Relevant Work for Students

What Makes Kids Do Good Work?

In this article the author describes the following as relevant work for students: work that has purpose, relevance, gives students choices, and gives students ownership. These are the keys to making learning meaningful to students.

“When parents and educators talk about student work, two seemingly conflicting ideas enter the conversation. The first is that kids need more rigorous and meaningful work. The other is that kids need less work for the sake of work, and more time for authentic learning.”  

This article asks the question how much and what kind of practice kids need to master a skill or concept, what motivates students to attempt a challenge.  It asks what kind of feedback encourages more effort  and how much choice is really helpful. These are questions educators need to be continually asking themselves before asking students to do the work.

Since I have been teaching at the high school level I am well aware that students need to see the relevance of what they are asked to do. Give students a choice and they take some ownership in their choice. Show them that the work you ask of them is something they may use later. I do a lot of project based assignments simulating situations or experiences that they may encounter in the real world.

Taking students to the court house and having them prepare a mock trial was a good example of making work relevant. Students could see themselves in one of many roles as juror, defendant, witness, or attorney. I even had parents tell me they were surprised their child actually discussed what they did at school that day. It’s up to teachers to keep finding ways to make work purposeful and relevant.

Scherer, Marge. (September 2010) What Makes Kids Do Good Work? Educational Leadership, ASCD. Retrieved November 15, 2010 from http://ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept10/vol68/num01/What-Makes-Kids-Do-Good-Work%C2%A2.aspx

Teacherpreneurs

Teacherpreneurers

Ariel Sacks uses the term teacherpreneur. She predictes that the schools of 2030 will need growing numbers of teacherpreneurs, “which she described as teacher leaders of proven accomplishment who have a deep knowledge of how to teach, a clear understanding of what strategies must be in play to make schools highly successful, and the skills and commitment to spread their expertise to others—all the while keeping at least one foot firmly in the classroom.”

While keeping one foot in the classroom teachers could play numerous roles outside of the classroom as well. This could include roles as community organizers, freelance writing, policy worker, working in a think tank, or university role. The purpose would be to make education better, it would create new challenges as well as opportunities for rewards.

“The teacherpreneur is always engaged with students, while also investing know-how and energy into important projects, including those supported by the district, the state, or a partnering organization.”

“Teacherpreneurship is about propagating a new culture of innovation and creativity in a sector of education that has been woefully lacking in one. Most importantly, teacherpreneurship is not promoting a free-market vision for the profit of a few—but rather how our society can invest substantially in teachers who can expertly serve millions of children and families who are not in the position to choose a better school somewhere else or find the most erudite online teacher anytime, anywhere. Teacherpreneurship is all about the public good, not private gain.”

I think this is very interesting idea but I think this idea is already in place. The author is just coining a new catch phrase for the future. Most teachers already have many roles outside of their classroom that promote student learning. Most of these roles are performed free of charge with the only goal of making others teachers or students better in the classroom. I see teachers in my school sharing their technological expertise to other teachers after school on a regular basis. Many teachers already spend more time tutoring outside the classroom than they do teaching in the classroom. I don’t see teachers doing much more in my opinion since the demands of teaching (at least in our district) have increased. I don’t know a single teacher who doesn’t have to continually look for new innovative ways to teach their students. Teacherpreneurs are already in place.

Berry, Barnett. (October 6, 2010) The Coming Age of the Teacherpreneur.                                         Education Week, Teacher PD Sourcebook. Retreived November 12, 2010 from http://www.edweek.org/tsb/articles/2010/10/12/01teacherpreneur.ho4.html