36 Children

A friend of mine recently lent me a book called 36 Children by Hebert Kohl... It was written in the 1960's but not published until 1988. The book itself outlines the author's trials at teaching in Harlem and dealing with the apathy of the teaching staff towards their students. Anyone who has recently been through any kind of education program has heard the well established axiom about teacher expectations and how it can have a massive impact on student outcome. Especially when it has to do with differences in Socio-Economic Status. Personally, I have no doubts what so ever that our own views and opinions of our students play a heavy role in our students' own motivation, not mention their self-esteem.

But for the sake of argument, and after a few years in the public system, my views on this matter have mellowed somewhat.

Let us begin at the beginning: As young teachers pour out of our academic institutions, filled with the notion of carrying their high expectations out into their fresh new classrooms, what is the end result? Speaking from my own personal experience, I had to drop my expectations dramatically within the first few terms for fear of getting fired! It is one thing to have high expectations in terms of your overall outcomes, like teaching students the value of critical thinking and supporting their opinions, instead of worrying about the fact that their basic literacy skills are lacking. What I'm really saying is most new teachers have to adjust their expectations of how their students may present their work, instead of focusing on the same old essays and oral presentations.

Currently, I'm in the process of correcting my students work for Term 2. Marking and evaluating is always a bit of a de-moralizing experiment at my school in the sense that only about 1/3 of my students actually hand in their work. It's easy to see how teachers could slip into such an apathetic state, similar to the students no doubt, where you wonder "why bother?" But the upside is there, within that 1/3 who actually benefit from our hard work and the nights we spend concocting new assignments. Plus, it is the bane we carry as secondary school teachers, who are only truly recognized and valued once our students have moved on...

In reality, which is where the Public System is heavily entrenched, the average students is just that...Average. My new Principal actually said it best, when she described the average High School student as someone who needs the phone calls home and who needs to be reminded on a daily basis. And if I am being honest, I've never heard another educator describe students that way before. It was a bit of an eye-opener really.

Kohl's book is a stunning account of how he begins letting his Grade 6 group start to "lead" where the class would go. This is where you start to see the beauty of truly student-centered learning, be it either in a computer lab or on the side of mountain. I find myself constantly asking my students "what do you want to do now?" Most of the time they don't really know where to go, but that's ok...We're still learning. And Kohl's book is helping me to remember that just because we're not on topic, or the kids are browsing some other site, doesn't mean they aren't learning!

So how do you muster up the mustard (ha ha!) to keep pushing? Mid-week I had two of what would be called "problem students" come to visit me. These were two girls who, although very bright, would constantly push the boundaries of my patience in class...To the point where it would sometimes deteriorate into shouting matches. But they came to visit and we laughed together about the good times and the bad times, as if we were family. It was a good moment, and I'm putting it writing (like Kohl did) to help me focus on it...

TW

Video Clip - This week my father actually sent me a video feed from one of my favorite skiers: Shane McConkey himself. Every dream of flying?




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