Student Leadership and Authentic Work

I sit here in the midst of a student-led practice session for the Model UN to be held at University of Pennsylvania in two weeks. These kids are staying after school from 3-7pm at the start of a weekend. Right now, their energy is sky high. They are well prepared, articulate and intelligent. I wondered last year why schooling couldn't look more like clubs such as this. At the time, I emphasized the importance of student agency. Watching this this evening reaffirms this belief. These kids choose to be here because the are interested by the topic. I'm struck by the power of an authentic task (even if it is only a simulated authentic task). I think mostly anything that asks students to play the role of expert becomes an authentic task.

I have a super trio of seniors who are running this session as I write this from the third row.

I chime in now and then from my third row perch with some advice, but it is clear to them and to me that their roles are essential. I'm here to keep order; I edit some of their papers; I give some speaking tips; I control the money; I supervise the sleeping arrangements; and I'll make sure they behave themselves in center city Philadelphia. I set up the Google Classroom page, I give advice to a student now and then and give my super trio some advice once in awhile.  I communicate with the Model UN company. Why can't at least of this be replicated in the classroom setting?  I have important essential roles, but I don't have to run things. I leave that to the trio.

Real learning is going on for everyone involved in this process. Authenticity has something to do with this. Students are presenting their work to a real audience. This borrows from the best of problem based learning because students are scouring the internet through this whole process to find information they can use in real and meaningful ways.

There is something too about the almost frenetic pace and overall "busyness" of this session. Ideas quickly fly about the room  even though the format is formal and highly structured. I have to think more about this as I've never been in a rush in the classroom. Maybe I sometimes should provoke kids to be in a hurry.

The answer to interesting and engaging humanities teaching isn't Model UN for everyone, but surely much this can be replicated in the classroom.

A few final thoughts.
-Students are writing good papers without the motivation/ threat of grades. I've long said we need to divorce grades from learning. They have very little to do with each other. I know I'm tilting at windmills. But gosh, the evidence is right in front of me right now.
-I have 9th through 12th graders in the room. I like the mentoring that the older students give to the younger students. I like the leadership opportunities clubs like this offer. Can we do more to blend learning experiences in school? I understand why math and foreign language class have to group students by ability. But why can't we mix 9th through 12th graders more in other classes. "To teach is to know," right? If that's true, let the kids teach each other.

Student Choice

Learner Agency

One can wind me up and provoke me with a few prompts and I can go on for a long time. One such "rant" is about teaching responsibility. If we really wanted to teach responsibility wouldn't we sometimes give students choice if they need extra math practice or not? Instead of telling a student, "Answer 1-31 odd." Maybe we could say, "Try 3 or 4 problems, make sure to try harder ones and if you understand how to do it, stop." Which better teaches responsibility for learning? The first instruction or the second? How would you, my reader, prefer to be treated? Giving a student some choice promotes responsibility.

Let me tell you about Kevin, one of my advisees. He's an upperclassman. Kevin is so excited about school. He likes some of his classes; others do not excite him. He's intellectually very bright and does very well while putting forth only a middling effort. What excites him? Where does he put his effort and energy? In his clubs. Kevin does two moot courts, debate, model UN, and another half dozen clubs. Kevin spends hours upon hours a week preparing for club meetings and going to club meetings.

Why is he so excited about what "doesn't count"?  Competition excites him, yes. The ability to take a leadership role likely does as well. I'd argue that what really excites him is the fact that he chooses these clubs and that he has a real voice in determining what the group is going to do.

My school's teachers aren't authoritarian in style or personality. But the 19th century school model that we have inherited is. Students are asked to complete the same tasks in the same time frames and have very little say in what they will do next.

In this one size fits all approach, we threaten the students with poor grades and reward them with high grades to motivate them to do the work. Yet, Kevin works far less on his schoolwork on which he is graded than he does on his club work in which he is interested.

I taught for 22 years without giving grades. This is my 25th year teaching. I have to grade students this year because I teach High School. "It counts", I'm told.  (I'll spare you my grades rant.)  I can tell you with certainty that my 9th grade students who I grade work no harder than my 8th grade students who I didn't grade. Grades don't seem to be the tool to generate student's excitement. A professor of mine argued that students want to learn until they go to school and we start grading them!  hat tip +Russ Walsh .

One anecdote doesn't prove a point. But I've seen many Kevins in my years teaching. Here's one other story. My school started a STEM club about 6 years ago and the club leapt to national prominence. People asked one of the teachers who founded it, "Why not make it a class?" I remember my colleague's answer clearly, "That would kill it."

The system far too big to overthrow. Still, we can make significant changes within the system and it starts with giving students real choice. Give them choices in what they might wish to study in greater detail. Let them decide if they want to write a paper, take a test, or make some sort of project demonstrating learning. Gasp, let them choose some of the books they get to read.

Schools are schools and business is business. We never should conflate the two. I don't even like the terms "homework" or "schoolwork" because that mindset makes LEARNING tedious. Yet, giving students choice better prepares them for what businesses say they want. Here's a 2015 Bloomberg survey of the top companies in the country. It looks like what Kevin gets out of his clubs is at least as important as what he learns in his classes.