it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way"
-Charles Dickens
It was this opening line from A Tale of Two Cities that I couldn't help but run through my head as I wrote my AR summary. Really though, it was both the best and the worst of times. The best because of the change I saw in my students and how my AR focus changed my view of education completely. The worst because of all the fighting with "the powers that be" and the sneakiness of implementing the project because it was so against the grain. To think that students could actually learn SO much about reading, and improve their reading scores when I didn't teach to the test. To think that using the adopted textbook as a doorstop, and giving students authentic texts was more effective than teaching by the scripted curriculum.
As I began comparing my (tentative) results to my Literature Review, I noticed that I had not only achieved what I had hoped for in this project, but so SO much more. My students became better readers, thinkers, learners and carers. What more could I ask for? One thing I didn't expect though, that may be problematic for others was the continual nagging question, "Man, why can't all my classes be like this one?" The question mostly came from the students, but it also echoed in my head on a daily basis. Why can't all their classes be like this one? Why can't all their teachers find a way to incorporate character education and challenge-based learning within their content area? Why can't all their teachers shift the focus from teacher-led to student-directed learning? WHAT THE HECK ARE WE AFRAID OF???
Do we believe that teaching student to actually think and be compassionate global citizens will be too detrimental to test scores to bother wasting a minute on? Do we believe it's the parent's job and by the time they reach us, it's just too late? Do we believe that we've been teaching these classes too long and been doing things the same way, so there's no use in changing now?
Don't we believe the students are worth it???
I do. And my AR project proves the kids do. My next step is to design a presentation so compelling, that everybody else does, too.
As I began comparing my (tentative) results to my Literature Review, I noticed that I had not only achieved what I had hoped for in this project, but so SO much more. My students became better readers, thinkers, learners and carers. What more could I ask for? One thing I didn't expect though, that may be problematic for others was the continual nagging question, "Man, why can't all my classes be like this one?" The question mostly came from the students, but it also echoed in my head on a daily basis. Why can't all their classes be like this one? Why can't all their teachers find a way to incorporate character education and challenge-based learning within their content area? Why can't all their teachers shift the focus from teacher-led to student-directed learning? WHAT THE HECK ARE WE AFRAID OF???
Do we believe that teaching student to actually think and be compassionate global citizens will be too detrimental to test scores to bother wasting a minute on? Do we believe it's the parent's job and by the time they reach us, it's just too late? Do we believe that we've been teaching these classes too long and been doing things the same way, so there's no use in changing now?
Don't we believe the students are worth it???
I do. And my AR project proves the kids do. My next step is to design a presentation so compelling, that everybody else does, too.
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