieved and heartened. So far there have been 3 Lunch and Learns. I started the first one with no agenda, an open mic sort of approach. As a group we decided that we’d like to ground our future conversations with an article or some research. So far the articles and discussion have leaned toward the importance of self-regulation and caring for motivation, engagement, and learning. For this week’s conversation the group wants me to bring in something around the idea of building resilience in our learners.
Last Friday’s Lunch and Learn ended with some laughter and a sense of renewal. I looked around me as we re-arranged the chairs and tables and folded the table cloth; I was struck with a sense of hope and anticipation for what is next.
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If It’s Good Enough For Our Early Learners…
Comments Off on If It’s Good Enough For Our Early Learners…Consider the following description of one of the most popular and most powerful learning spaces in many kindergarten classes:
A popular learning center for early childhood classrooms is a housekeeping center. To create a housekeeping center, a teacher sets aside a certain area in the classroom to create a setting that may resemble students’ home environment. The area is filled with familiar materials, furniture, and tools. Objects that are not so easily recognized may also be included. The students are given the opportunity to work in small groups in the space to learn to manipulate and properly use all of these tools. They will often use a trial-and-error method to complete their task until they are successful. In this setting, students informally learn how to interact socially and learn about the processes that occur in a household environment as well as the workings of household tools. (Retrieved from https://uni.edu/, April 29.2012)
Now, take a look at the key principles that ground the In At The Deep End approach, the core of the Musical Futures program referenced in my last entry:
- Learning music that students choose, like and identify with
- Learning by listening and copying recordings
- Learning with friends
- Personal, self-directed learning
For me, the only real difference between what happens in the informal learning environments that define high quality early years programs and the environments being nurtured by approaches like Musical Futures is age. In a typical kindergarten class, the range of students is somewhere between 3 and 5 years. Musical Futures was designed to engage the imaginations of young people from ages 11-18. And research is showing that the principles and approaches that allow us to create rich and effective learning environments at the earliest stages of schooling are also proving to be just as applicable and just as effective in the later stages as well.
So what is true about this type of learning that contributes to its power? For me, one of the most obvious features is connected with the level of choice that is woven through the experiences. At both the house center, and in the MF “deep end” project, students are given the freedom to choose roles, materials, and relationships. While there may be some limits placed on each of these, the ultimate choices are worked out as part of the group interaction. The choice and the ability to make some important decisions become key components in the learning dynamic.
The second feature of both learning environments is the ability to play around with ideas and situations that they have encountered previously. There is no pre-defined right or wrong approach or strategy. (You won’t find the term best practice in either situation.) Instead, imitation and a spirit of working it out in a play-based context are really the key to learning in both scenarios.
The social nature of the environment is also key to successful learning. In both the house centre and the musical combos formed in the MF program, the ability to play off one another is crucial. The importance of interaction with and feedback by friends has been identified as an essential component of learning by many, including Lorus Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emila approach, who went as far as identifying peer influence as a “second teacher”.
Finally, there is a sense in both situations that the learning is participant-driven. Listen in on a group of kindergarten-age children negotiating meaning and direction and you have a snap shot of just how capable they are of assuming responsibility; it’s often more than we think of giving them, isn’t it?
I’ve learned that the same can be said for adolescents. We often assume that young people at this age need to be directed, controlled and surveilled if they are going to “learn”. Projects like Musical Futures are beginning to challenge that common sense by opening our eyes to the incredible degree of focus, dedication and insight that students can bring to their learning when given the opportunity to participate more in creating the work through which they learn.
Since my last post, I’ve received responses from Canadian teachers who have embarked on similar explorations into informal learning. I invite you to let us know about how you are playing with the teaching and learning structures in your own classroom or school. I would also ask you to consider some of the ways in which you could imagine integrating a more informal approach to learning into your own practice? Do the principles outlined here resonate? Could you imagine an area of your program that might be enlivened and deepend by an informal approach?
