I have to say that in fifteen years of teaching, I have never been so blown away by a group of students! We have been reading excerpts from Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse as a supplement to our Social Studies unit on the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression. Throughout this reading, we have been examining her use of specific adjectives, adverbs and verbs as well as figurative language.
Wondering what kind of project to do with the kids to follow up, I brainstormed a few ideas, none of which hit me, spent tons of time searching the internet to be inspired and, unfortunately, came up with nothing that grabbed me .... which concerned me that, of course, it wouldn't grab the kids' attention, either.
Fir the first time in my life (and probably their's), I asked the kids ....
"So, what kind of project do you think we should put together to go along with this?"
Immediately, the air around us was filled with ideas and the one we settled on:
Writing a Drama! They want to research, write and produce their own drama!
I sat back listening to their discussions about what they could do ... and I realized the awesomeness of the activity fluttering before my very eyes and ears!
How much more authentic and engaging can learning be when kids are given the opportunity to develop their own ideas? WoW!
I.
Am.
Speechless!
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And THAT is a great example of what can happen when we begin seeing teaching as leading learning from behind rather than "delivering" kids all kinds of spectacular "activities" that WE learned about and created for them.
ReplyDeleteCan all learning be like this? Or do you think that at certain points we have to be more directive? What do you think? Something I wrestle with....
As much as I love that the kids have chosen their own destiny in this project, it is a LUXURY (and a privelege) that I have to work with an incredibly energetic group of young people who take learning as seriously as I do!
ReplyDeleteI think it is finding a balance between leading the stduents to what they need to know and letting them lead us in how they learn it that is the scientific art behind teaching ... one I happily practice daily!