Living at the hyphen: The Student Led Teaching Assignments for Chapter 9

With ISATs coming to a merciful end, we are now able to fully focus our energies on what lies ahead. I think an appropriate line of inquiry might be to ask what could top the final exam? What could be more taxing than a five day exam that covered two trimesters’ worth of work? What could be conjured that would demand more than an exam worth 58% of a student’s overall grade?

One word: Teaching.

Teaching.

Teaching?


As long as I have taught, I have believed that after a certain point of time with students, they need to be let in on the process, they need to “crack the code” and experience life on the other side of the podium. I cleave to the fact that teaching allows them this opportunity. Students received the next task on Thursday/ Friday, a nearly 20 page document on how to design, implement, instruct, and assess a lesson from chapter 9, the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. Students had one assignment over the weekend: To annotate the document and generate as many questions as possible so as to gear our discussion on Monday. My hope is that students arrive to class on Monday with as many questions as possible to make a more worthwhile endeavor.

These student taught lessons on chapter 9 will prove to be the most challenging endeavor yet. Part of the reason that it will be so challenging is that students are not in complete, absolute, total control of the final product. Over time, I have come to understand the dynamic of pure teaching and learning as something that compels one to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. There is no totality in the process of teaching and learning. Students arrive into the classroom with their own set of cognitive, metacognitive, personal, psychological, and mental baggage and the teacher becomes a sort of “intellectual doctor” who must assess and diagnose the particular conditions in the hopes of achieving a worthwhile lesson of instruction. I feel that I have tried my best this year to live at this particular zone that allows me to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. This notion of teacher- practitioner sees me living at “the hypen” and it has made our journey one that has been uniquely distinctive. Now, I think the time is right to hand over the reins to the students. They have spent enough time on the bench. Now, it is time for them to experience game situations in “real time.”

Students will have to choose a topic from chapter 9. Then, they will have to design a 40 minute lesson that instructs their students on essential concepts within that topic. Students will have to be responsible for content instruction and classroom management. Students will be responsible for attendance, and ensuring each of their “pupils” are on task. Students will be responsible for issues of discipline and managing focus. Students will be responsible for creating a visual that embodies their content. Students will be responsible for designing, distributing, and assessing homework. Students will be responsible for designing and composing a portion of the chapter 9 exam. Students will be responsible for running study sessions and developing study guides. Students will be responsible for achieving a class average of 70% on their component of the exam. Students will be responsible for ensuring that they assess the overall learning performance of each student. The theme of this unit would be that of responsibility. This task will be one of the most challenging that students have faced because they have to be in control of their decision making skills and then account for the choices of their colleagues. Once again, it becomes a challenge to live comfortably in the realm of discomfort.

Students will be give a timetable for completion of tasks this week. This can also be found on this blog, under the “Handouts” link. I believe that the process of constructing lessons on chapter 9 might allow our students another opportunity to demonstrate their talent in advancing their journeys towards scholarship. In this process, I think it would be worthwhile for students to contribute their thoughts to the class wiki, whose link can be found on the top right hand corner of the blog. The notion of living at the hyphen can be enhanced when we engage in worthwhile dialogue about what it means to reside in such a challenging neighborhood.

I know that this is fun.

All best and happy hunting!

Mr. Kannan