Facilitating discussion has always been a value-added part of education. This week I have been leading faculty in team debriefings. Giving them the majority of space for conversations helps people process new ideas. Our structured discussions also allow people to teach one another. It takes longer to arrive at a decision or understanding, yet the outcomes are usually better and everyone feels valued and listened to when done well.
Prioritizing students' strengths and interests in any curriculum or subject area is always smart teaching which leads to greater engagement, achievement, and equity. Using first rate literature for reading and as writing models goes along with that priority. So does starting with a whole text in reading and writing and not breaking things up into bits and pieces.
I appreciate these points you made, Regie - curriculum needs to be adaptive to students, not too rigid or scripted. And great literature never goes out of style.
For me it always comes back to the one thing that is sadly often DEvalued in too many schools: respectful open-ended collegial conversations designed to invite to teachers to explore collective ponderings (vs come up with a hard and fast solution). I have always believed that best ideas come from conversation unfettered by directives or time frames and lead to so many possibilities that would never have otherwise been considered. When we have the freedom for exploratory discourse to take us where it may, it leaves room to contemplate WHAT IF from many angles and perspectives. As much as schools would love for this to be a quick process, it rarely is and speeding up that process can only blind us to yet unknown ways of thinking.
"It's a journey, not a race," comes to mind when I read your comment, Mary. Thank you for sharing this important point. We do have time for these types of conversations, but something else has to go. What will it be and how do we decide? It comes back to thinking about our priorities and constantly remembering the why of the work.
Facilitating discussion has always been a value-added part of education. This week I have been leading faculty in team debriefings. Giving them the majority of space for conversations helps people process new ideas. Our structured discussions also allow people to teach one another. It takes longer to arrive at a decision or understanding, yet the outcomes are usually better and everyone feels valued and listened to when done well.
Prioritizing students' strengths and interests in any curriculum or subject area is always smart teaching which leads to greater engagement, achievement, and equity. Using first rate literature for reading and as writing models goes along with that priority. So does starting with a whole text in reading and writing and not breaking things up into bits and pieces.
I appreciate these points you made, Regie - curriculum needs to be adaptive to students, not too rigid or scripted. And great literature never goes out of style.
For me it always comes back to the one thing that is sadly often DEvalued in too many schools: respectful open-ended collegial conversations designed to invite to teachers to explore collective ponderings (vs come up with a hard and fast solution). I have always believed that best ideas come from conversation unfettered by directives or time frames and lead to so many possibilities that would never have otherwise been considered. When we have the freedom for exploratory discourse to take us where it may, it leaves room to contemplate WHAT IF from many angles and perspectives. As much as schools would love for this to be a quick process, it rarely is and speeding up that process can only blind us to yet unknown ways of thinking.
"It's a journey, not a race," comes to mind when I read your comment, Mary. Thank you for sharing this important point. We do have time for these types of conversations, but something else has to go. What will it be and how do we decide? It comes back to thinking about our priorities and constantly remembering the why of the work.