I know, I know, it's April. Better late then never.
You could say my joy was born out of frustration. I have been trying to refocus students on learning this year, and really trying to push them to higher levels of thinking through a variety of methods (standards-based scoring, using technology, etc.) It's been an uphill battle, especially since my students have had 9 or 10 years of training in one of the best “learning-killers” of all—the art of compliance.
My students are the direct products of the so-called “factory model” of schooling, created when top-down bureaucratic school systems were merged with the science of efficient business management. They were taught to be good, quiet little citizens. Don’t cause trouble. Just nod when the teacher asks you a question, do the bare minimum of what the teacher asks you to do, and then we’ll all just get this over with. In other words, comply, and no one gets hurt.
This factory model has created students with a “git-r-done” mentality, students that only do enough to get by. It has created students that are comfortable with just getting by, because doing any more is very hard work. It has created students that know that, if they just skim the surface of knowledge, most teachers will think that’s acceptable and pass them along. You could say it has, in turn, created a “good enough” mentality amongst teachers. Nevertheless, this model of schooling has stifled any urge to know just to know, to imagine, to wonder. I’ve even seen what this factory model does to students described as “soul-killing.”
I’ve had a hard time this year trying to revive all of those souls.
I know it’s odd to complain about compliance; who wouldn’t want 28 politely quiet students that do just enough of whatever you ask of them 5 periods a day? But some teachers complain about students that constantly question them in class. These students question their authority, their credentials, even their knowledge of their subject. Those are the students that are labeled “disruptive,” and try and stop the lesson by daring to ask their own questions—questions that question what’s being spoon-fed to them.
These are the students that I would love to have. Because I would much rather have thought-provoking, student-led discussions where students are talking about a topic they find engaging and relevant than have one more day where I feel like there are 29 bodies in the room but only one very adult and very frustrated soul.
But my souls are coming back now. I could see that today. My students were generating their own lab questions around which to design an experiment. They were discussing, laughing, collaborating. I was patrolling, interjecting, giving feedback, making adjustments to their learning. It was the perfect teaching experience for me—students doing the work of learning, and me helping to guide that learning along the right path.
I can see that they are on their way to becoming learners, not compliant student-products pumped out by an outdated, outmoded, and obsolete educational system. I can see them coming out of their compliance, as some of them have started questioning some of the things I’ve taught them. And I am more than happy to argue with them.
I can see them becoming true learners, not just bodies marking time at one of my desks getting their schooling "done" for the day. This is what brought me joy today. A little late, but I’ll take it.