In my
December 17, 2015 blog, I highlighted Ms. Heide’s Government students who were
writing children’s stories about Supreme Court cases. This was an excellent example of a lesson
implementing the four C’s:
collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and communication. Not
content with stopping there, Ms. Heide arranged for her students to share their
stories with a group of eighth grade civics students from Smithfield Middle
School.
Using a roundtable format in the
middle school library, groups of 8th graders rotated to tables with
the high school students who shared their stories with them. There was an exciting buzz throughout the
room as seniors were running through their presentations, punctuated
periodically by applause from the civics students. There was also nervous energy from the
seniors as they experienced a different sense of pressure and importance about
the work they had created. It’s one thing to have created a story, but how
would it be received by students not familiar with the case? As expected, the
morning went great and both seniors and eighth graders enjoyed the experience. To see an updated video of the project, click on the link a the end of this blog.
Like many
students, I had no audience while doing my work when I was a student, except
for my teacher. The routine was to turn
in the work, get a grade, maybe a stray written comment or two from the
teacher, and then start the process all over on the next assignment. The
importance of the work to me was to please the teacher. There was no relevance to my work and no
connection that the work had a greater significance beyond a grade in the
gradebook.
Imagine a
culture where every final draft a student completes is done for a wider
audience. It may be for a group of twenty-five eighth graders, which was the
case for Ms. Heide’s students, or for an even larger audience in the community.
Technology allows the audience to even be on the global level now. What if the role of the teacher was not to be
sole judge of the work but to be more like a sports coach or a play director?
Teachers guiding students and assisting them with the preparation necessary for
displaying their work to the public. The
motivation for doing great work is that it will be judged by a wider audience,
with authentic feedback, and no longer evaluated by just the teacher.
I’ve watched
Mrs. Beatty-Riffle’s class at Windsor High School get ready for their
production of Grease. The students and teacher have put tremendous effort
into producing an enjoyable, quality performance for their audience. This same
effort can be put forth in all classes if we connect the work students do to a
wider audience. Of course, not every assignment or project can have life
importance. But when students know their creations will be displayed,
presented, appreciated, or judged by the entire class, other classes, families,
the community or even the world, then there is an entirely different purpose to
the work.
As we look
to build a culture of excellence around beautiful, quality products from our
students, we must remember that punitive actions that impact a student’s grade
will not produce change for students who are not doing quality work. We need to give them a reason to care. The
pressure of preparing for their work for display to a wider audience, and the
daily focus on continuous review and modification until it is worthy of
presentation to the community, will become the reason and the motivation for
creating quality work.
