As much as I am not a fan of the notion that we, as teachers, are meant to play a sort of "babysitter" role for students, I think Kist makes quite a leap of faith by questioning the traditional structure of order in the school system.
I'm not sure if he was just making a hyperbole at the beginning of the chapter or if he was seriously inclined to allow students to more or less do whatever they wanted. To me, this all sounds like some dream-like utopia that in reality doesn't work as nicely as Kist might think.
Yes, under most circumstances, it is oddly condescending to make 17 year-olds ask to go to the bathroom. We have to keep in mind, however, that the students are there for a specific purpose--to learn. Teachers have the job to not only teach the content, but also maintain an environment conducive to learning. Because of this, we have to at least keep some order in the room. We have to at least have some of standardization.
Now that's not to say that I discourage student creativity and individualism. I just feel that there are so many other outlets for this that giving students the freedom of working on their own time, roaming the halls, etc. may be a step too far.
I honestly really hope that I misunderstood Kist's intentions. Even with a group of the most "ideal" students, I just can't see it all working out with the model that he dreams up.
Hi Jake,
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that several of your classmates have expressed concern about "roaming the halls" when working on projects. As someone who was able to have students work outside of the classroom, I'm not sure what the concern is. Maybe it's because I worked in such a large high school where it wasn't too disruptive. But I have found that if you have a task clearly outlined (they must carry it with them, with their names on it) and it serves as the hall pass...many administrators will allow this. The purpose of getting outside must be clear, and students must be able to conduct themselves professionally.
I hope you and some others re-consider allowing students to work outside the classroom, as there are many affordances that the out of classroom experience can provide, provided that the students have a clear task and objective. Clearly we don't want them to be disruptive.
I agree with T.O. I went to a high school with 2,700 students in an urban section of Cleveland. Although we had security guards and metal detectors, I had several teachers who would assign projects that could be done outside of the classroom. We had an atrium that featured a small pond and a few picnic tables. With a hall pass, students could utilize the atrium for classwork. It worked out really well! "Roaming" is a term that conjures mental images of zoo animals let out of their cages, and although students may seem like animals at times, I think students should have a bit of freedom especially with these creative projects.
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