Rationale for Building a Democratic Classroom
I don't think there are any doubts that if students are involved in the creation of classroom expectations, the compass that guides and directs them will be more intrinsic, and therefore, more effective. However, I have found that simply starting with, asking students to author 'rules of engagement' becomes, in their minds, just another classroom activity in which they pretty much establish the same rules that have been established in other classes. What they don't really address is the underlying reasons for those parameters and promises.
That is why I came to realize that a much longer conversation is critical, one that needs to address primarily 3 questions:
1. What is it that needs to be in place for me to learn?
2. What are characteristics and approaches of teaching from which I learn best?
3. What is the purpose of public education?
When students discuss and share the various aspects of what it is that helps them learn, they come to realize that the list becomes very diverse and contradictory. For example, one student needs noise in order to concentrate while another, complete silence. Once the need to address diverse needs within a community is exposed, we brainstorm ways to maximize all learning needs in that environment. For example, if there is the need for silence to concentrate, then the classroom needs to be silent for that learner. That is why side conversations, tapping of pens, etc. are issues that need to be addressed when we envision the classroom that promotes all learning. Perhaps, when working in writer's workshop, iPods can assist all learners, one who needs noise to concentrate and those who might play soft instrumental music as a sort of 'white noise' filter. One child likes to curl up into a small space to do his work, while another needs a larger, well-organized space at a table. We brainstorm ways those spaces can be created in the space we have; ways to honor everyone's learning needs and ways we might need to compromise our own preferences in light of the needs of others.
When we discuss teaching and what skills, approaches, and presumptions best help learning, again, we have a pretty reasonable list. Humor usually tops that list, so we discuss humor, in particular, sarcasm and how we must insure that everyone feels safe in order to insure that no one is hurt or humiliated. Most students will identify that they like to discover things for themselves and appreciate teachers who give them time and space to do that. We contemplate the nuances embedded in these discoveries such as how much time is enough and how much time is too much.
As the list is created and the discussion evolves, I ask the students to compare the characteristics they have listed for a good learner and a good teacher. What they come to learn is that the lists are interchangeable and we talk about how we are all learners and we are all teachers and at any given moment we may be called upon to be one or the other or both.
Perhaps the most revealing, and I think the most important conversation, revolves around what they believe the purpose of public education to be. I get the usual answers at first: to get good grades, to go to a good college, etcetera. So, we push past this and consider what happens after high school or college? Why was public education created and mandated by our country? How is it tied to continuing our democracy? Our economy? Our way of life? This is a real eye-opener, but absolutely essential in order to move my students from a 'me' perspective (my grades, my success, my good job) to a global 'we' perspective (our democracy, our economy, our community, our country, our world).
From those conversations, each class is asked to envision the type of classroom that honors all they have identified to be important in their classroom. Then, each class authors an assessment tool that is used each quarter to reflect and assess their own personal contribution to creating that classroom. Each class authors a 'Bill of Rights' or a list of promises that they believe will help to create that imagined classroom. Additionally, they brainstorm a list of adjectives that they would like others to use when describing that classroom, adjectives that honor the beliefs and desires they have discovered along the way, not to mention their unique personalities.
This takes all of August and much of September to accomplish. I teach language arts, so in the process we talk about language, word choice, and ideas. We model note-taking, drafting, revising, editing, revising, editing . . . and polishing. We are asked to step up to the plate and do work for the community. We are required to hold our own behavior and choices up to those we ideally respect and then reflect on how we can do it better. When a student interferes with our learning, we learn ways to address that (After a while, I don't have to - their peers will respectfully do it).
Finally, I believe deeply that all learning comes from intrinsic desire, not extrinsic devices. I believe strongly that extrinsic devices teach children that learning is not valuable, but that the pretense of learning is. I might get compliance when I offer a 'Jolly Rancher' for work, but I rarely get learning. That is why I do not promote any incentive programs within my classroom walls. I want the internal experience of doing hard work well to be their reason for working hard, not a pencil or prize. Instead, I will ask them first how they feel about the work they have done. I ask them to tell me why. They struggle a lot with this, as they are not used to placing value on their own work, in part, because our culture promotes the value of being humble and also because our current grading system teaches them that it is the opinions of others that matter. They often do not even know how to assess their own work. Doing so is a life skill, so, in my class they learn to reflect and assess and assign value based on evidence. They have already, through the conversations, identified what they value, so bridging that to a final “grade” is the next step. While I know that many of my students have struggled with the shift from traditional grades to Standards-Based Reporting (SBR), what SBR offers that grades do not is the identification of specific skills that are done well and specific skills in need of continued work. My personal hope is that we as a culture will get rid of grades, so we can focus on the learning, but that is still a few years off.
It may not be perfect, and each year I do it a little better, but it is powerful. The power comes from ownership and understanding and shared respect for one another.
The objectives of this unit of study are:
1. To introduce and establish classroom routines
2. To initiate writing
3. To initiate reading
4. To determine our purpose by addressing these 3 questions:
a. What is it that needs to be in place for me to learn?
b. What are characteristics and approaches of teaching from which I learn best?
c. What is the purpose of public education?
