Before anyone gets offended, let’s reflect on the nature of teaching in the traditional sense. It often involves the delivery of information by a single individual. Only ONE person, whether it’s the teacher or even a chosen student in class to read aloud, work a problem or model a skill, is fully engaged. What is happening with the other 29 in the room? Can we know as teachers that the rest are engaged, attentive and learning something? What and where is the evidence?
The passive nature of teaching as I wrote in an earlier blog is the main cause. Look, teachers can sing, dance, stand on our heads, do the best John Keating/Robin Williams inspirational impression we can, but at the end of the day, WE are the ones who are fully engaged. We are the ones talking, showing, working, moving, and being completely engaged in the information of the lesson. What about the students? How do we find and measure engagement?
We try to find it. Many of us stop and ask questions. But how many of us ask the same students most of the time to respond? Some of us ask students for a sign of attentiveness, like a head nod or a thumbs up, but does this really give us any tangible data to use in order to measure learning? So many of our students, and this is especially true in middle and high school, can easily hide everyday in the classroom and do a great job at faking their learning. If I am a quiet and compliant student who does my work without disrupting class, things will be fine. They sit and appear to listen, complete a worksheet or set of questions, and move on to the next day. Compliance is not learning.
A far worse side effect of teaching not being engaging is seen in those students who aren’t compliant and hide in their learning. They are most likely so bored with the same old work that they have no other recourse but to become a behavior problem. That only leads to even more issues, not only for the teacher trying to manage a classroom, but for the students who have been disengaged and unchallenged for years now not learning anything because what was being asked of them was to sit, be quiet and work. Work that did not seem relevant or much of a challenge in the slightest.
What’s the solution? Quit teaching and start designing. Design the learning to include opportunities to collaborate, tasks that make learning visible, dialogues surrounding the material, and practices that promote mutual accountability to each other and not just the individual. Learning takes work ahead of time. It takes preparation of tasks, attention to detail, consideration of pitfalls, and many other things. The great thing you get in return in the classroom is a lot less work on your part as a teacher because the learning has been handed over to those for whom it was meant for in the first place, the students. Questions? Comments? Write in or post!
