Healing the Habit of Habitual Teaching

Imagine walking into a teacher development session and having your students sitting at the table with you. What would you think? Would you value their input? Would you ask their advice? Including students in the planning process of educational programs is what some futurists are suggesting.

We no longer live in an industrial society where dictator-like teachers teach children to conform, stand in a straight line, and speak only when called on. Our society is moving towards more of an individualized one - differentiating instruction to meet all students’ needs. On the other hand, there are the state standards and the standardized tests to contend with. So is the differentiation just to get all of the students standardized?

Where is the educational system going?

Now some Futurists suggest that we ask the students what they want to learn and how they want to learn it. They contrast the money spent in the corporate world to develop systems, programs, and products based on the consumers’ wishes, to the money spent in education on systems, programs, and products with complete disregard of the students’ desires. Mark Prensky believes that if schools, administrators, and districts, make a concerted effort to get students’ input while developing their educational plans, it will decrease dropout rates and student violence (Prensky, 2008). In his article, “Young Minds, Fast Times: The Twenty-First-Century Digital Learner - How tech-obsessed iKids would improve our schools,” he states that the educational system, which is run by experienced intelligent “old folks,” is in jeopardy if we don’t “invite them [the kids] to the party.”

The party he refers to is the staff development trainings and educator conferences, which he has already put into reality. Prensky invites a panel of students to participate in his presentations so that educators can understand and hear what students think of the educational system. Giving children a voice empowers them, but it also becomes apparent that what students want in their education differs greatly from what they are getting. Many students agree that they are bored in school. Students want real-life situations to deal with, projects where they can work together and deal with questions and share ideas. Students want to be considered as equals, which contrasts with the lecturing and the sitting quietly and listening lessons that they are being provided.

So can it work?

The website, Sound Out – Promoting student voice in school, focuses on providing “meaningful student involvement.” They list ways to involve students as Education Planners, which includes designing, planning, and participating in curriculum design, individualized learning plans, classroom activities, budgeting, and new school design. They lay out how to make the "party" accessible to kids, which includes training for both adults and children. This site also devotes space to share examples of how students are involved in their educational planning from first-grade up to high school. Involving students in the planning process meet state standards while making the learning experiences more purposeful.

What about me?

Many teachers have experiences where student input in creating rules or making educational choices works. They get that sense of euphoria that comes when everything falls into place, students are engaged, and standards are met. Why then do teachers get sucked back into the vortex of dictatorship? Get in a straight line!! Stop leaning in your chair! Listen when I am speaking! Yikes that sounds like me!

Teachers teach the way they were taught. And the educational system supports and reinforces that in the form of state adopted textbooks that align with the standards and the state tests. The state adopts textbooks for all students that meet the standards. They get professional development on how to use the textbook. The textbooks must be used because they align with the state test. Hmmm. Now it seems like the publishers are making the decisions.

The educational system does need to be in the hands of those who are directly affected by it. San Diego School District is currently implementing Proposition S, a 2.1 billion dollar plan to modernize school sites to prepare the students for the 21st century. The Citizens’ Oversite Committee is made up of adults. None are students. $2.1 billion is a lot of money to spend on technological tools that evolve so quickly. The measure does not address how teachers will be trained to implement technology, nor does it ensure that these tools are what the students want and need. Providing WiFi for all schools is essential, however how schools will use it is not being addressed.

Educators, parents, and especially students need to push for educational reform that blends the top-down reform with bottom-up (students’) input. Educators need to remember how to engage students, not dictate, but they also need support from the top and pats on the back to motivate them as they go through this change. Child-centered education should be developed with the students.