Photo retrieved from:
What was your K-12 education like? Were you bored in school? Gatto (2003) shared his view on public education:
Boredom was everywhere in my world, and if you asked the kids, as I often did, why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around. They said teachers didn't seem to know much about their subjects and clearly weren't interested in learning more. And the kids were right: their teachers were every bit as bored as they were.
(p. 1)
Ever since the beginning of my Master's program, the way I perceive education has been questioned or brought to my attention. Since viewing Sir Ken Robinson’s “Schools Kills Creativity”, I immediately began reflecting on my philosophy of teaching. I may care for my students and want them to achieve the best that they can by offering differentiated instruction, but is that enough? I went to grade school in the 90s and aside from grade 1 and 2, I was bored in school. I had some issues with my parents growing up since I wasn’t “studious” as they wanted me to. I am not sure if it was whether I was bored that the material was easy/difficult or that the teaching styles that I experienced was the problem. When grade 8 came around, that was when I started to care about my education. I had this gut feeling (and my parents’ praise) that I had to get my act together and start “working hard” in school. In a way, I started to care about grades (quite frankly, that should have not been my motivation). I am somewhat thankful for where my direction of education has gone. However, I wish there was more space for creativity.
Photo retrieved from
My family, I would say, are highly educated. Majority of my cousins have at least an undergraduate degree and some have continued pursuing professional careers/higher education (doctors, dentists, Masters, PhD). I felt intimidated that these people in my life are able to achieve such success. My parents never pushed me into such careers; they just wanted me to achieve independence by taking care of myself. However, they were very persistent on me getting to the high grades possible. We want our students to gain knowledge and skills that will lead them to their passion, yet kids are not truly engaged in what they are learning. It is true, we think of “success” as synonymous with “schooling” (Gatto, 2003, p. 2). If our parents were educated this way, then of course they will educate their children similarly. Grades continue to be a form of assessment in understanding how our students are doing. Can this also be a factor in students being bored and unmotivated?
Considering that I am a fairly new educator, I will keep Gatto’s theories in mind. I agree that “we could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness – curiousity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight – simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, by introducing kids to truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he/she needs in order to take a risk every now and then.” (Gatto, 2003, p. 2). I am a firm believer of student-based learning and as a teacher, to help children guide through this world logically, independently, and freely. We need to let students manage themselves (Gatto, 2003, p. 7). Isn’t that the best way to learn: by doing?
Passion-Based Learning: The Missing Piece?
There are a variety of instructional strategies in keeping students engaged and to think outside the box: inquiry-based, project-based, design-based and problem-based learning. The concepts of 21st century learning has been advocated in current education practices. Recently, I have been hearing the term passion-based learning here and there but was not quite exactly sure what it entails. Ainissa Ramirez' blog shares an insightful discussion regarding teaching and passion. Can passion-based learning be the key to students not being bored anymore? Passion-based learning consist of:
- Finding out what each child is innately passionate about
- Being an educator that shows passion for the topic, share this excitement with your students
(Ramirez, 2013)
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy right? Unfortunately, I was never given this opportunity to learn. Did you?
Photo retrieved from
Differentiated instruction (DI) has been a popular theme when I was in teacher's college. DI mainly focusing on different types of learners. By keeping this mind, why don't educators allow some leg room for students to choose what they want to learn? The Ontario curriculum is very structured and has very specific expectations on what students need to learn. By these structural "rules", educators must be creative (a 21st century skill!) in developing lessons that engages students in the curriculum. Yet, we are uniquely different with a variety of interests and students may show interest on some of the units that are laid out in the curriculum. Shouldn't we allow students the choice in deciding what they are passionate to learn? Genius Hour is a time for students to explore their passion. I was very intrigued by Genius Hour as companies such as Google are allowing their team an hour a day to focus on what they want. I'm thinking, "Wow! Why are we not doing this?" I believe activities such as Genius Hour can offer students to think creatively and be engaged in what they are interested in.
We want students to love learning and we especially don't want students to be bored in school. Wouldn't you want to learn passionately?
We want students to love learning and we especially don't want students to be bored in school. Wouldn't you want to learn passionately?
- Tien
References
Gatto, J. T. (2003, September). Against school: How public education cripples our kids, and why. Harper, 33-38. Retrieved on November 19, 2012 from http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm
Gatto, J. T. (2003, September). Against school: How public education cripples our kids, and why. Harper, 33-38. Retrieved on November 19, 2012 from http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm
Tien,
ReplyDeleteThanks for another thought-provoking blog and getting me to think about education in new ways. In trying to recall my K-12 experience, it is somewhat of a challenge to remember those days. Now, it could be age, although I have a sense that it's mostly because school was not that interesting as referenced in your post and research.
