Oh, How the Pendulum Swings!

I know I wrote about controlling students in my last post, but this topic is still nagging at me...and probably will continue to do so in our current educational climate.  But I don't want to just write about how we need to release control a little bit.  I want to think about how we balance between scaffolding the learning for our students and stifling their voice.

In my first couple of years as a teacher, I never stifled students.  They had free reign about topics, how to present their findings, which strategies to use and more.  I also didn't scaffold or support them in any helpful way.  I was brought up in the half free-market/half hippie school of thought when it came to teaching.  Allow students lots of authentic options, surround them with great work and they will pick up reading and writing and everything else.  Would you be shocked if I told you that some students struggled to learn what I thought they should?  That they didn't read Patricia Maclachlan and mysteriously start spouting off poetic lines of prose?  That they didn't all figure out word problems all on their own?

So, yes...I needed to reign in my teaching a bit...clearly a free market / hippie chic approach wasn't bringing me the results I wanted.  My students made choices, alright, but they rarely moved past their choices.  So I started to figure out how I could support my students so they could step out of their comfort zones and explore new territories.  Sometimes that meant I asked them to try something out or I modeled several times or gave them diverse examples of student work.  The point is, I chose my students over my former hard line stance on teaching.

And then I left teaching for a few years to work in research and policy.  Which, of course, led me running back with open arms to the classroom, begging to be taken in.

That's when I realized that the free market days were over.  Completely.  Instead, there was over regulation and a police state.  Tests were insanely important.  And there lots of them.  And they were terribly written.  And they really, really mattered to the school community and everyone else in America.  So, based on the false premise that these tests were "important", a whole industry was created to make these tests, practice for these tests (at school and at home) and even cheer out students on for these tests.  

Hmmmm...what was this teacher to do?

Succumb to the "reality" of modern day teaching in America?  Turn into a robotic slave and just follow orders?  Or the opposite?  Rebel completely and refuse to do anything that comes from "up above"...even if I may think it might be interesting?  Just dig in my heels and get ready for the Alamo?

How about turn back to the hippie chic and zen out?  Forget all the side issues in my periphery and focus on my students.  Focus on them as human beings.  And then focus on them as students.  Figure out what each of them want and need and work for them.  I may not know what kind of teaching I do anymore but at least I know who I am doing it for.

Letting Go of Control

After spending a few days at the VSTE conference, my head still feels like it's going to explode from all the information that's now in there.  Scratch that.  It's not the information I learned, it's all the questions racing through my head that are giving me the most delightful headaches ever.  As Jennifer Orr, an incredible colleague, friend and mentor pointed out, the most learning happened outside of the official sessions, during quiet (and loud) conversations.  Just teachers talking to teachers.  Making sense of life and learning.  The way it should be.  I have a lot more to process about VSTE later...

However, there is a throbbing pain that isn't coming from the joys of creative strategies, deep questions or even a cool new trick.  No.  Unfortunately, this pain is a result of the number of times I heard references to "controlling" our students.  Now this might sound a bit sadistic and I think this crowd was a bit too sophisticated to actually say "controlling" our students.  But the need to dominate kids came out through other questions and comments:

• I have a great new way to lock this app so kids can't get to the other apps on the iPad.
• How do I make sure the kids do exactly what I (my emphasis) want them to do?
• This way, the students won't try to do something else and will follow directions.
• If you use this outline strategy, there is no way that a student can make a mistake or go off topic.
• No, the students don't make up their own questions, I make up all the questions and they just answer them.

How are we using this type of language in our day and age?  Why do we still feel the need to dictate to our students what to do?  What are we afraid of them doing?  We may say that we're afraid they are going to waste time, to go on the "wrong app" (because as adults, we would never ever get distracted now, would we?), or fall behind.  But I think at the end of the day, we are just scared that they will ask us questions that we can't answer.  We are afraid of not knowing.  

Assuming this theory is true, WHAT THE HECK ARE WE AFRAID OF?  Don't we want our students to be smarter than us?  Don't we want them to inspire us and lead us into the future?  Don't we want them to figure out the shortcuts and most efficient ways, the new tricks and strategies, the more abstract ways of thinking that we hadn't even pondered yet?

Is it scary for them to lead us into a new line of thinking?  Is it scary when they surprise us with all their background knowledge?   Is it scary when they troubleshoot our devices without us even realizing there was something wrong?  In my humble opinion, the answer is NO!  It's amazing and it's exactly the direction in which we should be nurturing them towards.   

We need to remember to let go of control.  Let our students create.  Let them think.  Let them make good choices.  Let them make bad choices.  Just let them be.