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So what's up with my title, right? Isn't it common knowledge that everyone who gets A's are super smart and people who get anything else are just lazy and dumb? Well....no. I'm here to bust my first education myth and to let you in on a little secret about how school works.
You see, I am one of those people who breezed through school when I was younger. I got A's constantly, was teased for being the "teacher's pet", and even got voted "most studious" in eighth grade. I didn't even receive my first B on a transcript until I was a high school sophomore. School was easy for me. But it's not because I spent hours studying. Yeah sure, I aced all the tests, but the real reason behind it was not my study habits but my memory. From a very young age, I was blessed with an impeccable memory and this, conveniently, helped me whiz through school.
It was not until I got to college when my GPA started to decline. The classes were not as easy as they once were and I had not yet developed the study habits of some of my peers. I realized that for all those years, I learned nothing except how to get the highly coveted A that I needed and I moved on. I had learned how to "beat the system", nothing more.
Then it occurred to me that there was an issue here. Shouldn't the goal of education be to learn, not to "win"?
Enter ED 202: Teaching and Learning. Check out this YouTube video featuring my teacher Chris Haskell:
IP11: Chris Haskell - Blowing Up the Grade Book
Great video isn't it? Having had this enlightening experience, everything makes sense now. I greatly prefer his system of learning, where school is less about competition and is more of an environment where students embrace failure and learn from their mistakes. This sort of system makes it more equitable for the student, rather than setting up a system where they are doomed to fail from the get-go. Unless, of course, they bow down to the Education Gods (teachers) and complete every assignment on time and without flaw.
In Haskell's world, we acknowledge that students have their own lives to worry about and are capable of managing their own time. This makes assignments with due dates inappropriate. Besides, all due dates do is guarantee assignments aren't completed until the last possible second (am I right?). This is extremely detrimental to the learning environment.
Another reason I love his philosophy is because it gives students a choice. Oftentimes, students view school as a place where they must obey, not create. By giving them choice, it allows them to follow the curriculum in a way that is relevant to themselves and their goals; it allows them to invest their time and energy into what they believe is interesting and worthwhile. Exciting concept, huh?
Now, I am not as optimistic as my teacher is regarding how quickly these changes will happen. Through my other friends who are teachers, I know that schools do not adapt very quickly to change. They try their best but their attempts are not always successful. One reason for this is funding. However, what Haskell is proposing does not necessarily require a $1,000,000,000 grant (it would be nice, but it's not necessary). All it takes is a little extra effort from teachers to try and change the status quo. This is not an easy task but I believe it will benefit our students in ways we never imagined.
You see, I am one of those people who breezed through school when I was younger. I got A's constantly, was teased for being the "teacher's pet", and even got voted "most studious" in eighth grade. I didn't even receive my first B on a transcript until I was a high school sophomore. School was easy for me. But it's not because I spent hours studying. Yeah sure, I aced all the tests, but the real reason behind it was not my study habits but my memory. From a very young age, I was blessed with an impeccable memory and this, conveniently, helped me whiz through school.
It was not until I got to college when my GPA started to decline. The classes were not as easy as they once were and I had not yet developed the study habits of some of my peers. I realized that for all those years, I learned nothing except how to get the highly coveted A that I needed and I moved on. I had learned how to "beat the system", nothing more.
Then it occurred to me that there was an issue here. Shouldn't the goal of education be to learn, not to "win"?
Enter ED 202: Teaching and Learning. Check out this YouTube video featuring my teacher Chris Haskell:
IP11: Chris Haskell - Blowing Up the Grade Book
Great video isn't it? Having had this enlightening experience, everything makes sense now. I greatly prefer his system of learning, where school is less about competition and is more of an environment where students embrace failure and learn from their mistakes. This sort of system makes it more equitable for the student, rather than setting up a system where they are doomed to fail from the get-go. Unless, of course, they bow down to the Education Gods (teachers) and complete every assignment on time and without flaw.
In Haskell's world, we acknowledge that students have their own lives to worry about and are capable of managing their own time. This makes assignments with due dates inappropriate. Besides, all due dates do is guarantee assignments aren't completed until the last possible second (am I right?). This is extremely detrimental to the learning environment.
Another reason I love his philosophy is because it gives students a choice. Oftentimes, students view school as a place where they must obey, not create. By giving them choice, it allows them to follow the curriculum in a way that is relevant to themselves and their goals; it allows them to invest their time and energy into what they believe is interesting and worthwhile. Exciting concept, huh?
Now, I am not as optimistic as my teacher is regarding how quickly these changes will happen. Through my other friends who are teachers, I know that schools do not adapt very quickly to change. They try their best but their attempts are not always successful. One reason for this is funding. However, what Haskell is proposing does not necessarily require a $1,000,000,000 grant (it would be nice, but it's not necessary). All it takes is a little extra effort from teachers to try and change the status quo. This is not an easy task but I believe it will benefit our students in ways we never imagined.
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