--getting to know people
--engaging with people in discussions of ideas, experience and feelings
--seeing people get excited about new ideas or having acquired a new skill or finally mastered something they'd been struggling with
--helping someone learn something new or understand something better or see something in a new way (that is, I like being a witness to learn just as much as I like being a facilitator of it)
What I Don't Like About Teaching
--assigning grades (to assignments or to people for the grading period)
--assessing people's work, especially work that has been done with little mind toward quality
--wrangling with, badgering, cajoling, or otherwise trying to coerce people into really putting their best effort into something
--being expected to get people to do things they don't want to do
--helping people keep track of what they've done and what they haven't done (and having to keep track of that myself--it's not that it's difficult, it's just that I don't like doing it)
--designing classes/curriculum that meet the impossibly broad and inconsistent range of standards that are now dictating be the State of California (actually, being told to design classes/curriculum based on anything other than student interest)
My Fantasy School: The School For People Who Want to Learn
You see that I don't have particular topics that I love to teach. I could get interested in teaching anything if I had students who wanted to know about that subject. So...what I really want is students who are interested in learning for the sake of knowing.
Who can attend my school? Anyone able to articulate what it is they want to learn (that means a 5-year-old could say, "I want to learn about how come the sun goes down and comes up again" or a 60-year-old could say, "I want a refresher on fractions; I never really understood them.")
Here's how it would work: a person or group of people request a subject. If I can teach it, I set a day and time. I need to get let's say $20 per hour of classroom time (I know I'll need to spend some amount of time outside of class preparing, but I am willing to work for cheap because I would really enjoy my job and because I don't want to just teach rich people; I believe people should be able to afford to learn.) If there’s one student, that person pays $20/hour; if there are 20 students each pays only $1. So someone who wants to learn a certain thing might like to round up other people to bring the cost down, or they might want more of a tutorial and be willing to pay more. Many yoga, dance, and music classes work like this, I think.
Class consists of discussion, lecture or problem sets, whatever is appropriate for the topic. Class materials, if necessary, would need to be paid for by students, but I'd be willing to try most topics without handouts or outside readings. Students could decide if they want it to be a class based on outside readings or not. If students want to do homework, that’s their choice. If they want me to look over and comment on their written work, that’s an extra fee. Students would have to make a special request to have their work evaluated, and I might or might not choose to accept it. The work needs to be easy to look at and the person needs to be interested in my feedback. Classes continue as long as there is sufficient interest in the topic.
I would be willing to spend up to 20 hours/week in the classroom. (The “classroom” could be any space—a private home, a public library, a park in good weather. I might want to have a portable easel with white board and/or flipchart pad.) That could be 20 different classes or one intensive class. If others were interested in offering classes, they could post them (somewhere) and see if there is interest. Anyone can teach at my school, and anyone can be a student. There would be practically no infrastructure, as we wouldn’t be accountable to anyone but each other. If you can’t pay, you will have to find a way or not do the class. If someone really wants others to be able to take a class, they can write a grant or find some outside funding, but I would have nothing to do with it. I don’t want to keep track of who’s there, how often they come, etc. I’d rather not have to keep track of who has paid either, but I think I’d have to. I’d come up with a very simple system. My job would only be to facilitate learning.
What's Your Fantasy Learning Environment?
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5 comments:
Catalin,
your fantasy school sounds great, but I don't know why it needs to be a fantasy and why you don't seriously think about doing it! I reckon you could... just plan it a bit, budget it a bit, promote it a bit and blammo... your fantasy is a reality.
Seriously, you should think about it.
(I was going to write a typical Libran, other-side-of-the-coin arugment comment about what mayhem it would be if curriculum was determined entirely by students, but it's nicer to be encouraging, especially for what could be such a great idea.)
Thanks, Wamut! Go ahead with your other-side-of-the-coin argument--you know I always like to hear all sides. Keep in mind, though, that I am not suggesting that my fantasy school would replace regular state schools; it could be an optional supplement. It's just where I would prefer to teach.