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Cdn EdWire – Inclusion and cyberbullying debated in the Maritimes
Comments Off on Cdn EdWire – Inclusion and cyberbullying debated in the MaritimesAutism advocate questions ‘extreme’ inclusion model – CBC
Inclusion in the classroom ‘simple,’ says educator – Western Star
Nova Scotia to table online bullying bill – Canadian Press
As money moves west, empty schools on the rise in Atlantic Canada – Globe and Mail
More P.E.I. aboriginal students graduating than national average – CBC
OTHER NEWS
Bullying: Parents and educators shouldn’t panic about an ‘epidemic,’ some experts say – Postmedia
Special needs students may get break on high school credits – Toronto Star
Vancouver school board to vote on classes with aboriginal focus – Vancouver Sun
Aboriginal graduates aim high – Edmonton Journal
Centre High says 40% will head for collegeSchool librarians bearing brunt of cuts to education, advocates say – Canadian Press
Researcher offers simple step to identify anxiety in children – Vancouver Sun
Awareness can prevent later problems in life such as depression, drinking or smoking, UBC professor saysParents of kids in alternative programs to pay more for public school busing – Calgary Herald
Classroom assistants respond to education industry demands – Globe and Mail
Toronto District School Board to allow 430 laid-off education assistants to retrain as early childhood educators – Toronto Star
Should Teachers Be Trustees, Too? – The Tyee
New Westminster parents’ council wants teacher trustees to stay out of classrooms or stay off school boards.Ban on Gideon Bible handout at public schools sparks torrent of hate mail – Toronto Star
Critical thinking, not facts, the focus – London Free Press
What the #!%*? Home-school protest rises in Alberta over updated Education Act – National Post
EDUBLOG HIGHLIGHTS
Beyond Student Engagement: Achieving a State of Flow – Edutopia
Think about a time when you were really engaged in something, the kind of engagement where you lose track of time and experience feelings of joy and satisfaction. You may have felt acutely focused, physically, mentally, and emotionally absorbed in a task. I’ve felt this most often while writing, reading, teaching, and coaching — always signaled by the moment when I notice the clock and, feeling dazed, wonder where the hours have gone. The feelings are pleasant and there are always outcomes, a chapter written, or a complicated dilemma unraveled, for example. It wasn’t until I heard about the work of the Hungarian psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, that I learned that this notion has a name: Flow…Read moreToo Big for Your Britches – Ideas and Thoughts (Dean Shareski)
I’ve always felt this and certainly have experienced it, but as I’ve had the privilege of seeing a lot more schools and school districts up close, it’s become evident to me that size is a real enemy to innovation. Change is difficult for any organization and education is particularly difficult because of its systematic problems and tensions as a public sector institution. But there is an inverse relationship between the layers of bureaucracy and the ability to innovate and change. I won’t pretend that’s a particularly profound or new realization but when I look at those pockets of change, it seems that it’s often a result of fewer hoops to jump….Read moreRethinking the Traditional Conference Model – The Wejr Board
I have described before how my learning has been greatly impacted by social media… but I have to admit, although I was inspired at the conference, I was also very frustrated. After 3+ years of learning alongside others through Twitter and blogs as well as participating in 2 Edcamps, I have learned the importance of taking the time to reflect and engage in powerful dialogue around ideas in education. The schedule of this conference was similar to every other conference I have attended: keynotes and number of sessions compressed into a few days (although this conference had more “famous” speakers than any other I have attended). The problem I have with this format of session 1, session 2, session 3, session 4 is that there is no time to reflect and discuss the HOW’s of education- HOW do we take the ideas of these thinkers and create change in our schools?...Read more -
Musical Futures: Can an informal approach to learning breathe new life into our schools?
