My last column bemoaned the 19th century factory model that still holds sway in our public middle and high schools. Students show up as products on an assembly line, undergo slight alterations at each station, then are sent down a long chute into the “real world” of college or the workplace. No wonder students tell me they feel like objects!
Although the ideal solution would be to change every school to conform to an entirely new model, there are still things teachers and administrators can do within the old model to make students feel like individuals and not car parts.
Students, no matter what their age, want to feel valued and recognized. The conveyor belt creates uniformity — a strength for factory goods, but inappropriate for human beings. Two examples from my own education come to mind.
In sixth grade, I was pulled from my classroom to be part of a three-hour lesson on weather. Had I ever shown an interest in science? No. Was I the smartest person in the class? No. But I was one of five chosen for this study.
We reported back to our class on cloud types and what they meant for weather. Decades later, I still remember cumulonimbus and cirrus clouds, parts of a lesson that labeled me “special.”
Similarly, in 10th grade several of us were pulled from science classes to study DNA. Watson and Crick had just won the Nobel Prize for their discoveries, and someone in my high school felt it was important for all students to know about DNA. We created drawings of double helixes and learned how to pronounce deoxyribonucleic acid, and were proud to introduce this exciting discovery to our classmates. I was interested in English, and not particularly “gifted” in science.
Yet I remember minutiae about DNA that I would never have absorbed had it been part of a regular class lesson. Children love feeling special; they also love small groups and reporting back to peers on something unfamiliar.
Every successful teaching technique I’ve used has been a variation of those moments. Small groups allow students the freedom to speak openly, without fear of group scorn. Being part of a “chosen” few heightens interest. When students believe something is offered for the sake of knowledge, and not a test, they absorb the lesson.
Other ways to pull students off the conveyor belt include allowing them to share in pairs, read aloud, post online on class blogs and speak freely in classroom discussion.
In the successful senior Advanced Placement course I helped create at Oakton High School, all the above were used to great effect. Our top priority was to make students feel valued and heard; when we “taught to the test,” we advertised it, and tried to convince students it was in their interest to test well. We never needed to convince them of the value of the not-to-be-tested portions of Senior Seminar. There are still more ways to make students feel like they’ve been singled out for the best education ever — even in a factory-model public high school. I’ll write more about that next week.
What kids are reading
This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories, including grade level, book genre, data from libraries and data from booksellers. The following list comes from the March 15, 2009, New York Times Book Review.
New York Times best-selling children’s series books
1. “The Twilight Saga” by Stephanie Meyer (Ages 12 and up)
2. “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney (Ages 9-12)
3. “House of Night” by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast (Ages 14 and up)
4. “The Clique” by Lisa Harrison (Ages 12 and up)
5. “Private” by Kate Brian (Ages 14 and up)
6. “Percy Jackson & The Olympians ” by Rick Riordan (Ages 9-12)
7. “Harry Potter” series by J.K. Rowling (Ages 10 and up)
8. “Inkheart” by Cornelia Funke (Ages 10 and up)
9. “Vampire Diaries” by L.J. Smith (Ages 12 and up)
10. “Night World” by L.J. Smith (Ages 14 and up)