5. To author individual class Covenant of Behavior
6. To author / create an assessment tool to assess commitment to Covenant of Behavior and learning
7. To assess reading, writing, and learning
a. Purpose of Public Education Constructed Response
b. MAP testing
c. Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory
I don't think there are any doubts that if students are involved in the creation of classroom expectations, the compass that guides and directs them will be more intrinsic, and therefore, more effective. However, I have found that simply starting with, asking students to author 'rules of engagement' becomes, in their minds, just another classroom activity in which they pretty much establish the same rules that have been established in other classes. What they don't really address is the underlying reasons for those parameters and promises.
That is why I came to realize that a much longer conversation is critical, one that needs to address primarily 3 questions:
1. What is it that needs to be in place for me to learn?
2. What are characteristics and approaches of teaching from which I learn best?
3. What is the purpose of public education?
When students discuss and share the various aspects of what it is that helps them learn, they come to realize that the list becomes very diverse and contradictory. For example, one student needs noise in order to concentrate while another, complete silence. Once the need to address diverse needs within a community is exposed, we brainstorm ways to maximize all learning needs in that environment. For example, if there is the need for silence to concentrate, then the classroom needs to be silent for that learner. That is why side conversations, tapping of pens, etc. are issues that need to be addressed when we envision the classroom that promotes all learning. Perhaps, when working in writer's workshop, iPods can assist all learners, one who needs noise to concentrate and those who might play soft instrumental music as a sort of 'white noise' filter. One child likes to curl up into a small space to do his work, while another needs a larger, well-organized space at a table. We brainstorm ways those spaces can be created in the space we have; ways to honor everyone's learning needs and ways we might need to compromise our own preferences in light of the needs of others.
When we discuss teaching and what skills, approaches, and presumptions best help learning, again, we have a pretty reasonable list. Humor usually tops that list, so we discuss humor, in particular, sarcasm and how we must insure that everyone feels safe in order to insure that no one is hurt or humiliated. Most students will identify that they like to discover things for themselves and appreciate teachers who give them time and space to do that. We contemplate the nuances embedded in these discoveries such as how much time is enough and how much time is too much.
As the list is created and the discussion evolves, I ask the students to compare the characteristics they have listed for a good learner and a good teacher. What they come to learn is that the lists are interchangeable and we talk about how we are all learners and we are all teachers and at any given moment we may be called upon to be one or the other or both.
Perhaps the most revealing, and I think the most important conversation, revolves around what they believe the purpose of public education to be. I get the usual answers at first: to get good grades, to go to a good college, etcetera. So, we push past this and consider what happens after high school or college? Why was public education created and mandated by our country? How is it tied to continuing our democracy? Our economy? Our way of life? This is a real eye-opener, but absolutely essential in order to move my students from a 'me' perspective (my grades, my success, my good job) to a global 'we' perspective (our democracy, our economy, our community, our country, our world).
From those conversations, each class is asked to envision the type of classroom that honors all they have identified to be important in their classroom. Then, each class authors an assessment tool that is used each quarter to reflect and assess their own personal contribution to creating that classroom. Each class authors a 'Bill of Rights' or a list of promises that they believe will help to create that imagined classroom. Additionally, they brainstorm a list of adjectives that they would like others to use when describing that classroom, adjectives that honor the beliefs and desires they have discovered along the way, not to mention their unique personalities.
This takes all of August and much of September to accomplish. I teach language arts, so in the process we talk about language, word choice, and ideas. We model note-taking, drafting, revising, editing, revising, editing . . . and polishing. We are asked to step up to the plate and do work for the community. We are required to hold our own behavior and choices up to those we ideally respect and then reflect on how we can do it better. When a student interferes with our learning, we learn ways to address that (After a while, I don't have to - their peers will respectfully do it).
Finally, I believe deeply that all learning comes from intrinsic desire, not extrinsic devices. I believe strongly that extrinsic devices teach children that learning is not valuable, but that the pretense of learning is. I might get compliance when I offer a 'Jolly Rancher' for work, but I rarely get learning. That is why I do not promote any incentive programs within my classroom walls. I want the internal experience of doing hard work well to be their reason for working hard, not a pencil or prize. Instead, I will ask them first how they feel about the work they have done. I ask them to tell me why. They struggle a lot with this, as they are not used to placing value on their own work, in part, because our culture promotes the value of being humble and also because our current grading system teaches them that it is the opinions of others that matter. They often do not even know how to assess their own work. Doing so is a life skill, so, in my class they learn to reflect and assess and assign value based on evidence. They have already, through the conversations, identified what they value, so bridging that to a final “grade” is the next step. While I know that many of my students have struggled with the shift from traditional grades to Standards-Based Reporting (SBR), what SBR offers that grades do not is the identification of specific skills that are done well and specific skills in need of continued work. My personal hope is that we as a culture will get rid of grades, so we can focus on the learning, but that is still a few years off.
It may not be perfect, and each year I do it a little better, but it is powerful. The power comes from ownership and understanding and shared respect for one another.
The objectives of this unit of study are:
1. To introduce and establish classroom routines
2. To initiate writing
3. To initiate reading
4. To determine our purpose by addressing these 3 questions:
a. What is it that needs to be in place for me to learn?
b. What are characteristics and approaches of teaching from which I learn best?
c. What is the purpose of public education?
5. To author individual class Covenant of Behavior
6. To author / create an assessment tool to assess commitment to Covenant of Behavior and learning
7. To assess reading, writing, and learning
a. Purpose of Public Education Constructed Response
b. MAP testing
c. Effective Lifelong Learning Inventory