On the student survey, we ask, “Was the way your teacher taught it different from your school?” While lecture is sometimes the most expedient way to get information into the students’ heads, we expect to see more than just lecture going on in GHP classes.
That is not to scare you away from lecture completely. Some of GHP’s finest courses have been lecture courses. But on the whole, the rubric to remember is that if you feel as if you’re working too hard, it’s probably because you are. Use delivery models that put the burden of learning on the student: discovery, read and response, abstraction/analysis/synthesis, etc.
As I observe you this summer, I do not necessarily need to see you standing and delivering. If I walk into your room and it looks as if you’re sitting in the corner doing nothing, that’s probably a good thing, as long as it’s obvious that the kids are deeply engaged and productive because of some switch you’ve flipped. One summer when I toured State School Superintendent Kathy Cox around the campus, in most of the classes we entered we didn’t see the teacher do anything. And it was fabulous.
We also ask the students, “Was the way the teacher(s) asked you to respond to it different?” and “Was what the teacher(s) expected you to do with it different?”
What does that mean? As an example, in a regular math class the student might be expected to learn a paradigm for solving a particular kind of problem, and then to practice that paradigm. At GHP, the student might be expected to develop a paradigm for solving a class of problems, or to be able to explain alternatives to the paradigm, or to create problems that would defeat the paradigm.
In music, rather than a goal of merely “getting all the notes right,” we could expect students to explore historically appropriate stylistic issues, or to be able to verbalize how their ensemble visualized a certain passage.
Ask yourself: when a student leaves my class, what should he be able to do that he wasn’t able to do before?
In comments, discuss things that you found to be clear or unclear about the differentiation of delivery and expectation of student response.
NEXT: Empowerment
Kids not need always finish. Delivery is communication of process, not just a polished product.
Posted by Jobie on May 9th, 2013.
I agree. The process of solving a problem or building a product is often more educational than the individual actions that create the actual product itself.
Posted by Henry Mei on May 9th, 2013.
This is what we aimed for in my previous 9 years at GHP.
Posted by Ben Crosby on May 10th, 2013.
I spent a lot of time last summer with my minors trying to make myself let them flounder, and run down dead ends, and reset. It was hard – I wanted to jump in and just DO IT. I finally found the “encourage and suggest” zone and watched them struggle, get frustrated or bored, and finally produce a great product.
Posted by Ryan T. on May 10th, 2013.
This may sound silly, but one thing I struggle with is what to do with myself while the students are engaged in non-teacher-directed activity. I mean I can bring a proverbial book, but I often just find myself wandering around in circles, seeing if anyone needs help (and no one does). Still, not the worst problem to have.
Posted by Daniel Glenn on May 11th, 2013.
Soc. Studs. need the freedom to express themselves and their opinions with acceptance if not agreement. Many classroom teachers want students too have the same opinion that they do–it’s not that way at GHP.
Posted by Kathy Holden on May 13th, 2013.
I’m interested in guiding the students to develop a systems-thinking approach in their research/discovery and analysis—driving the problem/inquiry based on their interests, and ideally leveraging a balance of their strengths and experimenting in areas where they are less skilled/comfortable.
Posted by Catherine Muller on May 14th, 2013.
One of my most important goals is to raise the level of fluency to the extent that students think and conjugate without hesitation in the target language.
Posted by Quique on May 15th, 2013.
I always like it when the students are so focused on their material that they almost forget that I am in the room. All I have to do is walk around and just enjoy watching them in the learning process.
Posted by Vance on May 19th, 2013.
My focus is on primary sources and developing relationships with professionals in the field for later communication.
Posted by Gini on May 21st, 2013.
Got it
Posted by James d on June 7th, 2013.
The fact that lab will be in an actual field setting alone will make this a challenge for students; in a classroom lab setting they would surely never get the “whole” ecological setting. This will be extremely engaging for them
Posted by Rebecca Potter on June 9th, 2013.
Echoing Quique, but also still pondering how to get kids who almost certainly still doubt their linguistic abilities to tackle relatively tough literary or historical content.
Posted by Jordan on June 17th, 2013.
When a student leaves my class they should understand the design process and be able to apply it to anything they want using the skills developed and the practice design work.
Posted by Hugh on June 23rd, 2013.