The idea of passion-based learning is intriguing and I can definitely see the value in this for students' educational experience. Although, part of me wonders that if we are focusing too much on differentiated instruction, do we lose the ability to challenge students to consider learning outside of their own interest areas? In other words, people tend to "do what they know" and "don't know what they don't know". If we only explore things that we are passionate about - or learn in ways that feel most comfortable to us - does that have a negative impact at all? I am too much of a novice in these subject areas to have an educated opinion on these matters although those are just some of the ideas I am considering as I think through this.
I like how you have connected the value of "Genius Hour" to helping students think creatively and exploring their passions. It reminds me of a process we are currently exploring within my department call "white space" (http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/2064.html). It's similar to "Genius Hour" although whitespace consists of "opportunities that fall outside the scope of formal planning, budgeting, and management.". In other words, it's about finding time to explore ways in which to explore entrepreneurial ways of thinking to positively impact your business - i.e. thinking creatively. Students can benefit from being allowed time to think creatively and administrators would benefit from allowing staff this time as well.
One thing is certain, students in your classroom will be afforded a wonderful learning experience Tian as I know you will find ways to incorporate all that you have learned in meaningful ways for your students!
Marisa
Hi Tien,
ReplyDeleteNice post. Thanks for discussing passion-based learning. I see plenty of need for teachers to tap into the curiosity, creativity and passion of their students. While I am intrigued by Marisa's comment above, questioning the degree to which we should focus on individual differences, I am interested in learning more about intermittent focus on students passions, like what is involved in Genius Hour. I think that this is great!
Part of the reason that I love being a Masters Student, is that I am extremely passionate about what I am learning. Perhaps, the most passionate I have ever been in school! I'm happy about this, no doubt, but it does frustrate me that it took so long to find what I was looking for. I did enjoy my education up to this point, but it was hit and miss throughout K-12...kind of like being on a roller-coaster, with highly passionate experiences(peaks), followed by dark tunnels of boring, redundant, and unimaginative plateaus.
I can only imagine how difficult it might be for elementary and secondary school classrooms to foster passion-based learning, given the demands of standardized testing at the present time. I am all for it though!
Coincidentally, I had a conversation with my daughter last night, that ties in directly with your post. It was right before bed-time, and we weren't even talking about school. All of a sudden, she randomly stated that she didn't like school right now. I thought it might be because it was Sunday evening, and she had a fun weekend...Not the case though. So, why is she not enjoying school/bored right now?
"Because we have to do math and reading everyday, and we only do art every two weeks!"
Well, there you have it!
Thanks Tien for all of your wonderful posts. You're a very inquisitive thinker, and your students will benefit from your curiosity and interest in passion-based learning.
All the best.
Brett
Hi Tien,
ReplyDeleteAgain, another great, detailed and thought-provoking post! I like how you summed it all up by asking that simple question at the end, 'Wouldn't you want to learn passionately?' I completely agree with not only that question but also your theme around this blog, 'Is School Boring?'
Growing up, I also didn't enjoy going to school, which I don't think many people do but I was fortunate enough to have the parents that guided/pushed me through school in terms of letting me know that the work I put into myself through high school will pay dividends in the end for the rest of my life. Now, unfortunately not every student has parents that were like mine or yours, so what happens to them?
As you mentioned in the first quote, the majority of students think school is boring and they don't want to learn. Well, if they think that and aren't being guided by their parents, then they will fall through the cracks.
I strongly believe that a teacher needs to tap into their student's imagination and creativity in order to keep them engaged and similar to you, I changed my teaching philosophy not only to fit those needs but just because it seemed like a lot more fun!
I was very bored in grade school and I always told myself that if I was ever to become a teacher I would make sure that I would teach my students the way I wanted to be taught! And guess what, now I'm a teacher and I can't wait to bring what I have to the table! (SOMEBODY GIVE ME A JOB!!! haha)
Great post!
James
Hi Tien: Your post is very similar to Brett's (the only one that I have read so far). You ask some very good questions. Yes the research shows that Canadian students are BORED in school. That is why we need a new story. Passion is a word that I heard a lot in my latest research. it involved both teacher and students' passion. How do we tap into that when everyone will have a different passion?? DI is being replaced by Personalized Learning - personalization is when everyone pursues their own passion with experts through a PLN (personal learning community). At the same time everyone needs to learn basic skills like literacy and numeracy - but hopefully they will be intrinsically motivated to do so because they see the need for this within their own area of interest. And then there is the argument for Deep Learning that I know you also found interesting (Kiernan Egan). For him, each student needs to study something deeply for a very long time to gain expertise. Interestingly, topics are assigned to students in the early grades - there is not a choice - but students still become passionate about the topic. How do we explain this? That everything is inherently interesting if we look deeply enough into it?
ReplyDelete