On Uniqueness and Freedom!

Much has been said for years and years about the uniqueness of the individual...but what about the uniqueness of a group of children who are a class? I was once the 'Oral English Teacher' in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade at a large private school in Asia. Many experiences there are engraved in my memory, but one that I remember frequently is discovering that each class has a personality. It's not that they are just all first graders...I had 4 first grade classes. At the beginning, I used to plan one lesson out for first grade, and then go out and "follow it" with each of the four classes. It seemed to only ever work beautifully with one of them...with the other three it was uncomfortable. Like wearing your older or younger sister's clothes. Never exactly right, although not blatantly wrong.

In a constant cycle of action and reflexion I discovered that each class is totally unique. What I did need to have was a common set of objectives for each grade, following a scope and sequence. But, the way I organized this for each class had to be different, with that group of little people at heart when I thought out the activities we would do and how we would practice what we had learned. If I had another group of little people in my mind and heart when planning...the result was never satisfactory.

Thank God the awareness of this has really stayed with me, as I realized gladly today. I was a little unsure of what the best next step would be with one of my classes. I have a very clear idea of the big picture, but try to adapt the little steps as much as possible to what I perceive from them. In this way the topics and the activities we do remain fresh and meaningful.

But, as I was uncertain of what to do I started to 'recycle' ideas... Hmmm, maybe I could do ..., that worked out so well with the other class. Or I could do .... (brilliant idea I had thought out for the other class.

Fortunately I didn't! I went ahead with the idea that I had uniquely thought out for them:

1. I asked the kids to organize themselves into four groups.

2. I gave each group a set of flashcards, each of which had a word on it.

3. I told the kids that this was a quote, and that I had not capitalized any word or written any final punctuation.

4. Instruction: Figure out the quote!

5. Then: Interpret. What does it mean?

6. How does this apply to "The Lost Symbol"?

Well, to answer this last question: A week and a half ago I gave the students the link to "The Lost Symbol" e-book version. They downloaded it and then made their own planes for how to accomplish reading the whole book in 5 weeks.

So..."fly your plan"... Are you flying your plan?

Beautifully effective way to have kids see where they stand with their own plans. No finger-pointing. No pressure.

Fostering of awareness.

Ebb and Flow...

Pulling students in and then letting them go...

From one day to the next the beauty and truth of this hit me. Not that anyone had talked to me about the great similiarity of students and tidal waves! Nope, self-discovery! The great thing is that I had a case from each of my two classes yesterday, and already today both of them came around.

Two boys. Teenagers...and very much showing signs of being immersed in this process. Attitude: Cool. Disengaged. Laid back. Both very intelligent but making a tremendous effort to hide it! I love them both. Behind the tough look they try to get on their faces are two very sweet guys.

But...they came in to class yesterday not wanting to do much. Character A comes in and is not showing the amount of interest I want him to, toward the class. I ask him to put away what he is fiddling with, and he roles his eyes at me. I ask him to step out and work outside...I've been putting up with this behaviour all week. I try to forget about him and then think that I do care about him and should give him another chance. But this was not to be. I go outside and what is he doing...? Having a splendid time chatting with boys from another grade. I try a third time when the class is over and he is obnoxiously playing with a sheet of plastic which he has over his mouth. End of story...

That is, until I change my attitude completely. I welcome him into class today. I tell his buddy which he is sitting with, "You were great yesterday, impress me again today!" (totally true, to my joy!). I hand this kid some construction paper to do the activity. I ask Character A about his topic. Although his responses are not highly satisfying, I carry on the conversation. He is undecided about what to write. I leave with my beautiful (and large!) stack of colored construction paper. I go on and approach several other groups, when Character A says, "Hey Miss, I want to do the activity, too! Could I have some paper?"...Oh course, honey! Ebb and flow.

Character B. When I used to do traditional classes, he would be highly disruptive to the development of the class. From the old choosing a point and then blaring "beeeeeeeep!" each time the teacher goes by it, to throwing stuff, bugging his partner... So, our classes nowadays a fun, meaningful and creative. We're doing all kinds of things...but to my amazement, the attitude persists! I hadn't done whole-group activities in a while, it's been all about small group or pair work for a while. But, I plan for a very fun activity: an action...students buy words. The idea is engaging, you see a word one the board and you offer money for it, the highest bidder gets it, if...he knows if the word is right or wrong and why. About 60% of the class was into it...the other 40% was made up of the less fortunate who had not found a way out of poverty...and the robbers! Yes, include Character B. Robbing the fake money! I didn't approve of it. Did a few things to prevent it, but when after being flexible and finding other ways to develop the activity it was sabotages also, I stopped.

"Guys, I am not angry. But, after trying several different things, this isn't working the way I would have liked. So, we're going to reflect on it."

The text on the board read, "How our attitudes in games reflect who we are". And so they wrote. Some enjoyed it more than others...

I asked Character B to stay a minute to talk with him. Smirk on face, "Well, I don't agree with that." His position: This is just a game. Of course I am not going to go out and steal. This was just a game. That's why I was stealing. And, there is a gleam in his eye showing how much fun he had at it! So, it was about finding sabotaging that much "cooler" and enjoyable than following the rules. Not about a traditional class or a "fun" class.

So, he walks in today. I got 90% of the rest of the class organized. I let him and a buddy do their own thing all that time. Then I get together to work with him. I joke a little, speak a bit of their language...and then, the minds were engaged!