Comments Off on Musical Futures: Can an informal approach to learning breathe new life into our schools?The moment that the members of Ms. Shelby’s grade eight homeroom filed into music class on the first day of school this past September they knew something was different. Instead of the pictures of the musical masters–Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert–that had adorned the walls of the music room for as long as they could remember, they were greeted with posters of recording artists that they actually knew and loved. Instead of a front blackboard covered with musical symbols and images of orchestral instruments, there were photos of recording equipment, sound boards, microphones and modern day band instruments. And instead of chairs organized in an orderly fashion facing a perfectly centered conductor’s stand, stools were gathered in smaller circles around the room, each one complete with its own combo kit: an electric guitar, a set of electronic drumpads, a bass guitar, and a keyboard.
Ms. Shelby waited while the scene was absorbed by the arriving students and then she announced, “This year, we’re going to take a different approach to our music classes.”
There are two basic assumptions that most of us make when we think about learning to play music. The first is that an effective music program must be based on explicit, scaffolded instruction. The second is that an effective music program needs to be led by a highly trained, professional music teacher.
Both of these assumptions are currently being challenged by a new and dynamic approach to music education that turns the pedagogical underpinnings of traditional approaches and flips them right on their ear! Musical Futures was born in the UK nearly a decade ago, and is rooted in the understanding that, despite growing disengagement among adolescents in many aspects of their lives (including school), music represents a universally powerful and natural form of engagement and connection. Students between the ages of 11-18 demonstrate both an affinity and passion for the music of their lives and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, based on research by Professor Lucy Green, set out to try to understand and leverage that!
Musical Futures is based on the belief that the most accessible way for young people to learn music is by being involved in actually making music. Instead of spending hours of talking about theory and history, or instead of learning an instrument in a formal, rather lock-step fashion, Musical Futures puts modern musical instruments into the hands of students and gives them the opportunity to immediately begin playing, creating and re-creating the music of their lives. A powerful experience!
Instead of beginning with the “classics” and moving towards more modern forms of expression, Musical Futures begins where the students live and breathe–in their own musical world–and gives them the opportunity to learn how to play that music in a collaborative, informal, yet supported, environment.
Musical Futures begins by putting the actual instruments used to create the music to which they listen into the hands of all students and sets them to work. Beginning with music that they select themselves, small groups of students learn to listen carefully to its component parts and then attempt to replicate it using the materials provided. Other than an introduction to the equipment being used, students receive no formal training on how to play their instruments or read music. In fact, just like any language, students begin by listening, and imitating, not by reading!
For a variety of reasons, many of our students have been left on the sidelines when it comes to quality music experiences in their schooling. In some cases, program cost has been seen as a barrier; in other instances, a lack of music specialists have prevented music cultures from taking root in many schools. At a more personal level, a significant number of students grow up believing that actually learning to play music is beyond their capabilities.
Again, the Musical Futures approach seeks to challenge these beliefs and dispositions by taking a different path. And, given the fact that 1/3 of high schools in the U.K. are implementing an MF approach, there’s reason to believe that the challenge is working!
Furthermore, it looks like Canada could be the next country to attempt to shift thinking around what music education could look like for our young people. For the past year, Dr. Ruth Wright, Chair of Music Education at Ontario’s Western University has been working with a dedicated team of colleagues and local educators to bring the MF way of thinking to schools in the London region. Dr. Wright is hoping to set up several more pilot sites throughout Ontario for September 2012.
Musical Futures not only challenges the way that we think alternative ways of engaging young people in the learning of music. The pedagogical shift necessary to successfully implement the MF philosophy has potential beyond the world of music education. What other aspects of our approach to practice might be disturbed by allowing the power of informal learning to breathe some life into the rather formal halls of this place we call school?
Next: What exactly do we mean by informal learning?
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Increasing Student Learning
Comments Off on Increasing Student LearningFor many years now, the research around teacher quality and student achievement has been unequivocal. In fact, we now know that teacher quality and effectiveness is the single most important determinant in student learning. It is no secret that what a teacher knows and does matters.
While observing teacher practice over the past 8 years as a school administrator, what is coming clear to me is that one of the differences in teaching practice that defines quality teaching and student learning is the nature of lesson design. In fact, I have observed two distinct types of lessons; those that effectively promote interaction and understanding of new information and those that follow the “tell and do” method. In my observation, one method leads to a deeper and more thorough understanding, and one leads to listening and task completion. In thinking about your own practice, or classes you observe, what do you see?
