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| Romeo & Juliet - Ford M Brown |
Two classes, both alike in dignity,
In fairest cyber-space we lay our scene:
An ancient failing pedagogy breaks
and from its wounds heuristic theory spills;
A pair of star-cross'd classes lose their life:
Whose misadventured piteous work-attempts
do with their death bury their teacher's strife.
The fearful passage of their work, so brief,
And the continuance of their teacher's angst
which, but the classes end, nought could remove,
Is now the two-page traffic of this stage;
The which if you with patient eyes attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
My glorious, uncompesated readers I present, for your learning pleasure, this complex and important anecdote so that you may continue seeking enlightenment, satisfaction, and fulfillment from the work you have chosen to do.
Scenario A
A class of grade 9 boys, studying Space. They begin in conversation simply pouring over the lexicon of work required to fulfill the Alberta Program of Studies, not as a reminder of what MUST be done, but rather what COULD be done. They meet and express their unique loves, as boys, for things that are mysterious, foreign, to be mastered, and ultimately explode. They approach me, their teacher, and announce that the most exciting part of learning about Space will be to build themselves a ROCKET. Their teacher, with pomp and exuberance relays to them that this is exactly what they will do so long as they complete the research necessary to get the rocket to space safely. He lays out four tasks which rocket-engineers must understand before undertaking any building project and sets them to task fulfilling these requirements as quickly as possible so they can make it to the rocket-building.
Scenario B
Now a class of grade 8 boys and girls, studying Water Systems. They begin, not in conversation with me, but with a simple task: To open up a website; http://waterquest.ca to be precise, and begin the drudgery of data-mining information that is barely relevant to their everyday life. Their teacher is there at times to simply respond to their questions, and construct the space within which they will record their "regurgitated" information. They are not offered a deadline, they are not offered a rubric. Nothing is exchanged but a web-address and an assignment.If you are not an expert in Human Motivation then I ask you to consider the two scenarios (both real) and offer that your gut-instinct is very naturally telling you that scenario A is MUCH MORE appealing than scenario B, and very likely the students are MUCH HAPPIER within scenario A as a result of knowing that they get to build a ROCKET.
And, like I was, you would be wrong.
For the last few days I have been racking my brain as to why I can't motivate 5 boys to use the web to research Space. Especially since there is an actual tangible reward in it for them. I am overwhelmed by the creative thought, energy, and efficacy with which the students in Scenario B are turning in work -- and the moxy they are showing solving their own problems and experimenting within the format, but I can't get the grade 9 students to open a website- much less begin the process of real research.
I have
a) considered that maybe it's just a developmental stage for the grade 9 boys that the grade 8's aren't at yet
b) that it's because they're boys and easily distracted by other ventures
c) that it just happens to be a circumstance of being in a classroom environment while the students in 8 are abundantly working from home
d) that they haven't had enough "responsibility" attached to the "learning"
And so I have
a) told them that we will play out a scenario of "World Domination" where they will master Space on route to mastering the world. I will be their General and over the course of their learning they will earn Rank points to move them up the hierarchy
b) given them an evaluation form for the information I am hoping they will return before we get to BUILD the rocket
c) rewarded them with the very real potential of creating a rocket
d) listened and responded intently to their concerns, issues, and desires, and responded in kind by provided what they appear to be looking for.
And then, because I'm exhausted from having to be so creative (and not being adequately compensated for the immense work that I choose to do) I am lying in bed listening to Drive by Daniel Pink...
For those who have read it you're probably chuckling to yourself right now... else you should be... :)
The SCIENCE does not match the THINKING.
The Grade 8's ARE working intrinsically even though the material itself is not NEARLY as interesting as the Grade 9 Space work. They have not been told that they HAVE to do anything, and there is not proverbial CARROT hanging near the STICK threatening their work as being anything more than them choosing to do GOOD WORK. In the class where I felt I was doing everything WRONG it turns out that I was playing to the actual nature of the Grade 8 psyche: do work for the sake of doing work, and balk at anything that tries to get in the way of that.
Counter to that, though I thought I was onto something AMAZING with the grade 9's I have done everything absolutely bass-ackward. I have taken something as intrinsically interesting as SPACE and said the only reason we are studying it is because we have some outcomes to achieve and I'm even going to take away the fun of building a ROCKET by making it a REWARD for doing (what should be) inherently interesting work.
Moreover I'm in contact with a group who's essential task is to create a game-ified, badge-based open learning pathway network (that's a mouthful) thinking that this might be an amazing way of opening up students to the potential of defining their own skill-set and making their own map of learning. AND I believe it will work simply BECAUSE it gets the teacher out of the way of the REWARD.
I am a walking contradiction with an alarming alacrity.
Working in reverse:
The last solution is simple, and I mirror it in my job right now
a) I abused an incredible amount of hours creating an online course that I offer for free, simply because I love teaching about stuff, I feel like I have something to offer, and I REALLY LOVE designing things. http://sites.google.com/site/artistsoftheigeneration-- there was a little carrot in that the Public Library offered me a forum, but no compensation really other than the joy of getting to "perform" a little.
b) I have quit my job as a high-paid geologist, to become a well-paid teacher, only to quit to become a part-time employee of a private-school start-up... the more experienced I get, the better my work gets and the LESS I am compensated to do it AND the MORE I feel fulfilled.
c) I don't need a badge, an honour-roll, or a reward to do it - BUT because the work is good people keep dropping by and OFFERING it to me, UNEXPECTED... so....
Solution 2 (Badge-Based Learning):
Let the students create and map their own learning path. Then share the immeasurable creativity and uniqueness of their work, and carefully and intentionally support them with words of praise, and informative feedback.Solution 1 (Cold Dead Space):
Drop the rank points (no one cares anyway)Drop the facade, space is interesting -- very little motivation required
Let them build the rocket because building a rocket is the learning, unlink it from the project and they will bring it back around -- because inevitably it does
Start looking for the parts of the learning that ARE algorithmic (and VERY LITTLE of science is algorithmic) and put those rewards where they should be.
Conclusion:
Learning is NOT algorithmic, but there are things that MUST be done in order to create a safe place for learning. In the absence of GAMIFYING those mundane tasks use other EXTRINSIC motivators, but for the love of teaching, and the love of PEDAGOGY...HEY, TEACHER, LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE.
