Alan November visited on curriculum day and filled our heads with possibilities for the laptop in each freshman's bookbag. November modeled examples of different student-type jobs; this was the strongest aspect of his presentation. Many say our task as teachers is to prepare students for an unimaginable job market of the future and to teach them to head companies who services are not yet needed. November's list below trains students in skills of communication and information management--both are right-brain talents (see Daniel Pink).1. Lesson review team. Students write, edit, and direct a podcast of past lessons they have learned (when to use the semi-colon, how to do long division for example).No teacher alive currently coordinates all six jobs.
2. Student-teachers. Students write lesson plans for the class and, as they present, record it with a screencast device (jing works) to make a movie of their lesson. Paste it on the class website for regular viewing later.
3. Daily class recorder or "scribe." One person takes scrupulous notes for the class. (I personally can never trust someone else to take notes for me because I learn as I write, but that's just me.)
4. Communal note review. All the class notes taken by the rotating scribe are pasted into google.docs. In or outside of class students edit (and elaborate on) the notes so they become incredibly complete.
5. Global community teams. Social network with other classrooms around the world using skype, wikis, del.icio.us. (Would my students benefit from reading The Catcher in the Rye along with a class in Tokyo and discussing it with them? Why not just talk to the person next to you? I have some doubts on this one.)
6. Research managers. Teach students how to research the backers of websites and find viable sources, then feed those sites (using RSS feeds) to their homepages so they get the latest updates on their research topics.
The day after November's visit I tried some of the simpler techniques in class. I think I expected a fight—some kind of "who are you to mix things up?" attitude from the students.
"So I went to this talk and basically you guys are responsible for your own education and I'm going to get out of the way now…ok?" (rough pitch I realize…I don't know what I was thinking).
They blinked at me.
I turned to student A near the corner of the room. Student A has wide eyes and lips which turn down at the edges, like a bug flew into her mouth and she holds it there courteously until class ends.
"Student A, you are going to be our scribe for this class. Could you take notes for us on google.docs?"
She swallowed the bug.
"Sure." She typed away, engaged for the first time in a while.
The next day I tried a larger leap into the world of uncertainty.
"Today you guys are going to teach one another mini-grammar lessons and we will record them. Can you be ready in fifteen minutes?"
"Yes!" They all turned to their partner and started drafting lesson plans with enthusiasm.
What? Have I really underestimated them so much? Was I a fool to think they needed to be spoon-fed comma rules when in reality they can just teach one another?
The presentations varied in quality. Some muddied the waters rather than cleared them; some taught the presenter something but not the audience. One pair leapt on the task and offered to go first. Here is the recorded screencast of their presentation:
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What I would do differently next time:
-Ask them to create a rubric for judging the presentations and give pros and cons to each presentation before and after.
-Visit each presentation beforehand and edit before they get up to present.
-Make sure to give them a small and teachable mini-lesson ("how to choose a good paper topic" was a broad one).
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