Month: May 2023

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Everyone is exhausted. My middle school-aged children at home (ages 11-14) hate school and do not want to go. Some of that is end-of-year burnout, some of that is middle school (it’s a tough age), but parents of all ages are feeling it. As a college teacher, I will tell you that the students in my classrooms are tired, bored, ill-prepared, and behind. And this is a group of students who want to be teachers! If my 400-level English Education majors are struggling this much, I can’t imagine what teachers of college freshman are dealing with.

Teachers of every grade-level are feeling burnout. There is so much anger and blame. Whose fault is it? WHOSE FAULT IS IT? Could be:

1. The screens
2. Social media
3. CHAT GPT
4. Racism
5. The parents
6. The schools
7. The teachers
8. THE PANDEMIC
9. The economy
10. The environment
11. The guns
12. The Democrats
13. The Republicans

For elementary school teachers it’s almost always the parents. For middle and high school teachers, it’s the elementary school teachers, for the college teachers it’s the high school teachers. And it’s always the screens. If we just take away the screens, things will improve.

I’m not so sure.

As someone who has school-aged children, who spends a good part of her work week visiting and observing in the public schools (I do research, help teachers, and supervise student teachers), and who reads teaching and professor forums, what I DO SEE is a generation of exhausted professionals who are clinging to out-dated teaching methods. It’s nobody’s fault. We were trained to teach this way.

However, I have always felt strongly that taking away technology is not the solution. Barring iPhones and ChatGPT from the classroom to preserve outdated methods feels fundamentailly wrong to me.

I don’t know the answer. When I’m really struggling I turn to the fundamentals of constructivist teaching, which I have learned again and again, while earning my doctorate, through my own teaching, and through continuing to read and do research into pedagogy, is the most effective method. People scoff at constructivism as a buzz word because they don’t understand it.

At it’s very core, constructivism simply means ACTIVELY INVOLVING STUDENTS IN THEIR OWN LEARNING.

We scoff at “ACTIVE LEARNING” because it’s a phrase that is used all the time without any real mearning or purpose. All ir means is simplly asking the students to take an action of some kind. It iis n the ACTION that the learning happens.

Students are not good at listening passively. None of us are. Things go in one ear and out the other. Instead of passive lecturing, require that students seek out the information themselves and fill out a graphic organizer. Ask them to confer with their peers. Give them ample amounts of time to socialize, but a very limited amount of time to complete a task.

For example, present a new concept in a short period of time, just a few minutes. Present the material orally as well as visually. Have studets take notes using a graphic organizer to guide their notetaking. Then, have students work in groups to apply the concept to a problem. Have them actively practice or apply the concept. Have the groups work together to write on the white board or fill out a Google Slide. Give each student an active role. One student writes down the answers, one student will present to the class, one student keeps track of time.

Walk around while groups are working. You have to walk around. As soon as you sit down, students will go off the rails. Is it tiring to be on your feet all day? Of course, but it’s actually less exhausting than dealing with an entire classroom full of students who aren’t doing anything. You can sit down while the groups present. Also, wear comfortable shoes. Get a fitbit.

When the time is up, have groups present what they learned. Call on students by name. Ask them to explain their process. Get them used to thinking out loud in the classroom. Get them comfortable with explaining their thinking even when they don’t understand. It’s okay if they don’t understand.

This is just the start. There are other approaches, other ways of teaching. Remember, there is no one approach that will work with every student. I will be using this blog to explore different approaches and different methods, as well as providing resources, such as Power Point slides, graphic organizers, group work forms, and self-reflection tools to help making teaching easier.