Ebb and flow.

How old do you have to be to make a difference?

Nothing to do with age. Take Alec Greven, now author of 5 books, one of which is being published in 17 countries...he wrote it when he was 9 years old. What about Cecilia Cassini? She's revolutionizing the fashion industry...at age 10. And Sirena Huang? Delighting audiences with her incredible talent to play the violin...made her professional solo debut with the Taiwan Symphony Orchestra at age 9.

What is it that these three children have in common? They are prepared. They are knowledgeable. They are informed.

They didn't just have big ideas. They weren't opinionated.

They had a dream. They had an idea. They went out and learned and continue to develop.

They have something to give. They have cultivated themselves.

And so the world listens. And so the world pays attention.

If you can't go north, go east!

I'm ready to start my class. The video I want to show my kids is set, my plan is clear and my excitement high. This is going to be great!

The students start coming in. Slowly they start seating. When it seems they have found a place I make my first attempt.

"Morning guys!" Casual glances. Momentary interruption of conversations. Slight detachment from computer screens.

Second attempt: "Ok, so here's the plan!"

Third attempt: ---- abort plan!!!

What is it that I want? To show my students a video that combines the fronts we're working on. So, I just come to my computer and get the video going. No introductions. No guidelines.

Result? 18 pairs of eyes magically look at the board. Oh! It's Shakira. (Oxford Union speech...highly recommended). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yRm3GCZ2U4

Lesson? If you can't go north, go east! No need to get frustrated because you didn't reach your students verbally. Go for the visual approach! No need to follow your plan. Fulfill the objective.

And so we watched Shakira address the issue of education, and drew great conclusions about:

1. The message she gives.
2. Her public speaking skills.
3. The structure of her speech.

Creativity and flexibility. Love and understanding. Focus and prioritizing.

I love teaching!

I love my kids! Aka my students. I just finished class with my Year 4 students and what a beautiful class it was! Rich with smiles, laughter, flashes of inspiration, aha moments...

Where does it all start? What makes (or rather permits) this to happen?

1. A student-centered approach. Everything I think of doing is acknowledging that the students are the protagonists. As a teacher my role is to give general guidelines, transmit expectations and goals, motivate and support.

a. The students get organized however they feel comfortable: individually, in pairs, in groups. They are free to choose who they work with and can change.

b. I give instructions to the groups. I have found that this favors communication incredibly. I have one on one contact with each student. I can make instruction highly personalized. The students have the opportunity to ask questions. I am focussed on them, not on me.

c. We are reading "The Lost Symbol". Why? Because they like Dan Brown. We watched "Angels and Demons" a few weeks ago and some of them remarked, "We should have read that book instead of -----." (Gotta add here that we are oh so saving the planet as well! We're reading the e-book! More on this soon.) So, since the focus is them and not my plan, instead of getting "The Outsiders" out of the storage room I got on Internet and started rummaging around for "The Lost Symbol".

d. We plan together. I give them the broad brushstrokes, i.e. we have 5 weeks to read this book. I got a calendar projected on the video-beam and in groups they planned out how they would achieve this. They are going to pace themselves. (?!*&%! How could this not have occured to me before?)

2. Using technology. I used the video-beam to project the calendar and to show the quote that is at the threshold of the book. We used a classroom that has great wifi and many of the students had their laptops here, so they could get online to do research (their task was to find out as much as they could about the "Freemasons", once they had done their planning and interpreted the quote).

But, what is the underlying logic to all this? Love. Pure and simple. It is the care and affection for each one of the students. It is the eagerness to be here. The happiness of seeing them and sharing time with them.

Everything falls into place when as a teacher I have the willingness to go out and do my best. When I have the disposition to have a great class. And then, the inspiration will come. It just "happens".

* * * * *
Guiding principles:
1. Love
2. Flexibility: stick to the objectives, be flexible about everything else / be open, let the class be alive!!!

So, what was the content of the class?

1. Planning
2. Text interpretation
3. Research

Big conclusion...I love teaching!

Saint Patrick's Day Fun :)

We watched some videos about Saint Paddy's Day...and then the fun began! From Leprechaun capes and skirts, to cute hats; from encarnating Ninja Leprechauns to adding a little green to a piercing, creativity was afloat!

Cleaning the Slate!

In class today we ritualized leaving off the previous un-friendly, binding, constricting model of teaching which I was following. It was this scheme that was broken with The Revolution. Although we are well advanced on this path, I felt it was very important to verbalize two things:

1) To ask for forgiveness. The traditional model of education does not favor good student-teacher relationships. It puts us on either side of a dividing line which turns us into enemies. It constricts us as individuals who have different paces and different approches to learning. I asked for forgiveness for the ways I may have made my students feel bad, for the times in which they may not have felt valued by me, for the times in which they may have felt I did not value their work and effort.

2) To say thank you! I thank my students for never having given up on me completely, for giving me chances to grow and evolve. And...I thank them deeply for they have taught me more about teaching and psychology then I would have learned in years of formal classroom training!

Having done this I asked the students to write down on colored sheets of paper (they each chose a color that represented un-positive things) the things they still remembered about the Dark Ages that they wanted to leave behind in order to start afresh.

Once we had all the little papers we went down to the Lab and burned them all down!!! I must add that we made it more dramatic by having music playing in the background. Then we went down to the park and spread the ashes.

And so the slate has been cleaned!!