A student is messing around for the whole lesson. Surprise, surprise, he doesn't finish his assignments and he wants more time.
Another student works really hard on her assignment but can't quite finish on time. She wants an extension too.
Would would you give the extension to? Why?
My guess is you would base your decision on who you think made the most effort.
Next question: what gives you the right to judge effort? Who made you judge, jury and executioner? Who, in other words, made you God?
What if we decide to be honest with the first kid: "Paul, I don't think you deserve an extension because I think you wasted your time. However, if you disagree, write me a letter telling me why you think you should have the extension."
In the end, it's still the teacher's decision. However, higher purposes have been achieved: Does the teacher have the courage to allow a student's argument to sway her? Does the student have the ability to argue his point rationally? Does the student realise what he is asking for? Do both have the ability to admit they can be wrong?
martes, 8 de abril de 2014
The adversarial relationship
My husband tells this story of how he and his cousins pitted themselves against his uncles.
"My grandmother used to invite all of us to help pick the corn in her field in Cayambe. Corn grows tall enough to hide a kid, so of course as soon as we went out into the field, we kids took off. Well one day My Uncle Honorio got mad about that. He chased after us brandishing his belt like a whip yelling that we were gonna be in big trouble. We thought this was funny, so we waited till he got close enough to make the chase fun and then we started running. each of us managed to dive into the bush at the crucial moment, but Gustavo didn't. He tore off down the hill with Uncle Honorio in full pursuit. Then seeing how close his uncle was, he simply stopped short. Uncle Honorio barrelled past him, tripped and went rolling down the hill."
This is a story of adversarial conflict at its best. Notice how genuinely furious the adult was. Notice how the kids thought this was a big game. Notcie how getting beaten would have been a punishment, not for the crime of running off, but for simply being stupid enough to get caught.
Maybe this is just what childhood is about: kids sneaking off and taunting the adults. It doesn't make for a very productive relationship. In class, if I turn to help a student and the kids behind me begin to slack off, there's something wrong: they're rebelling against me but damaging themselves.
We don't want kids who follow orders. We don't even want kids who internalise orders and do what they're "supposed to" without being told. What we want is kids who do the right thing because they realise it's right. The problem is as long as they're reacting to us, they're not acting in their own interests.
This, more than anything, is why we need to cut down as much as possible on adversarial situtauions in class. If I want them to speak English instead of Spanish in my class, I can enforce that by taking off points, giving stars etc...but that would turn me into a full-time cop and it wouldn't teach them anything.
What's the alternative? I don't know...but I don't have to know. It's not for me to solve their problems or make their decisions for them. I'm not God.
"My grandmother used to invite all of us to help pick the corn in her field in Cayambe. Corn grows tall enough to hide a kid, so of course as soon as we went out into the field, we kids took off. Well one day My Uncle Honorio got mad about that. He chased after us brandishing his belt like a whip yelling that we were gonna be in big trouble. We thought this was funny, so we waited till he got close enough to make the chase fun and then we started running. each of us managed to dive into the bush at the crucial moment, but Gustavo didn't. He tore off down the hill with Uncle Honorio in full pursuit. Then seeing how close his uncle was, he simply stopped short. Uncle Honorio barrelled past him, tripped and went rolling down the hill."
This is a story of adversarial conflict at its best. Notice how genuinely furious the adult was. Notice how the kids thought this was a big game. Notcie how getting beaten would have been a punishment, not for the crime of running off, but for simply being stupid enough to get caught.
Maybe this is just what childhood is about: kids sneaking off and taunting the adults. It doesn't make for a very productive relationship. In class, if I turn to help a student and the kids behind me begin to slack off, there's something wrong: they're rebelling against me but damaging themselves.
We don't want kids who follow orders. We don't even want kids who internalise orders and do what they're "supposed to" without being told. What we want is kids who do the right thing because they realise it's right. The problem is as long as they're reacting to us, they're not acting in their own interests.
This, more than anything, is why we need to cut down as much as possible on adversarial situtauions in class. If I want them to speak English instead of Spanish in my class, I can enforce that by taking off points, giving stars etc...but that would turn me into a full-time cop and it wouldn't teach them anything.
