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”.
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!)
posted by Lynette at
8:08 am
2 Comments:
Lynette;
In the U.S. we have a 33% dropout rate. Those are just the kids that have decided not to bring their bodies to school anymore. I believe there is a large percentage of kids who keep coming but have "dropped out" mentally. They are going through the motions and are not engaged.
On the other side of the coin, more than 30% of first year teachers leave the profession.
These statistics should give us reason to pause and evaluate if what we are teaching and how we are teaching is truly engaging our children.
I am going to draw cartoons for my blog over the next months. One of them will be kids shedding their superhero costumes as they enter the school building in the morning.
Just below the skin of the most jaded teacher is a person who really cares and wants to do the right thing. I believe we can tap into that sense of service, to create the changes that will improve the learning environment for kids.
Pete
By
Anonymous, at 28 November, 2006
I would like to re-ignite the passion of jaded teachers. (Some jaded teachers are the product of a system which keeps asking more and piling on the workload but never taking anything away. Overworked teachers become bitter and are no longer enrgised to create a "buzz" in their classrooms because there are a million other things sapping their energy).
I also see kids who have dropped out mentally every day (in Australia). Many of the students I work with don't see school as relevant when compared with the greater scheme of their life and everyday struggles (and I don't believe they are being provided with enough authentic experiences to become excited about their learniing).
I don't know our actual stats but we are also losing many first year teachers, either because of their inability to secure long term employment (many are on short term contracts, going from one site to another) or the relentless pressure of the workload. A wonderful teacher I worked with last term is now back working as a night fill manager in a supermarket because she could not secure a contract for term 4, and has considered leaving the profession all together despite her talent and skill, simply because she can not secure long term work. It would be a pity if we lost her.
There are deffinitely things that need to be addressed at a systemic level, and more needs to be done to to secure the services of skilled graduates (to ensure they do not become jaded through a lack of support and relentless workload).
I look forward to viewing your cartoons and finding something to spark our jaded teachers to engage students once again.
By
Lynette, at 28 November, 2006
Post a Comment
<< Home