Could you relate to Don's story about giving his students freedom to decide what to study, but a majority of the students not knowing what to do? Have you given your students opportunities to have some freedom in your classroom? What about opportunities for students to be leaders? Or what ideas do you have for doing this in the future? Do you think freedom and leadership for students in your classroom will lead to innovation?
If you know of others who would like to participate in the book club, it's not too late. Just remind them to start with week one so we all have a chance to meet them.
For next week, please read the next chapter, "There Is No Plan."
Definitely can relate to Don's story. I can understand how he saw much resistance in a general classroom. Many times students want to just know what to do and how to do it. The necessity of the thinking process and developing thinking skills are lost on this type of student. If we had the ability to set up our own class roster through an application/interview process then we would be able to build a start to a great innovation class. Without this luxury, we need to build in the creative thinking and freedom. I feel some classes are easier for this experience than others. I hope to incorporate my old cereal box project into the the upcoming year. This project gives limited directions and some freedom. Just like Wettrick's initial group, students complain alot at the beginning but by the time they are finished with the project most have a sense of pride. I'm currently searching for more projects and ideas to try to incorporate into the classes next year.
ReplyDeleteI just experienced this "fear of freedom" at the end of the school year when the Pre-Calculus students had to create polar art work. The task was to create any design or piece of art using a certain number or polar equations, conic sections, or lines. The only directions for the project is that you have to use at least 6 different equations where at least 3 are polar, describe where the equations are in the design, provide the domains for the equations, and title each piece of art. Students could create abstract designs or try to make a picture. They could create anything. I had many students that did not know where to start. They wanted to see examples or have me give them ideas on what to make. I told many to just play around with the graphing program to see what they could make. Several students had to check in with me after every equation to see "if it looked right". I had one boy who dropped a letter grade because he said he just could not do the project. It was too hard to think of ideas. So he just didn't complete the project. Other students had trouble with the titles. Instead of picking a unique or creative name for their art, they wanted to name the pieces #1, #2, #3. For several students the polar art project was more stressful than the final exam because the project was more loosely defined then past assignments. Many of my students are motivated by grades alone. As long as they "do everything right" and earn the good grades, they are happy. They struggle when everything is not outlined for them.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to mention the TED talk that was discussed in this chapter. I had watched this video earlier in the year when I took a course through Five Star. It is a great talk that really makes you think about how we are all motivated to learn and work.
I wish our representatives at the statehouse would watch this TED talk. Tying teacher evaluations and salaries to standardized test scores, will not motivate teachers to work harder or cause them to be more successful. It actually will have the opposite effect and teachers will not perform as well. I like this quote from Dan Pink, "Those if-then rewards often destroy creativity...The secret to high performance isn't rewards and punishments, but that unseen intrinsic drive--the drive to do things for their own sake. The drive to do things cause they matter"
I know worrying about test scores does stifle my creativity and limits what I feel I can do in my classroom.
Although I do not currently have a classroom or students, I did facilitate a "disability awareness" group a couple years ago. The group was made up of eight 7th graders, and all of them happened to be in our honors classes, and we met once a week. The original purpose of the group was to educate them about the unique needs of a particular student in the group. However, the end goal was for them to create a disability awareness video to share with all of the middle school students. They created questions to ask their peers, identified students to interview, and recorded their interviews with iPads. Unfortunately, they did not take the final step of putting it all together for a final product. After reading some of the guidelines Don has for his students, I can see that I probably gave them too much freedom. Also, it was probably not a topic they truly had a passion to address, study or educate others about. This group of students loved talking to each other and they loved not being in the core skills or enrichment class I was pulling them out of. They were willing participants of the group, but a couple of the kids definitely took the end goal more seriously and did most of the work. Despite not completing the end goal, there were a couple of unexpected achievements. They all were able to participate in and successfully complete seizure training as the only students in a room full of teachers and assistants. Also, the parent of the student the group was built around shared that one day in class her son was having difficulty expressing what he needed to a sub. Another student, who was in the disability awareness group, observed what was happening and intervened with some support. His mom stated that she is confident this peer support would not have happened had the group not been formed, and she was thrilled that her son now had a peer group who understood her son and the impact his disability has on him in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how well this would work for 7th grade. We are ISTEP loaded and with so much pressure on testing it makes it difficult to take time away. I am interested in seeing how 7th graders would react to having total freedom. I think I might try to do some kind of project for my study skills class similar to innovation class but with a focus on basic passions that the students do on everyday basis.
ReplyDeleteRobert...you can still incorporate skills the students need while having them focus on their "passion project". You might have them make a budget for attending their favorite concert or theme park. How about a research project where they map out and budget their dream vacation? They would have complete freedom for the topic but you determine skills that they need. I would be happy to work with you to incorporate some library/research in the activity.
DeleteI often hear teachers talk about the pressure of ISTEP interfering with their ability to be more creative or innovative in the classroom. However, I think the way Don requires students to brainstorm at the beginning of the week and blog at the end of each week about their process already provides a means to improving ISTEP scores on the essay portions of ISTEP. It seems students who are brainstorming and writing regularly are less likely to freeze when expected to respond to essay or short answer questions on the LA, Science, and Social Studies portions of ISTEP.
DeleteI wonder if selecting key state standards we expect students to master within their projects would help them not only gain some life skills, but also some ISTEP skills. These standards could change with each new project to keep them thinking creatively and to increase the number of skills they master over the course of the year. I am not sure if I am thinking way too far out of the box or not, but it is fun to think about ways to implement Innovation Time in our classrooms!
Everything about public education seems designed to maintain the status quo: teacher pay based on a salary schedule, teacher contracts, state mandated standardized testing, emphasis on athletics, politician dictated school policy - the list goes on and on. I think it's safe to say everyone agrees that the public education system is not where it needs to be, yet achieving the cultural shift necessary to affect positive change is difficult to do “one classroom at a time”. In order to create a culture of innovation, we need to first create a broader culture that appreciates and recognizes the importance of innovation.
ReplyDeleteDon’t get me wrong, we can and we do make a positive difference in our individual students’ lives “one classroom at a time”, but in order to make the positive change necessary for public education as a whole, it will require all stakeholders to be rowing in the same direction at the same time. I look forward to the day when innovation in the classroom is no longer seen as innovative, but rather, the norm. Now that is what I call a “Culture of Innovation” :)
Moving to total innovation would be great, but in this day of politics driving education, I doubt that it will ever happen. I would love to see it happen, but will continue to focus on local innovation while hoping for global innovation.
DeleteI can personally relate to Don's story about students not knowing what to do when given freedom. I was a good (translate this as "compliant") student in high school, but I would have experienced difficulty in an innovation class.
ReplyDeleteAs an educator and a parent, I encourage more freedom in the classroom because I believe the concept improves students' skills that will benefit them far into the future.
I also advocate for students to have the opportunity to be leaders whenever possible...not just the academically or athletically gifted students. Allowing students to be leaders not only increases their responsibility/collaboration skills, it also makes them more compassionate and understanding when they interact with leaders.
I believe freedom and leadership can lead to innovation; however, I am also convinced that there are other key ingredients (adequate time/setting, clear expectations/guidelines, etc) to encouraging innovation in education.
I agree Keri..students need guidelines even when they are given freedom of choice.
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