What's the alternative? I don't know...but I don't have to know. It's not for me to solve their problems or make their decisions for them. I'm not God.
lunes, 7 de abril de 2014
how to do research
"What is research?" I asked my students.
"A search for facts!" they shouted, pleased to know the answer.
"No!" I said, shattering their hopes for an easy A. "You search for facts on Google. Research isn't about finding answers, it's about asking questions. It's about taking knowledge that exists, playing with it through experiments, interviews etc, and finding ways to apply it to what you want to know.
I set the students to come up with a research question by giving them one card from each of the following columns:
They were allowed to swap cards for a while, but by the end they had to use the cards to come up with a research question so they could use the class next door as guinea pigs.
Interestingly, no-one chose experiment as a method. They seemed more comfortable using questions. This led to another problem: being aware of the difference between an overarching research question and individual questions to put on a survey or to ask in an interview. The latter have to lead to an answer to the research question.
The other problem is when you use big words in your questions, you need to define them, or at least have your research "subjects" define them. For example, Is it important to have fun in an English class? begs the question What does "fun" mean in the context of an English class? Or Is English important for global communication? requires a definition of "communication".
All in all, some very interesting questions came up. This week my students will be unleashed on the class next door...wish them luck!
"A search for facts!" they shouted, pleased to know the answer.
"No!" I said, shattering their hopes for an easy A. "You search for facts on Google. Research isn't about finding answers, it's about asking questions. It's about taking knowledge that exists, playing with it through experiments, interviews etc, and finding ways to apply it to what you want to know.
I set the students to come up with a research question by giving them one card from each of the following columns:
Learning English
|
truth&lies (unit 2)
|
survey
|
English for communication
|
success (unit 3)
|
interviews
|
Global English
|
experiment
|
They were allowed to swap cards for a while, but by the end they had to use the cards to come up with a research question so they could use the class next door as guinea pigs.
Interestingly, no-one chose experiment as a method. They seemed more comfortable using questions. This led to another problem: being aware of the difference between an overarching research question and individual questions to put on a survey or to ask in an interview. The latter have to lead to an answer to the research question.
The other problem is when you use big words in your questions, you need to define them, or at least have your research "subjects" define them. For example, Is it important to have fun in an English class? begs the question What does "fun" mean in the context of an English class? Or Is English important for global communication? requires a definition of "communication".
All in all, some very interesting questions came up. This week my students will be unleashed on the class next door...wish them luck!
unconditional parenting
I spent the weekend re-reading Alfie Kohn's "Unconditional Parenting: Moving from Rewards and Punishments to Love and Reason".
He's adamantly against rewards and punishments for a wide variety of reasons, but perhaps the key is when teachers or parents reward or punish students, we take away their sense of autonomy: did the child do/not do something because he or she reasoned that this was the best way to act, or was it just desire for the reward or fear of punishment?
Think about a beautiful woman: is her boyfriend with her because he loves her or is she just arm candy? How will she ever know unless through age, disease or accident, she loses her looks? People who see the couple might think he's only with her for her looks. What about the boyfriend: does he know what his true feelings are?
That's the problem: it's not just that other people, teachers, parents, outsiders don't know what motivated the behaviour, it's that the child herself doesn't know either! Did Mary give Tom half her cookie because she likes to think of herself as a generous person, because she noticed Tom was hungry, or because the teacher gives out gold stars to kids who share? It may seem like the question doesn't matter as long as Mary does share her cookie, but unless we know the underlying reasons for the behaviour, we will never know exactly what kind of person Mary is...and neither will she!
He's adamantly against rewards and punishments for a wide variety of reasons, but perhaps the key is when teachers or parents reward or punish students, we take away their sense of autonomy: did the child do/not do something because he or she reasoned that this was the best way to act, or was it just desire for the reward or fear of punishment?
Think about a beautiful woman: is her boyfriend with her because he loves her or is she just arm candy? How will she ever know unless through age, disease or accident, she loses her looks? People who see the couple might think he's only with her for her looks. What about the boyfriend: does he know what his true feelings are?
