Become a Yoda

I have been tossing around ideas regarding student engagement of late.
Wara's response to my previous post highlights one of the obstacles: teachers

need to feel that they are in control of the situation...

Pete Reilly questions the opportunities for engagement offered within our schools:

So where in our schools and classrooms do our students get to be Hero’s? Where in school do they get some element of control? Outside of school they “ride the line” and “save the city”. They decide, they create, they act…

Inside the classroom, often, they are like fish out of water. I don’t know where I got the quote but this description of school is sometimes all too accurate,

“School is the place where kids come to watch teachers work”.

Wara suggested the following brainstorm question:

How do we create a situation or environment that is conducive to the buzz hopefully happening?

One answer is to relinquish control and allow students to take the reigns of their own learning. Become facilitators/guides/sages. I like the analogy of the sage (or Yoda figure) who quietly observes and then appears when needed to guide the hero on his/her journey.

We need to encourage staff to abandon their own agendas and allow the students to decide the course they will take, within agreed parameters.

We need to support staff to become confident enough within their own classrooms to hand the learning over to the students and relinquish their control. (Oh no what will they think of next!)

Passion/Intrinsic Motivation...The Buzz

Yesterday I found myself reflecting further upon the factors that contribute to learning successes and remembered a discussion I had with Wara earlier this year regarding intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. As educators we can use extrinsic motivators to encourage students to participate and persist with their learning. However, when a student develops an intrinsic motivation their own engagement in the work being undertaken and desire to persist does not need to be fostered by extrinsic means. When students become intrinsically motivated they become passionate about their learning. Intrinsic motivation is passion.
I see intrinsic motivation develop within my classrooms and often refer to it as a "buzz". When a kid becomes buzzed about their learning they drive their own learning. So the question then (and this is the vein of discussion I have had with Wara) is: how do you manufacture the BUZZ?
The discussion around immersion which Bill has linked back to a previous comment in which he sates: "The desire to master computers must come from within" refers to intrinsic motivation.
Through my observations students become buzzed when the learning is authentic and collaborative. I would like to explore further how to manufacture the buzz OR if it is something we can manufacture at all?

Immersion + Passion + Deliberate Practice = Success

I was attempting to respond to Graham Wegner's blog article which is a response to Bill Kerr's and encountered issues posting my comment. So I have blogged my ideas instead.

Talent is an interesting concept.
Below is a short history lesson with a point, please read on:
Stanislavski, a turn of the century actor/director, did not have natural talent . If he had his life long quest to develop a method for acting would not have been sparked. Stanislavski held a fundamental belief that skill, as a performer, was something that you could learn not just an arbitary, innate factor such as talent. He was dissapointed with the exisiting acting schools which could not provide him with a method by which he could develop his skill as an actor. Stanislavski strove to discover a system to train himself. Through his own desire to learn Stanislavki observed, experimented and participated in discussion around acting techniques. Stanislavski eventually became an accomplished actor. Through an attempt to analyse and monitor his own progress, development and learning, as an actor, Stanislavski developed the Method.
There is no doubt that Stanislavksi, who not having innate talent, learnt through immersion and consequently developed the skills to become an accomplished actor.
I think passion is an underlying factor. This sporns deliberate practice which is driven by an underlying desire to learn.

Immersion + Passion + Deliberate Practice = Success

With all this said there is no doubt that I see students walk into a drama room with that je ne sais quoi.

Poor Literacy a Risk Factor of Poor Mental Health

A recent US study has reported a "Higher Risk Of Suicidal Thoughts And Behavior In Poor Readers"

"In our study, poor readers were three times more likely than typical readers to consider or attempt suicide and six times more likely to drop out of school," said lead author Stephanie Sergent Daniel, Ph.D. "Educators and parents should be aware of the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior among adolescents with reading problems... students with poor reading skills were more likely to experience suicidal thoughts or attempts and were more likely to drop out of school."

If we accept poor literacy as a risk factor then literacy focusses/programmes also become preventative strategies of mental health issues in young people.