When best practice simply isn't good enough

These last months have been eye-opener for me. I have become more cognizant about my role as an educator and the massive responsibility that this entails.  There is one quote by Eric Hoffer that has resonated in my head:

"In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists."

This quote has forced me to question my own practice. I have always strived to use best practice in my instruction. It is not the first time, for instance, that I've redesigned a lesson to cater for different learning styles or created a learning activity to reinforce a skill. After all, isn't that what conscientious teachers do? They try to go that extra mile. They try to use all the tools in their toolbox to make learning better. Yet, I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that this is not enough.

Educational visionaries such Tony Wagner and Will Richardson convey a clear message: education should not be reformed, it must be redefined.  If we truly want to make a difference in our profession, we should not limit ourselves to best practice because it simply can't be the best because of the paradigm it finds itself confined in; best practice, in this case, would be transforming our pedagogy.

I am totally for articulating skills horizontally and vertically or differentiating instruction to facilitate student learning. These are all good steps one can take to reach out to students. But let us make no mistake here. These alone might be enough to prepare students for university but do not suffice in the long term. If we truly want our kids to tackle the unfamiliar world, we, must start to follow suit; we must leave our comfort zones and start questioning more. After all, Eric Hoffer's quote speaks directly to us, the educators: we have been equipped to teach in an educational system that should no longer exist because for learning to be meaningful, is has to reflect our ever-changing world. In other words education can't be the stagnant system we've made it be. It must continue to evolve.

This is what makes the whole concept of learning fascinating: there are no clear and linear answers. Like our students, we educators, must be able adapt to our new environments and work collaboratively to obtain creative and effective solutions.   It all boils down to trial and error. Instead of suppressing uncertainty we need to start embracing it.

Keeping it Real

Adolescents  often struggle to wrap their head around the complexity of current events. I, for one, can clearly recall my teenage years as I watched the Balkan War on TV, trying to connect the various dots. Even though, I felt drawn to this conflict, I still lacked the right tools to understand this tragedy. My head was riddled with too many questions, such as who the key players were, the motives of this conflict and the different parties involved. This was way too overwhelming for me to learn on my own. After all, the divide between what I was "learning" at school and what was unfolding beyond those confining walls was abysmal. 

One of the main reasons I am a big proponent for the exploration of current events in Humanities is that it provides adolescents with the right tools to analyze and interpret issues that otherwise would be too daunting for them to tackle on their own. Students have an inclination to be captivated by what is happening around them because of its relevance.

The Grade 9 students are currently learning about the patterns of a revolution as an overarching concept. For their final project they will be creating a crash course, discussing the stages and the impact of a revolution of their choosing. These can include but are not limited to political revolutions. Students can also explore cultural, scientific and technological revolutions. 

This unit kicks off with a case study about the Egyptian Revolution. I've chosen to delve into this topic instead of the more traditional revolutions because this revolution matters more to them. Students are being exposed to this unrest via the news and other social media. This revolution is unfolding right now as I am writing this post. They are able to understand the current unrest in Egypt and appreciate a vital stage: the consolidation of the idea that drives a revolution, a determining factor for its success. 

In one of my previous posts, I argued that Humanities should not be centered around history. Nevertheless, history is a great tool when used purposefully. For instance, one can opt to delve into the repercussions of the Six Day War, the assassination of Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarrak's rise to power. All of these can shed more light on the motives behind the Egyptian regime's draconian methods and the current unrest involving the Muslim Brotherhood. 

Students brainstorming the stages of the Egyptian Revolution

Last week, I was able to gauge the level of interest shown by the students as they explored this topic. I know that they are now hooked by this unit and will be more likely to create a meaningful final project. Teenagers have the propensity to be passionate about global issues; however, they need to be exposed to it from a young age. The exploration of global issues is a perfect avenue for our students to become future citizens of the world: compassionate, conscientious, and cognizant of the environment in which they live.  

What’s wrong with this Picture?

Last week, a colleague and I were having a random chat about student use of technology and I brought up how more and more students, nowadays, are choosing to use mobile devices to take a picture of their assigned homework instead of opting for more conventional methods. When I hinted that I encourage this, my colleague gave me a puzzled look and exclaimed assertively that she forbids it in class and expects all students to write it down on their homework planner. When I asked her for a justification, she simply noted that it wasn’t right implying that students should not be taking “short cuts.” This is only one of the many examples that show us how sometimes we educators struggle to grasp the true meaning of discipline.

Many often confuse discipline with obedience. Even though these two might sound similar, they are distinct from one another. The word obedience focuses mainly on one’s compliance to a form authority. On the other hand, discipline does not limit itself to mere compliance; it goes way beyond. The Montessori school of thought regards discipline as being an intrinsic trait that leads to personal growth. The disciplined student is the one who seeks self-improvement and strives for excellence.

My colleague was clearly trying to enforce her authority expecting that her students obey her rules. But she was not enforcing discipline. If anything she was hindering it. In fact, the student who is choosing to take a picture of her assigned homework is doing so because she wants to complete it. She is only choosing an efficient way to reach that goal. The idea of impeding this is simply counter-intuitive. 

In the last century, the role of education was to prepare young people to work in factories. They were being equipped for a world where they would be required take orders and conform. But those practices that focused more on teacher control are nowadays pointless. One certainly needs to follow rules today; however, the current socio economic milieu requires that students be independent and creative problem-solvers. As a result, we educators, need to be more aware of the true purpose of discipline, which should not deter learning but ignite learning instead.