tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741956313845023588.post4553192369320295653..comments2024-03-06T05:13:58.358-08:00Comments on Literacy in Leafstrewn: Field Trip: an interludeEChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14853888915441711738noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741956313845023588.post-40157511891316216242012-07-18T05:30:05.677-07:002012-07-18T05:30:05.677-07:00As a middle school science teacher, I have to say ...As a middle school science teacher, I have to say that I avoid the Museum of Science for field trips. I love the place--there are many fascinating things to explore and learn there, and I find it incredibly painful to watch a mob of kids simply bash away at buttons with no thought for what they're looking at. MoS is much better visited in a small (very small) group or even independently. And repeatedly, I might add, as sometimes it takes a couple visits to get something out of it.<br />As for the instruction, in my classroom we run quite a few projects that give kids freedom to work and explore on their own. It gets messy, and there are certainly times when I need to focus them back to what they're supposed to be doing rather than socializing. But when we've done a good job baiting the hook with some short instruction, these learning times are MUCH more effective at developing their skills than any lecture I could give. If I need to convey information, then absolutely I can do that more quickly with a short lecture--but that doesn't imply that they can do anything with it. They have to be active and involved to get better at doing things.Benjamin McGrawhttp://keewaydintime.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741956313845023588.post-13370387254607343452012-06-10T08:47:38.689-07:002012-06-10T08:47:38.689-07:00What I really meant to say, EL, was: thank you for...What I really meant to say, EL, was: thank you for your comment; you are wise, and your wisdom makes me a better teacher! I am always reacting to my experience: (1) the experience of distrusting authority and so not wanting to be a "sage on stage" myself; and (2) the experience of getting a lot out of my own independent reading and thinking and so wanting to encourage my students to do stuff on my own. But I am slowly getting to a middle way... In any case, thanks!EChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14853888915441711738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741956313845023588.post-10924951944939715492012-06-10T05:07:36.863-07:002012-06-10T05:07:36.863-07:00I think you're right, but when I think back to...I think you're right, but when I think back to my own education, which had a mix of big lecture classes and smaller, seminar-style classes (but with somewhat larger class sizes than is ideal--usually 25 rather than your 10--I don't recall the smaller classes <i>themselves</i> as being much more helpful to me than the lectures. Besides doing lots of reading and writing on my own, what was helpful was, as you say, personal, individual attention from my teachers and professors (one suggestion about what to read could keep me going for a week, and I remember a few comments on my papers that made a huge difference to my writing)--that and talking with engaged fellow students. But the class periods themselves were not particularly helpful to me, and the lectures were at least entertaining.<br /><br />My experience at the museum was contrasting lectures, not with individual attention, which would have been better, but with one chaperone trying to direct a large group of children in their own learning in a huge space full of distractions. I just had too many kids to pay close attention to each of them, and I spent most of my time trying to keep track of the few kids who seemed driven by a powerful centrifugal force.<br /><br />I'm still thinking this through. Maybe there were too many little exhibits; maybe the museum experience was more about crowd control than education. I always look back to my own experience in high school and college, when I learned so much more from exploring the library on my own than I learned in any of my classes...EChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14853888915441711738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4741956313845023588.post-11824916344329217802012-06-09T06:03:15.586-07:002012-06-09T06:03:15.586-07:00An analogy I can make to the success of the lectur...An analogy I can make to the success of the lecture-style vs. hands-on exhibits. I loved my classes at big U, in giant lecture halls with professors who could hold the audience of 500 in rapt attention class after class. The quiz sections where we met with a grad. student to "discuss" the readings and lectures were dull and quite forgetable. With the exception of one seminar course I took, with just ten students and a professor, focused on close reading of primary historical sources, I don't believe I ever spoke to a single professor I "studied" with in four years. The lecture courses were, indeed, "entertaining." I did all of the reading--yes, all of it, wrote all of the papers, and got good grades (probably because I'd learned to read and write well in a very good, public high school, much like Leafstrewn HS). When I compare that kind of education to what I believe my English department colleagues got at the small liberal arts colleges many attended, in small classes, taught by a professor, I think I cheated myself. <br /><br />So, when I walk down the hallways at Leafstrewn High School and see teachers "lecturing" to their students, or hear students rave about these same teachers, I think of how passive this kind of instruction is. Much like watching t.v. or going to the theatre. The kids eat it up; they don't have to do anything but sit there and listen, and perhaps regurgitate what they've heard on periodic tests. I absolutely don't think you need to "entertain" your students more; I'm pretty sure that isn't good instruction. I imagine a more masterful teacher is the one who knows how to ask questions that help students think more deeply about the material they are reading, whether it be an essay, poem, or selection they read on the spot, or something they've read at home. A stronger teacher to me is someone who reads and comments on what his/her students write and often conferences with individual students inside the classroom or beyond. I know we haven't yet solved the dilemma of what good literacy instruction looks like, but I'm quite sure that any kind of lecturing style isn't it.<br /><br />ELAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com