That's the problem: it's not just that other people, teachers, parents, outsiders don't know what motivated the behaviour, it's that the child herself doesn't know either! Did Mary give Tom half her cookie because she likes to think of herself as a generous person, because she noticed Tom was hungry, or because the teacher gives out gold stars to kids who share? It may seem like the question doesn't matter as long as Mary does share her cookie, but unless we know the underlying reasons for the behaviour, we will never know exactly what kind of person Mary is...and neither will she!
viernes, 4 de abril de 2014
influence of the teacher
How much influence does a teacher have on student motivation? Does our attitude make a difference to how the students feel about the class?
If it does, then we need to take a serious look at ourselves:
If what we don't enjoy is the work itself, the planning, the explaining, the correcting, then maybe we need to reconsider the tasks we assign. If they're no fun for us, they won't be fun for the learners.
If what we don't enjoy is the arguments with students ("Why aren't you working?", "Stop speaking Spanish!", "Pay attention!") then maybe we need to rethink our class dynamics. This means recognising exactly how much power one human being can have over another: we can't force students to pay attention, and we can't force them to learn. The best we can do is inspire them.
Are you an inspiration to your students?
If it does, then we need to take a serious look at ourselves:
- Do I really enjoy my students or am I secretly afraid of them?
- Do I focus on what they write and say or just on how they say it? In other words, do I get so focussed on correcting their English that I don't enjoy reading their work?
- If I don't really enjoy reading their work, is there any way I could modify or change the assignment to make it more fun for myself?
- Do I enjoy myself when I teach?
If what we don't enjoy is the work itself, the planning, the explaining, the correcting, then maybe we need to reconsider the tasks we assign. If they're no fun for us, they won't be fun for the learners.
If what we don't enjoy is the arguments with students ("Why aren't you working?", "Stop speaking Spanish!", "Pay attention!") then maybe we need to rethink our class dynamics. This means recognising exactly how much power one human being can have over another: we can't force students to pay attention, and we can't force them to learn. The best we can do is inspire them.
Are you an inspiration to your students?
Motivating learners using self-determination theory
My article was published in Colloquia by Universidad de los Hemisferios: http://www.uhemisferios.edu.ec/colloquia/index.php/colloquia/article/view/6
miércoles, 2 de abril de 2014
Dos and don'ts for EFL speaking tasks
DOs:
Always make sure that the listener is required to do something with the information they are getting.
"Tell your partner about your favourite foods" means the listener doesn't have to do anything, but "find 3 foods you both like" means that each student has to understand, analyse and evaluate what the other person has said.
If a student is presenting at the front, the rest of the class will misbehave or fail to pay attention unless they are required to make use of the information in some way such as answering questions or even making a list of "surprising things I heard".
Always make sure the task has a clear and tangible end point.
In a task like "find 3 foods you both like" the end point is when the pair has 3 items on their list which they can then show to the teacher as proof.
The best forms of proof are written or drawn in the form of lists, posters, mindmaps...anything you can show afterwards as a result of your work.
Try to make the task repetitive.
The more students get to practice the better. The tragedy of oral presentations is that you get to do it once and for better or worse, that's it. That's why it works better to have mingling activities. For example "how many people did the same things you did last weekend?" means that students get to tell others about their weekend several times.
DON'Ts:
Don't interrupt to correct language mistakes that don't interfere with meaning.
There's nothing more discouraging than having every word corrected as soon as it's out of your mouth.
Always make sure that the listener is required to do something with the information they are getting.
"Tell your partner about your favourite foods" means the listener doesn't have to do anything, but "find 3 foods you both like" means that each student has to understand, analyse and evaluate what the other person has said.
If a student is presenting at the front, the rest of the class will misbehave or fail to pay attention unless they are required to make use of the information in some way such as answering questions or even making a list of "surprising things I heard".
Always make sure the task has a clear and tangible end point.
In a task like "find 3 foods you both like" the end point is when the pair has 3 items on their list which they can then show to the teacher as proof.
The best forms of proof are written or drawn in the form of lists, posters, mindmaps...anything you can show afterwards as a result of your work.
Try to make the task repetitive.
The more students get to practice the better. The tragedy of oral presentations is that you get to do it once and for better or worse, that's it. That's why it works better to have mingling activities. For example "how many people did the same things you did last weekend?" means that students get to tell others about their weekend several times.
DON'Ts:
Don't interrupt to correct language mistakes that don't interfere with meaning.
There's nothing more discouraging than having every word corrected as soon as it's out of your mouth.
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