Teaching for Understanding
When teaching for understanding, lesson design is critical. We know that certain types of learning tasks lead to student engagement, but it is also critical to incorporate these tasks into well designed lessons.1. The first part of a well designed lesson is the Introduction. This is often short, orients the student to the purpose and is a chance for the teacher to find out what the student already knows. Tasks often associated with the introduction are questioning designed to link to prior knowledge, KWL charts, viewing pictures, charts, or video clips.
2. Following the introduction, students are given the opportunity to talk and discuss. Usually this would happen with a partner or a group of 3. This is the students opportunity to talk about the new information and often find out more information. This could be an assignment of sorts; perhaps students would work with a partner to find information, answer questions, or analyze information. This is the where the teacher roves the classroom, gathering evidence of what students are learning.
3. Following the partner work, the teacher would call the students back to the whole group to provide more information. This part of the lesson provides the learners with further opportunity to extend knowledge. Learning tasks may include opportunities to predict, summarize, clarify, compare and describe new information. During this part of the lessons, teachers observe their learners closely to determine levels of understanding.
4. Feedback or Feedforward is now used to enhance learning. Teachers most likely will ask students inferential questions designed to move their learning forward.
5. Following all of the above learning tasks, finally, students are ready to show what they know. Teachers who practice differentiated learning know that this is the step where students can show their learning in a number of ways. The list of ways is endless and extends far beyond paper pencil tasks. To really show their learning, students must be involved in authentic tasks. It would be impossible for every student to demonstrate their knowledge in the same way as every other student in the class. It would be even more impossible to discern a students level of understanding through some sort of teacher or pre-made worksheet type of a task. The learning students are asked to demonstrate here must be directly linked back to the purpose that was identified in step one. For example, if the purpose of this lesson was to learn that that sun is the center of the solar system and planets rotate around the sun, here is where students demonstrate what they know.
6. The final part of the lesson is student reflection. Students are taught to self evaluate on questions such as; What did I learn?, How did I show what I know?, What do I still want to learn.
By following the steps of strong task design, students are learning and teachers are teaching for understanding. Students are thinking about, talking about and interacting with new information. This type of task design is quite different from Tell and Do.
Tell and Do
Tell and Do Lesson Design is often designed to tell students new information and then have them complete an assignment, It usually involves the following steps:1. You Sit While I Tell: The first part of the lesson often includes students sitting and listening while the teacher tells them all of the important information they require to complete the task. It is often referred to as a lecture. Depending on the complexity of the information, this telling can often last an hour or more. Students are expected to sit and listen during this part of the lesson, sometimes they are encouraged to jot down important bits of information. Sometimes students are given the opportunity to ask questions.
2. The second part of the lesson includes the student doing the task. Often each student has the same task and it is most often a teacher or publisher created task. Usually it is a pencil paper task and it is very difficult to modify except to make it shorter for those students who find the workload too heavy. I have observed teachers working at their desks during this part of the lesson. I have an occasion heard teachers tell students that if they had listened better to the Sit and Tell lecture, they would find this part of the lesson easier.
3. The final part of this lesson includes students handing their work in for teachers to mark. Usually students leave their papers in some sort of “in-box” and are dismissed to recess, or their next class. Often times students who did not finish in class are asked to take their work home to finish it.
What I have observed with this type of lesson design is a significant reduction in student learning. I have blogged more about this in my post “Just Because You Said It, Doesn’t Mean They Learned It” but the basic premise being that unless students can link to prior knowledge, generate, create, discuss, find purpose, incorporate their learning styles, work with peers, reflect, think critically, infer and reflect, they are not truly learning and the teachers is not teaching for understanding.
* Robert Marzano and his book The Art and Style of Teaching have had a significant influence on my information and understanding in student learning.
