Thank you, everyone, for your work over cycle one! I thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts. Not only that, it’s been quite fun getting to learn a bit about everyone’s situation. Let me summarize for you some of what I’ve learned.
In terms of location, six of us work in southeast Michigan, four of us work in mid-Michigan, two of us are in the Boston area, one in the Chicago area, one in Fort Lauderdale, one in Denver, one in Atlanta, and one works on setting up immersion experiences for US students in China!
In terms of grade distribution, we have two pre-school teachers, two first-grade teachers, one second-grade teacher, one fourth-grade teacher, one seventh-grade teacher, one eight-grade teacher, one eleventh-grade teacher, and six of us that work across multiple high school grade levels.
Finally, for those of us with a subject specialization, we have one ELL teacher, one English literature teacher, one science teacher, two Spanish teachers, two social studies teachers, and three math teachers.
We are quite a diverse bunch! I hope you will seek out the blogs of those with whom you might share a connection!!
This cycle we examined the existential meaning of failure. There was a range of great writing on this subject in our blog posts. Most of us tried to point out the need to move away from traditional grading—perhaps to something like standards-based assessment—in order to help students see beyond the grade to the performance itself. As part of that, we also stressed the feedback that we, as teachers, can provide students on their performances. Overall, I think we all agree that the goal is always growth and the teacher’s role is to support, through positive, accurate and insightful feedback, a student’s growth!
On the other hand, we know that grades can be a motivator for some students, because they see no other value in some of the work that is assigned in schools. This is also important to see. We can take away grades and move towards standards-based assessment and feedback. Yet that might not make a difference. Students could still be disengaged from the process if they do not take ownership for, and find interest in, the work itself!
To my mind, the great point here is that, as teachers, we are here to support students in whatever goals they set for themselves. The ends of education, to my mind, must always start with the students themselves. Of course, parents, teachers and other trusted adults can help shape those goals. Yet without student buy-in, learning becomes a chore rather than the joy it should be.
So we help shape goals. What then? We assemble resources, and teach students how to use them. But most importantly, to my mind, we provide feedback. There was a range of interesting thoughts on the topic of feedback in our posts.
Some of us talked about moving away from moralistic language, especially the language of good/bad. For the point of our feedback is not to make students feel guilty about their failures, but to get them to reflect, learn, and try again. “Amoral” language is perhaps better in this sense—at least one of us has moved to using the terms wise/unwise in reference to student choices and behaviors. In some of the traditions that I work in, the terms more skillful/less skillful are used to categorize choices and behaviors.
Ultimately, I want students to see that life is not about following someone else’s rules, but is about learning from others’ experiences! I want them to see that traits like grit and zest and perseverance are important not because they fit into some ethical system, but because they have been shown to lead to greater joy and happiness in life!
And this, we should never forget, is the goal that should ultimately drive our educational systems.
How do we live in joy?
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