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I hope that anyone reading this is healthy and sane during this period of uncertainty. Teachers and kids alike are grieving over the loss of freedom, social interactions, and normalcy. Many families, even those never before considered at-risk, are terrified of the potential for financial ruin or catastrophic health risks. Since I\u2019m all about the love and spreading optimism, I humbly share a silver-lining for teachers and the kids that they serve.<\/p>\n
The fact that you are being told to “teach online” in some vague version of “look busy” may mean that teachers are finally being trusted. Districts large and small are abandoning grading as they recognize that education (at home) is inequitable. I guess it\u2019s better late than never to discover the obvious.<\/p>\n
Parents and superintendents are vanquishing the needless infliction of nonsense known as homework. Standardized testing is being canceled, an actual miracle. Colleges have recognized that enrolling students next Fall is more important than SAT or ACT scores. Each of these emergency measures has been advocated by sentient educators forever.<\/p>\n
So, there is reason to celebrate (briefly), but then you must act! <\/em>Use this time to remake schooling in a way that’s more humane, creative, meaningful, and learner-centered. This is your moment!<\/strong><\/p>\n In the absence of compelling models of what\u2019s possible, the forces of darkness will fill the void. Each of us needs to create models of possibility.<\/p>\n The fact that kids’ days are now unencumbered by school could mean that they finally have adequate time to work on projects that matter rather than being interrupted every 23 minutes. I recently wrote, What\u2019s Your Hurry?,<\/a> about teaching computer programming, but it\u2019s applicable to other disciplines.<\/p>\n Project-based learning<\/a> offers a context for learner-centered pedagogy. I was reminded that the new edition of our book, “Invent To Learn – Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom<\/a>,” includes several chapters on effective prompt setting that may be useful in designing projects for kids at home. Invent To Learn<\/a> also lays out the case for learning-by-doing. Use that information to guide your communication with administrators, parents, and the community.<\/p>\n The following are but a few suggestions for seizing the moment and reinventing education after this crisis is resolved so we may all return to a new, better, normal.<\/p>\n Practice \u201cLess us, more them\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Anytime a teacher feels the impulse to intervene in an educational transaction, it is worth pausing, taking a breath, and asking, \u201cIs there less that I can do and more that the student(s) can do?\u201d The more agency shifted to the student, the more they will learn.<\/p>\n One exercise you can practice teaching online, as well as face-to-face, is talk less. If you typically lecture for 40 minutes, try 20. If you talk for 20 minutes, try 10. If you talk for 10, try 5. In my experience, there is rarely an instance in which a minute or two of instruction\u00a0is insufficient before asking students to do<\/em> something. While teaching online, try not to present content, but rather stimulate discussion or organize activities to maximize student participation. Piaget reminds us that “knowledge is a consequence of experience.”<\/p>\n Remember, less is more<\/strong><\/p>\n My colleague Brian Harvey once said, \u201cThe key to school reform is throw out half the curriculum \u2013 any half.\u201d This is wise advice during sudden shift to online teaching and\u00a0the chaos caused by the interruption of the school year.<\/p>\n Focus on the big ideas. Make connections between topics and employ multiple skills simultaneously. Abandon the compulsion to \u201cdeliver\u201d a morbidly obese curriculum. Simplify. Edit. Curate.<\/p>\n Launch students into open-ended learning adventures<\/strong><\/p>\n Learning adventures are a technique I became known for when I began teaching online in the 1990s. This process is described in the 2008 paper, Learning Adventures: A new approach for transforming real and virtual classroom environments<\/a>.<\/p>\n Inspire kids to read entire books<\/strong><\/p>\n Since the bowdlerized and abridged basals are locked in school, encourage kids to luxuriate with real books! Imagine if kids had the freedom to select texts that interest them and to read them from cover-to-cover without a comprehension quiz or vocabulary lesson interrupting every paragraph! Suggest that kids post reviews on Amazon.com<\/a> for an authentic audience rather than making a mobile or writing a five-paragraph essay. Use Amazon.com<\/a>\u00a0or Goodreads<\/a> to find other books you might enjoy.<\/p>\n Tackle a new piece of software<\/strong><\/p>\n Been meaning to learn Final Cut X<\/em>, Lightroom<\/em>, a new programming language, or any other piece of sophisticated software? Employ groups of kids to tackle the software alone or together and employ their knowledge once school returns. Let them share what they know and lead.<\/p>\n Contribute to something larger than yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n This is the time for teachers to support kids in creating big creative projects. Write a newspaper, novel, poetry anthology, play, cookbook, or joke book. Make a movie and then make it better. Create a virtual museum. Share your work, engage in peer editing, and share to a potentially infinite audience.<\/p>\n Check out what Berklee College of Music students<\/a> have already done!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stager.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-26-at-6.20.04-PM.png\")
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