Letting Go in the Classroom
By Rebecca Alber
10/6/09
When we consider constructivist teaching, or a constructivist approach to learning, what comes to mind? For me, I see Socrates standing not in the center, but to the side of his students.
I imagine him pondering their comments and questions, and carefully crafting questions of his own, which he contributes -- selectively. Most importantly, he doesn't lead, but follows the line of questioning of the students.
That's really what it's all about: being an questioner, an investigator side-by-side with your students. That doesn't mean we shouldn't have a solid lesson plan ready to go each day, but we should be ready -- and willing -- for the students to take the class into unchartered waters.
Let me give you an example from my own teaching experience. In an American Literature class I taught a while back, we had made our way through transcendentalism, stopping off at Henry Thoreau. Here, I had a few lessons on civil disobedience planned.
Day one, we watched a video excerpt on Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat, and read a passage from the play, "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail." We created a class definition for civil disobedience and then we began to brainstorm times in history when people had defied a law -- or should have -- for the sake of what was right and fair. My plan was for all this to lead to group projects and individual papers on specific historical acts of civil disobedience in the U.S.
Then, the students began talking about racial profiling and wouldn't move on. I asked questions to clarify. I asked more questions. At this point, I abandoned the list I had assumed students would brainstorm (the right answers), and jumped on board with the direction they were heading.
Mostly African-American and Latino, my students began sharing stories of racial profiling from their own lives, and the lives of their families and friends. My eleventh grade class, the one right before lunch, made it very clear that day that they wanted to learn more about their rights and protecting themselves the next time the police pulled them over for questioning for no clear reason.
Constructivist teaching relies on the learners bringing prior knowledge, or schema, to the table. I could have stopped the conversation and said, "Let's move on," (code for, "Let's keep going where I think we should go") but then I would have lost them. Every time I have white-knuckled it and pushed my agenda, the students respond like this: a heavy, collective sigh, and slumping of the shoulders. In essence, they give up and give in. Can you relate?
Teaching students in urban schools has an added challenge. Many students from families struggling economically have few college grads in their neighborhoods and families to represent the benefits of education. So, they often are hungry to know why exactly they are learning something and how it is relevant to their own lives.
Let's go back to that class before lunch. After we cleared away all the misnomers around what the police can and cannot do, we read, analyzed, and discussed the Fourth Amendment and habeas corpus, looked at national statistics on racial profiling, and turned to the ACLU for their expertise.
We ended those couple of weeks with a culminating project where students grouped themselves according to interest. One group made a brochure titled, "How to Protect Yourself When DWB (Driving While Black/Brown)." Another group created a presentation poster on the history and statistics of racial profiling. My favorite project was an instructional video for police officers on how to build trust with the community.
Need I say it? I was a learner along with my students during those weeks. The students schooled me. When was time when you let go and let the students guide the learning? Please teach us!
My name is Jennifer Grames. I am a grad student at Walden University. I have been teaching for 5 years in California. My school is amongst they first to be taken into SAIT status (closely monitored by the state). I have always thought of myself as a constructivist. I try to relate everything to the prior knowledge of my students. It makes for a more highly engaged class and it keeps me on my toes.
Unfortunately with the shift that we're experiencing at my school, teachers are being told to move away from this method of teaching. We are told to follow a minute by minute script and to not stray from it. I'm sure all of you have experience with the scripted language arts programs and the teacher modeled read alouds that we are required to do. "So, what do you think? Did we improve the sentences on the board? I am constantly amazed at how creative you are in thinking of strong verbs. I hope you are keeeping track of verbs in your Writer's Notebook you like to experiment with." Do you know how foolish I feel and how bored 6th grade students are when you teach like this? It really is doing a diservice to our students who no longer get the chance to think on their own. There is no more opportunity to to guide their education based on their interests. This would be considered off topic, and heaven forbid someone walks in whie you are trying to sneak something fun in!
I would really like to hear that there is good constructivist taching going on even if I'm not allowed. I still remember lessons from my middle school and high school years today that were guided by the students and molded into teachable moments by the teachers. The lesson for the day was taught and learned, just not always in the way it was meant to be. This is why teachers are highly qualified, so that we are prepared to make good choices for our students. We are not just well trained monkeys who read from a script--or are we?
Rebecca the rock star
Rebecca,
Great post. I’m going to university right now and I can’t help but notice the similarities between your thoughts and some of the strong ideas that are being taught through my class readings. Breaking away from the traditional classroom sense of learning takes courage and confidence. I like that you did this while teaching a lesson on civil disobedience. Gandhi would be proud. Pink Floyd said it years ago, “Hey teacher, leave those kids alone.” I agree that teaching students to think on their own should be the highest level of priority. We do not need students to be just, “another brick in the wall.”
Ownership in the experience of learning creates confidence and intrigue at all levels of the learning curve. In my opinion all people learn better through inspiration than force. So again I agree with you, why force the direction of the class, when if done correctly, you can be their tour guide. Way to be.
Justin Wieman
Hononegah H.S.
Rockton, IL
Letting Go
My name is Amanda Eineker and I am a graduate student at Walden University. I teach fifth grade and this is my first blog. I just read about building relationships in my course text and Rebecca Alber's blog "Letting Go in the Classroom". Kottler states that teachers need to be "relationship experts" (Kottler,Zehm,&Kottler,2005).I think Rebecca's method of letting the students' questions guide her lessons allows for her to build trusting relationships with them. I think there is a connection between student's self-esteem and learning. Therefore, if the student feels valued then greater learning takes place.