For more great reading visit my personal blog at: www.attheprincipalsoffice.com
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Quality Music Education: Never Say Never
Comments Off on Quality Music Education: Never Say NeverThis is a cross-post of a piece that I also published on my personal blog, Teaching Out Loud. As arts consultant for a large Ontario school district, I believe that quality arts instruction can go a long way to creating the engaging and relevant environments that we want for all of our students. This is the first in a series that explores what is happening in terms of promoting arts education in Canada and around the world.
When my wife and I sat down with our two boys last weekend to watch the Justin Bieber film, Never Say Never, I suspect that none of us reallly knew what to expect. For my wife and I, it was a movie about a teenage heartthrob and, well, just how interesting could that be? For my five year old, it wasn’t the movie that he chose as we scrolled through the Netflix menu and for Liam, my three year old, there was no apparent sign of animals in the movie trailer. How good could the film be if there were no animals?
We’ve now seen the film twice and both times all of us have been totally engaged in the life and music of this young Canadian musician.
For me, my interest quickly moved beyond an appreciation for just how talented Justin Bieber is to an appreciation—no, a fascination—for just how pervasive and important the experience of music is for young people. To see hundreds of thousands of adolescents (and my own two children) singing and dancing in ecstatic unison to the rhythm and melodies of Justin’s music caused me to think of several things.
First, if I had taken my own music lessons a little more seriously, perhaps I could have been on that stage at Madison Square Garden!
Second, music has always been an important cultural marker in the development of virtually every civilization, in virtually every time. It is a universal language of communication.
Third, music is an important, if not essential, element in both the individual and social lives of young people today. It has the power to draw them in, hold their attention and allow them to connect with ideas, issues and other people.
Fourth, music has tremendous expressive potential. Beyond the goal of entertaining others, musician-artists use their work to explore the world around them, walk around problems in a creative way, present solutions and new possibilities.
Yet, despite the universal power and importance of music in the lives of human beings, we spend very little time and money ensuring that our students leave school with an understanding of music, let alone an ability to use the language with any level of proficiency. Instead, quality music education, particularly in the earlier years of one’s schooling, is often left to chance, local resources, or the passionate advocacy of individual teachers or parents. While curriculum documents can mandate fairly robust music programs, effective implementation is often left to chance.
Students tell us how important music is to them every day of their lives. They come to school each day listening to it, sometimes two students sharing the same set of earbuds. They turn on their devices at lunch time to share and talk about the latest songs they’ve downloaded. And as they leave the schoolhouse at the end of the day, the earbuds once again appear, ready to accompany them on their journey home.
We often fail to see that the very language that connects young people to each other can provide us, the adults, with a very powerful way of connecting to them. And that’s significant.
But beyond the potential for connection, we owe it to our children to ensure that quality music education is part of our transformational vision of the 21st century school. You know, on the one hand, we talk so much about the need for engagement, for integrated learning and project-based experiences grounded in what is real and relevant to students. We talk about a meaningful place for the technology and for opportunities to teach collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. And then we ignore some of the most obvious ways of getting to those things!
Music education, if done right, can contribute to all of this, and in a way that would have the students cheering for an encore. I know that and I suspect that many of you know that as well. I’m not suggesting that our aim should be to create more Justin Biebers. At the same time, however, continuing to sideline something that is so obviously important to young and old alike just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
There are some jurisdictions around the world that are beginning to understand this and operationalize this understanding in very concrete and exciting ways. But before highlighting some of the practices and programs that are beginning to emerge, I would love to hear your stories about your own music education.
In your own schooling, what was your experience of music? Did you have a teacher that turned you on to the power of music in your own life? Did you participate in a choir or band at some point in your school story? Perhaps you were one of the many who were advised to just “mouth the words” at the annual spring concert. Perhaps you had a love of music, but never really learned to put that passion into practice. Or perhaps you were part of a music program that changed your life and gave you the wings to fly into a musical career.
Your stories are important and always lead to further discussion!
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