Tickled Pink - a great experience shared
Monday, January 25, 2010 at 10:54PM Posted here with permission:
I am currently working with our 12th grade English teacher on a project called "How will YOU change the world?" ... We are asking the kids to find their passions and research how they will use their passions and talents to make a difference. Here are the preliminary ideas proposed last spring. We are working out the details as we go: 12th Grade English Research Project Ideas. (http://rachslibrary.edublogs.org/2008/06/06/12th-grade-english-research-project-ideas/)
We are using Daniel Pink's Johnny Bunko [review] and A Whole New Mind [review] among other resources. Sir Ken Robinson's book The Element [review] also speaks to this topic. Education is all about finding what is essential to who we are - and figuring out a way to spend our life doing what motivates us - what makes us feel that we are in our "element." [my emphasis - Doug]To use one of my British family's favorite sayings - the kids are feeling "gob-smacked" about the whole project. They are used to having their research papers outlined for them .... gather info about the topic, produce five pages, make sure to use "x" number of sources, be sure to include ... blah, blah, blah..... We've given them minimal direction for this. Many don't know what to do. They are simply not used to being asked what is important to them. It will be interesting to watch what they do - once they stop whining and begging for direction :-) The project is not due yet and kids are still working on it - we hope.
A student sent me one of those notes that teachers treasure all their lives. She was in a full blown panic. The teacher is a VERY HIGHLY respected teacher amongst his students. He asks them to jump and they ask "Over which planet?"
She came to me and confessed that she had NEVER done a research paper before. She'd always managed to pass, in spite of the zero on research. She happens to be a bright, lively young lady with ideas and enthusiasm that just radiate out of her. I helped her realize that, since she is passionate about becoming a chef - that's where she needed to go. I asked her how she could effect other people through her intense interest. After a moment she said - "I could give people good food that is inexpensive and not fattening. That would help with the obesity epidemic". From there we went on to what makes people obese, the role of fast food, how good food could be made convenient for busy people and on and on. I showed her databases and we devised some search phrases. I showed her the basics of citation. It only took about 15 minutes.
What a difference it made for her. The letter she gave me was about how much I had helped her, and she'd never have been able to do it without me etc. etc.. I will treasure the note forever. But more to the point - I think this story shows how motivating this kind of a project can be.
Jacquie Henry, MLS
Ruben A. Cirillo High School
http://wanderings.edublogs.org/
http://www.gananda.org/webpages/hslibrary/
So what are my take-aways from reading this experience?
- I always wonder if "big idea" books like those written by Daniel Pink or Ken Robinson or Malcom Gladwell et al ever really make much of a difference in the "real" world. I've always thought the ideas in them in some ways sink into our subconscience and influence our behaviors indirectly. But I love it when something concrete like Jacquie describes above actually happens - when a big idea becomes real.
- Why do we not read more teachers and librarians sharing their positive experiences and interactions? Why as a profession are we all so damn a) modest, b) insecure, c) insular, d) selfish, e) all of the above that hearning about experiences like Jacquie's is so unusual. My experience is that is as true of the teachers' lounge as it is of the blogosphere.
- When is the teaching profession going to figure out that improving projects by making them more relevant to students will make their jobs better as well as improving the educational experience for their students? I love doing a workshop called Designing Projects that Kids (and Teachers) Love In the workshop I emphasize that in my experience, well-designed projects can be as exciting for the teacher as they are for the learner.
Your take-aways from stories like Jacquie's?
Reader Comments (4)
"2.Why do we not read more teachers and librarians sharing their positive experiences and interactions? Why as a profession are we all so damn a) modest, b) insecure, c) insular, d) selfish, e) all of the above that hearning about experiences like Jacquie's is so unusual. My experience is that is as true of the teachers' lounge as it is of the blogosphere."
Because people with traits that are NOT that way are most often NOT teachers. Those are traits that lead people to become teachers except I would say the selfish trait - they do seem to share more ideas than people in the business world but if their traits were different they would likely be seeking LEADING business positions and NOT teaching for the FINANCIAL rewards in a vast majority of the cases I have seen.
I stumbled onto your blog and love it.
Thanks for sharing.
Tom Bailey
Teaching in an Outreach program, students are very much like cattle. They line up for their green booklet, fill it out as best they can, and, often no wiser despite their effort, go on to the next booklet. As we struggle to change that environment, one teacher at a time, for it is very comfortable to have all of our learning materials prepared for us, I begin to see the "aha" moments that make this profession so rewarding. It encourages me to go for the next "aha" in the toughest kid I can find. I love open ended projects and stimulating students to be "gob smacked", to struggle with information and setting their own criteria, and, in the end, regardless of the end product, having learned something without another individual setting the boundaries of that learning.
In my SLMS program we read Dr. Julie Tallman's book Making the Writing and Research Connection with the I-Search Process. Then we had to go off and do our own "I" Search. It's brilliant because it pushes you toward your own interests and plagerism is nearly impossible since you are now _required_ to say "I" in your paper: "I found...," "I read...," "I interviewed..."
Some of the projects included a person who wanted to buy land and eventually build a house figure out what their "dream house" really was and how much it might cost.
Another wanted to do further research on a disorder both her sons are afflicted with.
Yet another was to look ahead to some fun, educational trips they wanted to research and plan for their family.
All were personal, required intensive research, and were presented in unique ways.
Even a small tweak to a more traditional research project can be made more like an I-Search. When a third grade class came in with worksheets to fill out about the planets, I saw the librarian briefly confer with the teacher then say, "What questions do YOU have about these planets?" Then they went off to find the answers they were actually interested in. It was difficult to get them to leave when their time was up!
Hi Tom,
Interesting theory. I think there is a general perception about personality types that gravitate toward librarianship so I suppose it could be applied to teaching as well.
Can we break the mold?
Doug
Hi Todd,
I do think uncertainty of outcome makes a lot of teachers very nervous. See: Embracing Ambiguity from many moons ago. <http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/embracing-ambiguity.html>
Too bad - the unknown is what makes things exciting!
Doug
Hi Ninja,
I've loved I-Search since I was a little teacher growing up in the prairie. Ken Macrorie was/is a real hero of mine. There is also an I-Search book aimed at elementary students too - I-Search, You Search, We All Learn to Research by Duncan and Lockhart.
Doug