- Project based learning: Many people seemed to agree that project based learning is effective because it helps students visualize the "big picture" and "end goal." I definitely agree.
- Learning more than "substance": We also discussed a quote from the article about how students learn more than just the "substance" of the discipline. Teaching is not about rote memorization, but rather stopping and making sure that kids stop and think critically. To quote my sister's college swim coach, "F.I.O." or "Figure it out." Teaching isn't about spoon feeding students the answers; it is, in the words of the late and great David Foster Wallace, about "teaching them how to think."
- Another part of discussion centered around where we all learned our "subject matter." Most of us seemed to agree that we learned more from our K-12 education than our college education. I felt this way before the discussion, and I still feel this way afterwards as well. I regularly think back to my time as a high school English student and draw on my own high school experiences when planning my lessons and conceptualizing units.
Here is David Foster Wallace's graduation address at Kenyon College before he died, in which he adresses what it means to "learn how to think." A well spent 23 minutes if you have it.
Our discussion ended with some talk about how outside-school experiences have shaped our teaching. At first this seemed like a difficult question to answer, but then after some prodding from Joan, I found myself thinking of many examples. I think for me the most important is how much I read outside of school. I have always loved reading and I still regularly read books for pleasure. This improves my vocabulary, expands my mind, and gives me possible book suggestions for my students. I also find myself reading the popular teen books so that I can talk to my students about their outside reading books. For example, I read Paper Towns by John Green about a year ago. Last semester I had my students do discussion groups based on an outside reading book of their choice, and I had several groups choose this book. Not only was I able to more critically assess their discussion questions, I was able to ask intelligent follow-up questions while they were discussing. I found these groups coming to me before and after class to ask me what I thought of the ending when they got there. (Spoiler alert: Most teenagers find the ending disappointing. Sorry John). This helps make me relevant and it turns out a lot of these books are pretty awesome. Win/win!
John and Hank Green, the "Vlog Brothers" of Youtube
In reflecting back on my educational experience, I still find myself drawn to writing and technology as crucial components of modern day English classrooms. I see myself pursuing an inquiry of the most crucial and relevant types of writing for students to know as they make their way towards college and the enigmatic "real world." I have a lot of possible questions, but I think one major content question for me is, "Can students improve their writing through blogging?" This will involve research on writing in general (I'd like to look specifically at the writing process) as well as research on blogging. I've done a few brief searches for scholarly articles on blogging and have found a few articles of interest, but I have a lot more to do. There is a TON of material out there on writing and teaching students to write, but much less on the effect blogging might have on the writing process. Right now I don't have any concrete ideas on experiential learning sources, but I have a feeling I might have to branch out into a larger scope to find sources. Maybe a writing workshop of some kind? Does making my own blog count?
I wrote comments to Mary Buckley, Brandon Runyon, and Marshall Kratter.
