Wednesday, November 14, 2012
How to create nonreaders
It was interesting to read this right after going to our class tonight about job searching and hiring. The article talks about how important it is to give students agency and autonomy to develop as creative and critical thinkers rather than just good test-takers and rule followers. Kohn argues that students need to develop curiosity and love of learning, and that the best way to do this is to let them read or learn for the sake of reading or learning, rather than for a grade. He gets at the idea that when we teach students to read simply in order to do a task or get a grade, we are teaching students to be mediocre. They are good at doing what they are told, but bad at doing anything beyond that. It seems like Kohn's ideal student is one that thinks critically and creatively because he/she knows that the teacher will support his/her risktaking and thinking.
This is great and something I can support--that is exactly the type of learner I would like to cultivate. But, as I read this I just kept thinking back to the lady from the career office today, telling us "not to stand out too much because recruiters and hiring staff do not like that." "Make sure you use key words and phrases in written responses to trigger the computer program to know you will be a good teacher." "Make sure you respond correctly to the survey questions so that the computer knows you are caring." "All of these things will make districts want to hire you." I couldn't help but feel a bit defeated, that for all of Kohn's building up of individuality, creativity and agency in students, our adult world still seems to favor mediocrity. The message I took away about hiring practices is that it does not really matter how great of a teacher you are, what matters is if you use the words and phrases that the computer program has correlated with quality teacher characteristics. If this is the real-world that we are preparing students for, maybe we should just teach them how to answer the predictable way and follow directions.
Sorry, perhaps this comes across totally defeatist. I realize/hope/pray that this apparent appreciation for conformity and mediocrity will not carry our students or me as far as we can go. Hopefully, once I get a job (and once my future students get their future careers), the ability to be creative problem solvers will set us apart and allow us to rise beyond our conforming peers who do only as much as they are extrinsically motivated to do...
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You're smart to reach the final conclusion you describe in the last paragraph of your response, Meggie. While you're job searching, know the schools where you apply/interview, and play the game they seem to have set up. If their language is all about standards-based learning, closing the achievement gap, using technology to enrich learning--speak their language. When you get into the classroom, use what you know is best practice to help students reach the district's/school's goals. These best practices should always include problem-solving, authentic tasks & materials, and creativity. You'll know in your interview whether there will be roadblocks to any of those methods for teaching and learning, and if you sense those obstacles exist, then you'll have to decide whether your principles are more important than getting a paycheck. Those may seem like harsh words, but you'd be surprised by how often teachers today are faced with a decision like that.
ReplyDeleteThe good news is, you're leaving St. Kate's with classroom experience and theoretical learning that supports your ability to be a teacher leader. Generally, once you're in your own classroom, you have enough autonomy to teach your students (rather than teaching a curriculm) and the results speak for themselves (whether results are measured by tests, observation, level of engagement, or any other "tool).