teaching/coaching four classes right now: "brain games" (chess, sudoku, backgammon, 10,000, dominoes...), girls' volleyball, creative writing and personal narrative. at an inner-city school focused on credit recovery, fast-track to graduation, helping marginalized youth who have struggled in other settings.
challenges: inconsistent attendance, poor sleep habits (tired students), cell phones, marijuana youth, low academic skills, apathy.
pedagogical challenges: the polarity of highly-structured classrooms with timed activities moving kids from one activity to the next-- very teacher-based, top down, get in your seats and let's do this, then this, then this, "do-nows", "exit tickets" and all that...
pros of this included commanding kids' attention-- like jumping into a swift river. the tempo is set and they are swept along (or not).
cons of this: heavily dependent on the teacher and teacher prep. What's wrong with that? Isn't that what you're paid for? well, yeah, sorta--
what's wrong with it is that students often remain passive objects in their own education. They wait for instructions-- to be told what "counts", what will be assessed, when it's due. Rubrics are used to tell them what to include in their work, to what extent.
If education is geared towards empowerment-- which it may not be-- then there's perhaps a lack of practice of students stepping into their own power.
Education could be geared towards... skill development, content knowledge, math and reading and writing skills and capacities. This can be done without really engaging critical thinking, problem-solving, deep analysis-- the types of things that could lead toward individual and community empowerment.
at career day many of the presenters are sharp, inspirational. One is a bail bondsman (woman). A woman of color who clearly is professionally successful, able to talk about some things that are crucial to her success, and some of the fundamentals of her business.
Without a word about the economic-social-political context of her work: the fact that bail bondsmen are mainlining the economic veins of society's most disadvantaged-- its poor, and largely people of color-- the audience she is addressing. And suddenly she's presenting this as an attractive career option for the youth we're teaching? My gut reaction-- wtf?!
challenges: inconsistent attendance, poor sleep habits (tired students), cell phones, marijuana youth, low academic skills, apathy.
pedagogical challenges: the polarity of highly-structured classrooms with timed activities moving kids from one activity to the next-- very teacher-based, top down, get in your seats and let's do this, then this, then this, "do-nows", "exit tickets" and all that...
pros of this included commanding kids' attention-- like jumping into a swift river. the tempo is set and they are swept along (or not).
cons of this: heavily dependent on the teacher and teacher prep. What's wrong with that? Isn't that what you're paid for? well, yeah, sorta--
what's wrong with it is that students often remain passive objects in their own education. They wait for instructions-- to be told what "counts", what will be assessed, when it's due. Rubrics are used to tell them what to include in their work, to what extent.
If education is geared towards empowerment-- which it may not be-- then there's perhaps a lack of practice of students stepping into their own power.
Education could be geared towards... skill development, content knowledge, math and reading and writing skills and capacities. This can be done without really engaging critical thinking, problem-solving, deep analysis-- the types of things that could lead toward individual and community empowerment.
at career day many of the presenters are sharp, inspirational. One is a bail bondsman (woman). A woman of color who clearly is professionally successful, able to talk about some things that are crucial to her success, and some of the fundamentals of her business.
Without a word about the economic-social-political context of her work: the fact that bail bondsmen are mainlining the economic veins of society's most disadvantaged-- its poor, and largely people of color-- the audience she is addressing. And suddenly she's presenting this as an attractive career option for the youth we're teaching? My gut reaction-- wtf?!
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