To answer the other question on my Humanities 7 class moving to a
democratic classroom approach - this was a much easier transition
externally than internally. I had fairly recently taken a summer
school course in ESL certification which used constructivist practices
and finally helped me understand how that works and what it's about. I
had the benefit of kind and insightful mentorship from Mark Springer,
whose "Soundings" program at Radnor Middle School outside of
Philadelphia is a nationally recognized model. (He now has a book out,
"Soundings," published by the National Middle School Association,
which I highly recommend - or perhaps "A Reason to Teach" by James A.
Beane.). So I knew exactly where to start, I knew I had support down
the road, and I knew I had the support of our Academic Dean to go and
do it.
But it is really an incredibly scary thing to give up control of
content in a course. Would I come across as stupid when I inevitably
didn't know an answer? Would I be able to assess their work? What if
they didn't have any questions? What if the whole thing was a
miserable flop? What... why... how... Aaaaah?!
Answers to the above questions: when I didn't know an answer, that was
mostly beside the point because it was the students' job to find the
answers. I really did become a co-learner, and they respected that, I
think because I was actually showing them how I learn and how much I
love it. Also, of course, I was showing them I cared enough about them
to trust them to want and be able to learn. The process of going
through most units allows for assessing sources, and I would generally
be in close enough contact with them that I could see if they were
making information errors before they got to the stage of making a
presentation or handing something in. Things like sentence and
paragraph structure, logic and organization and the like, I discovered
I really could assess regardless of the topic. And worrying about
their not having any questions? That was the most pointless worry of
all. I think this year's class asked dozens of questions on the first
day before even getting to unit design, and they filled well over a
dozen sheets of chart paper with questions in about 15 minutes when we
did get to that stage of the process. So, not a miserable flop.
And where I got the courage to make the change? I believed in my heart
it was best for the kids based on everything I knew and read,
including research in support of the idea. I had always thought of
myself as being a student-centered teacher. So in my mind, it became a
test of what I really valued more, my own comfort or the students'
learning. So I held my nose, took a deep breath, and jumped.
I'm not saying this is the be-all, end-all model for teaching. The
students themselves have told me that they think the 2/3 balance
between student-designed and teacher-designed units is a good split.
But I am saying this has worked well for me, and for most people I
know who have tried it.
Again, if you have any follow-up questions, please let me know.
Take care,
Bill Ivey
Stoneleigh-Burnham School
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