A huge highlight of last semester was participating in the
Learning Creative Learning online course. Offered by the Lifelong Kindergarten
Group and the Learning Initiative at MIT Media Lab, this free course introduced
me to a wealth of information and an international community of educators and
creative thinkers. The course has since run again, and the content, which is
available in many languages, is still available online, and is well-worth
taking a look at.
This week I'll be giving a talk about some ideas from this
course, connecting them to teaching English as a foreign language. Toward the end of last year, I blogged some reflections, commenting on two of the four P's
introduced by Mitchel Resnik of MIT Media Lab--Projects and Passion. Now, I'll
share a few thoughts about the second two, Peers (this week) and Play (soon to
come).
Creating a space where collaboration happens naturally
In the course, I was inspired by descriptions of various
maker spaces, and how peer collaboration is either enhanced or hindered by the
setup of the space. When working with computers, for example, keeping students
closed in with rows fixates them on their own work, preventing them from
sharing with others. What's important is to provide ease of mobility--chairs
with wheels are perfect--for students to readjust their position to interact
with others. This creates a flexibility that allows teams to adjust to the
needs of the project, as well as to the interest of the participants. I also
loved the idea of a central table being like a "village green," where
the group can sit and collaborate, display their work, or even enjoy a snack
together.
Minus the chairs with wheels, I feel my school's maker space
pretty much follows this model. The central table serves well as our village
green in the TED-Ed Club, which meets in the maker space. It holds any snacks
that anyone brings, and it's where we start our meeting, often with a game or
other warm-up. Sometimes it's where we gather to share after having dispersed
to reflect or work with peers, and it's where the group is practicing small
steps in public speaking, slowly working up to their big presentation.
I have always taught in a classroom with a circular setup.
My students are used to being told to work with a partner, and are able to
quickly turn to the side and complete a task, then turn back to the group to
share. The New Englander in me would love to see an equivalent of a village
green, or a Boston Common, of any form, in my classroom. Maybe it's my desk,
where students feel comfortable to come up and grab a sticky note or borrow a
pencil, or get some supplies for a maker challenge. And there have been, and
will be American homemade cookies and other shared treats in that same space.
I often try to move around the room, sitting together with
the students when I can, to de-centralize my place in front as the teacher,
hopefully allowing for a more student-centered feel.
In another maker space, the Computer Clubhouse model
described by Mitchel Resnik, a culture is created where kids feel responsible to
share newly-acquired skills with others.
How can language teachers foster this kind of culture in the classroom?
I think the communicative method, which I teach, encourages this. Yet we still
have barriers to break through, such as a competitive climate and a general
fear among teenagers to take risks and share their ideas.
Seymour Papert, a mathematician, computer scientist, and pioneer in education, compared successful peer collaborative learning
environments to Brazilian samba schools. These are not actually
"schools," but more of a social club or a community center. People of
various ages and levels of experience are mixed together, and learn from each
other, creating dances for Carnival that are meaningful to the group and unique
to the community. MIT's Scratch programming language and online community makes
it easy for students all over the world, of various ages and abilities, to
share their work, get inspiration and feedback from others, and work together
on a common project.
I often let students choose someone they feel comfortable
working with, making adjustments as necessary. Other times I randomly pair them
with someone else to mix it up. Maybe I should make a greater effort to pair
students up according to abilities. Sometimes a student is very shy to speak,
but has excellent grammar and vocabulary. That person might work well with a
more talkative student with strong communication skills, who needs more work
with structure. In Scratch collaboration, a student who has good programming
skills may work together with a student who draws well. To foster creative
learning, students need to work on projects they are passionate about. I want
to make this more of a reality in the English language classroom, perhaps
eventually teaching writing or grammar with Scratch or other forms of
programming or projects in which students can work together on things that
excite them.
Teacher as catalyst, consultant, connector, and collaborator
As a teacher, I have to ignite the spark that gets things
going. Sometimes it's by simply introducing a maker movement activity, or new
target language. Other times it's by asking questions to prompt some deeper
thinking or showing students what they can actually do with the language they
are learning. When I was an art teacher, I often showed a model of something,
but had to be careful not to show only one type that would make students think
there is only one way of doing things. With the internet and the world at our
fingertips, there are endless opportunities to inspire students to embrace and
use the target language in meaningful ways.
Sometimes my role is more of a consultant. When I introduce
a mini STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) challenge,
especially with younger learners, I may have to ask guiding questions to help
them figure out why something didn't work the way they wanted it to. I am by no
means an expert in STEM. And it's a relief that I don't have to be. My
background in art comes in handy when there's an element of design involved
(that's why I like to add the A for Arts, making it STEAM!) But I've learned,
to my relief, that the teacher doesn't have to be the expert. Perhaps the main
consulting we do is to provide emotional support in a challenge, and then to
connect it to the language.
When teachers pair students up, as mentioned above, in a way
they are playing the role of a matchmaker, connecting students who have mutual
interests, or skills that complement each other. In leading a TED-Ed Club, I
hope to be able to help students connect with other TED-Ed students in
different parts of the world. Students with similar ideas can brainstorm
together. Students who have already given a talk can encourage the others.
Maybe they can even collaborate on a project together. A global community with access to the
internet makes that all the more possible.
And other times, it's not just the students' projects that
we work with, but as a teacher, I can invite them to collaborate with me on
things I'm working on. Next week I'll share a project my school is doing for
World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd. In the early stages of the project, after
discussing the subject a bit in one of my classes, I asked students for ideas
of something we could make to call attention to the issue. One student's idea in
that brainstorm ended up becoming reality, and the class, though they didn't
actually build it, got to assemble it and paint it, and, hopefully, they felt a
kind of ownership over the project.
I know I'm a better person and a stronger professional as a
result of collaborating with peers, near and far. I'm grateful for the
different communities I've been a part of. How has collaboration aided learning
and creativity for you? Do you use any technology to assist in collaboration,
or do you prefer old-fashioned face-to-face sharing? What kind of challenges
have you had to overcome in making the power of peers come to play in your
world? Share your thoughts here, and check in again on Monday for a
#MakerMonday post!
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