Giving an "A"
Taking about a paradigm shift, chapter three blew me away.
What would it be like to give everyone an A? How would these students react and
perform in class? I have so many students that are scared to death about how
they are going to perform on a State mandated test that they don’t care how
they do in class because they believe they have already failed. I thought it was amazing how the students were
asked to write a letter at the beginning of the year and date it for the end of
the year. As I read each of the letters I could feel a transformation in each
of the students. I know this was with music class but in the back of my mind I
think it could happen in a science class. Students struggle with friends,
family, and all of life’s bumps in the road, what if we could take one of those
bumps out of the road for them. I would like to see the what if just one time
if I gave all of my students an A.
I too am in love with the idea, and I wonder how less mature students, (read my fifth graders) would take it. I mean, the letters written by college students were powerful, but I am afraid the hurt and bruised egos of my 5th grade students would make them lash out. During my CBR you heard about some of the terribly negative things my students said about school. The institution has already beat the creativity out of many of them at 10! I really want to both empower and free these students from the confines their World of Measurement has left them in. I am also ashamed to be lumped in with the process that has brought these children to such a point. I feel this is the opposite of the oath we swear as teachers in Michigan to become certified.
ReplyDeleteStandardized assessments are just part of the problem. These kids are already measuring each other up for physical confrontation over resources and I hear more often than not, that survival is what matters, not dreams. I am a Jarhead, and even I can dream! These kids can't believe that there is a world that doesn't ask them to cut their friend off at the knees. This is the world we have have presented them with. High stakes testing has become high stakes failure an a new generation of apathetic disaffected dissidents will be the result. Mark my words. If we dont get play, joy, and honest expression of emotion back into the educational curriculum soon, Columbine will just be the beginning.
Dwayne,
ReplyDeleteDwayne the letter exercise brought a smile to my face when I read it. “ Next May, Dr. Zander, I got an A because…” (Line from the book I believe the act of giving someone an A is an important exercise in self control and acceptance. Self control because you have to turn off all judgment good or bad and expect only the best. It seems to me this is the only way this exercise works. The people, I like the most are the people who trust me, people who return my interest in them, it is difficult to dislike someone who accepts you. By giving students or anybody an A is to give unconditional acceptance and expect the best. In return I think most people want to return that unconditional acceptance and offer their best. I would like to hear the what if, if just one time, you gave all of your students an A.
Vivian Tejedor
Dwayne,
ReplyDeleteChapter 3 was pretty amazing and after I started to get it (reading it a second time) I was intrigued by the possibilities. I am also interested in finding a way to implement something similar with a paramedic class but find myself struggling to come up with how to implement it. That's something that I'll have to think on for a while and figure out the nuts and bolts of doing something like this and still ensuring performance was on par. Though since paramedic classes tend to be small I think it should be doable as I have more leeway because I know my students. I know that a lot of professors would never adopt a philosophy like giving everyone an A because they have so many students that the statistical grade is the only indicator they have about a students performance (it's sad, but also realistic). So, I may not be able to change every corner of the world but can at least start with my little corner. I will say that the idea of writing a letter as though it was a year in the future will be implemented in future paramedic classes as I think it's absolutely brilliant!
yes, it is an interesting process to spend so much time on testing that doesn't directly effect one's grade, but still experience the stress communicated by the instructors and administration... that can't be healthy and worse than that is learned helplessness. Ugh. And obviously one would have to adjust the "why I got an A" letter based on the age of the students. Little ones won't remember what they felt from week to week, much less across a whole year. :-)
ReplyDelete