You have that entrepreneurial spirit that I think I completely lack. I had an idea of doing a mobile school when I was in Katherine. I thought I could just bring some equipment in a little cart to the park and try to engage all the kids and their parents and grandparents who were hanging out in the park while on sojourn from their communities. I think it could work, but I didn't have the confidence (=entrepreneurial spirit) to pursue it.
Are you in Brisbane, BTW?
--Catalin
First I agree that the administrative stuff is the anchor about my neck. But at the same time I also realize that I'm not willing to work for a meager rate of pay and the compromise is that I have to put up with a certain level of the paper work to keep the pay checks a-rollin-in.I have also found that students are almost universally harder on themselves than I am. Ask a student what grade they would assign to a piece of their work. My assessment is almost always higher then theirs! In all of my years teaching, I have never had a student/parent complain about the grade that I had assigned. Frequently a student will thank me for a grade ... My response is, "Don't thank me, you earned it!"
I also dislike dealing with people who are unwilling to accept criticism of over the top [under the bottom?] behavior. A passage in the Dhamampata indicated that it is the duty of a teacher to guide the unwilling toward 'right' behavior even when this can be unpleasant. So I have to come to regard truly bad behavior as an opportunity to guide the misguided onto a better path. This is rarely a lot of fun but if it is done with good intention instead of anger or revenge then the outcome is usually positive. Unfortunately, a student who is poorly behaved can absent him/herself from the teacher's presence and not get the instruction that he/she needs.
Treating others with kindness is sorely lacking in our society and when a person hasn't had instruction in this at home, it becomes the teacher's duty to provide the student to help. Accepting responsibility for one's acts also falls under this heading. Easier to learn from a teacher than a policeman!!
Technology! The latest, fastest computers available hooked up to the fastest internet connection possible! Replaced as soon as a faster omputer/connection becomes available! Not 10 years later.
Space: Lots and lots! No crowding.
Time: Whenever. Get rid of the 8-3 schedule. But I would like to
work contiguous hours... Not 9 -10 and 2-3 and then 6-8...
Math requires practice. No kidding here. My job is partly to make
what I teach appear 'do-able'. But to learn math, a student has to actually try to apply what I've taught. Mistakes??? You bet. But then find out why and then not repeat them!
Thanks, Anonymous teacher!
Re: admin tasks. I wouldn't mind them if I thought they were useful to the learning process, but most of them are not.
Re: assessment. Maybe it's the different population I've worked with or maybe it's the difference between math and English or maybe I just have unreasonably high expectations, but I have a had a different experience than yours. My students have complained about my assessment that their work needs to be revised, that it is not of the quality expected for their grade level, that I expect them to do ALL of the assignment and not just pick and choose parts. I have been told I'm a hard grader by a student who was mad because she was used to getting good grades with little effort and I expected her to do the quality of work she was capable of.
Re: behavior. I actually don't have behavior problems in my current position. The kids have great social skills--that's part of what has got them by so far. Actually, I know that some of them have had conflicts with teachers in the past, but they are charming and engaging with me.
I wish that many of them cared more about the actual process of learning, rather than the end goal of getting the diploma. I wish that they knew how rewarding it feels to do a really thorough job on a school assignment, but that may not have ever been enforced or modeled for them. That relates to your comment about practice. All skills (writing & reading, as well as math) take practice--way more practice than most students seem willing to put in.
I don't want to end on a bitter note, so I have to mention a certain student who just found out he passed his math final exam. He was so proud and so happy. He told me he never passed a test before (I didn't know if he meant just math or in any subject or just in h.s.). His whole bearing changed as he told me. It was great to see him smile with such genuine pleasure.
Hey Catalin,
Lyndal (zebragirl from now on) here.
I think my perfect classroom would have students who were on my role for longer than 1 year. Not necessarily Steiner way but perhaps Montessori - 2 years at least.
I would be student centred and students would take responibility for their learning more. I wouldn't be constrained by bureaucratic paperwork.
I wouldn't have to assign grades.
There would be no timetable.
BTW I am not going to Eritrea. I got an offer for Ghana and am there mid-September.
My blog is up now - http://zebragirlinghana.blogspot.com/
take care
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