Field Blog Post 4/ West Geauga

Question I will be exploring: How does the teacher make learning an active process? What strategies does she use?

     Throughout his book, Ayers rejects the common lecture approach to education. Instead, he stresses the importance of encouraging students to participate and discuss course material. While I was observing at West Geauga today, one of my goals was to discover how the teacher encouraged active learning and student participation.
    
     Mrs. Kirchner used a game called "Stump the Chump" to get students involved. The class broke into two large teams. Each team would read a paragraph of the Hamlet Critical Essay they were studying.  A member of one team would then ask the other team a comprehension question. Whichever team "stumped" the other team more times would win. Mrs. Kirchner encouraged participation further through the rules. For example, each team member was required to create or answer at least one question. Also, the same person was not allowed to answer a question until everyone on the team answered at least once. This prevented a small group of students from dominating the game. Mrs. Kirchner also called on students randomly, encouraging them to focus and participate at all times. Finally, by asking the students to take notes and mark the text, Mrs. Kirchner ensured that students were participating even when they were not asking or answering questions.

This strategy seemed fairly successful. All students participated. If Mrs. Kirchner had used a simple class discussion, the students would likely have been less motivated to respond to questions. Bringing in a sense of competition and lightheartedness helped motivate the students. This observation demonstrated that properly constructed games can be a useful educational tool.

* I made another interesting observation during this time. The observation, however, is not directly related to my question. After class, the teacher asked a student about a Shakespeare play he is involved with outside of school. She asked him what part he plays and if he enjoys it. The teacher ended the conversation by saying that she would love to see the show. I thought this was a striking example of a teacher recognizing the individual student apart from the class as a whole. I thought it was impressive that she took an interest in this student's life and encouraged him.