Reference
Kottler,J.A., Zehm,S., & Kottler,E. (2005). On being a teacher the human dimension. Thousands Oaks, CA:Corwin Press
Following students' lead
Rebecca,
I'm new to blogging. My name is Christine Wagner, and I have just started my Masters in Literacy at Walden University, an on-line program. Looking at blogs is one of my current assignments.
I enjoyed your image of Socrates standing aside, watching and encouraging the banter as opposed to orchestrating it. I love it when my own classroom takes on a fire of its own, though I haven't been as brave as you to follow completely. I would like to learn how to let go more than I do. When students make meaning learning really occurs. I do learn from my students as well.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
--Christine
Letting Go in the Classroom
Activating prior knowledge and relating subject matter to life experiences is perhaps the best teacher. More teachers need to "let go" in the classroom to let students know that he or she can relate to the teacher. When the student knows this, he or she will respect the teacher because of the mutual relation. Students gain a sense of belonging when they teach themselves through discussion and apply the lesson to life experiences. I teach seniors and have learned that by letting go, students will learn more and will enjoy the class even more when they know that what they think is important to the teacher and is a valuable asset to the lesson.
Letting Go in the Classroom response
Jeremiah Gray - Edison Elementary School
Indianapolis, IN
General Education - 5th grade
I love this post! Thank you so much for bringing attention to the importance of student interest in lessons. A topic that connects to students' personal interests and the challenges they face daily only increase student learning and engagement. Realistically, as adults, if we attend a conference or class that does not connect to our own personal interests, whether they be personal or professional, it can be difficult to gain sufficient learning from the experience.
I truly enjoy lessons that allow students to "go off the beaten track." In fifth grade, students are very willing to share their opinions and viewpoints, and I encourage them to share these. I use the Socratic method more than I even realize, challenging them to think beyond the viewpoints of others or society as a whole and to form their own opinions.
It can be hard, as a teacher faced with deadlines and student data expectations, to allow students to guide their own learning. However, it is important to keep in mind, that student learning is so much stronger and more meaningful if the students choose and guide their own learning.
I teach 3rd grade which is very different from high school, but I found myself having similiar experiences in my classroom. A few days ago, we were talking about what communities are and how we are contribute to our communities. My plan was for us to breeze quickly through this lesson but my students had another plan. We began our discussion with what jobs make up a community and they said the typical answers like police officers, firemen etc. One student talked about how they went to the food bank over the weekend because their mom and dad were laid off and they had to get groceries but had no money. I thought the conversation would have ended after his comment in silence but then my little third graders had a discussion fit for a high school classroom. They began talking about concepts like the injustice of how people can work more than one job but still not have enough money to pay bills and how some people can not go to the doctor because they had no insurance. I stood back and let them discuss these issues that are very real in their lives. I have to admit I learned a whole lot from those kids. They continued the discussion for 45 minutes, which in 3rd grade time is like a whole day! They never lost interest and when the bell rang for the end of the day most of the students went home and did research that they brought back. We continued talking about our community and all the resources available to the people in our community. I even invited some members of the community to come in and talk to the students. This short little lesson of 25 minutes turned out to be the best lesson of the year so far. The students reminded me of why I came into education in the first place. I loved seeing the spark in their eyes and their enthusiasm for learning more.
Reply to Letting Go in the Classroom
Through personal and social experiences I feel that students are actively involved in constructing their own learning. Which is what your students did for their projects, they had to gather their information, formulate opinions and solutions, and present the end product, in this way they were actively engaged in their own learning.
Students are not viewed as blank tapes to be filled up with the knowledge from a lecturing teacher, but they need to participate in their learning. Students are engaged in the active process of building on what they already know and can do.
The stories we learn to tell about ourselves and our world point to the true meaning of constructivism.
Motivating Students
Capitalize on students' existing needs.
Research says that, "students learn best when incentives for learning in a classroom satisfy their own motives for taking the class. Some of the needs students bring to the classroom are the need to learn something in order to complete a particular task or activity, the need to seek new experiences, the need to perfect skills, the need to overcome challenges, the need to become competent, the need to succeed and do well, the need to feel involved and to interact with other people. Satisfying such needs is rewarding in itself, and such rewards sustain learning more effectively than do grades. Design assignments, in-class activities, and discussion questions to address these kinds of needs. (McMillan and Forsyth, 1991)
These authors and their research findings are right to the point of the value learning has for students who are actively engaged. I completely agree with you, because from working in my 5th grade classroom daily I see this everyday.
By finding a way to challenge students that is relevant and interesting, you will hook them. By allowing them to have input in the lesson, by giving them a choice of projects, classroom assignments, and homework so they can have a stake in their learning outcomes.
Best Project
In my Honors English 11 class, we were nearly finished with 'The Scarlet Letter’. As we drew to a close it became apparent that the students were dissatisfied with the ending. I attributed this to what I call the “Happy Ending Syndrome” that has been perpetuated by modern storytelling. What interested me though is that through their own experiences, likes, and dislikes, they informed me of what they wanted their final project to be. Through a classroom discussion (completely unplanned and very compelling) they presented to me their ideas of how the book should end, and what they would do if they were responsible for the ending. One thing turned into another and as a group we decided that the final project would be for the students to write, direct, film, and present their version of a good ending for the novel. The results were amazing.
These students pulled together and created some very compelling endings. Some bordered on the ludicrous, but when this occurred it was a good mirror of the students, and their groups. They brought themselves to the project, and presented it for all to see. This project could not have happened if I weren’t able to alter my lesson plans, and if they weren’t comfortable enough with each other, and me, to deviate from the norm. This quickly became the most rewarding project that I had with this group, and I hope that they can say the same.