january 21st

I looked in on three classes, starting with Mr. Cohen's. I am really distracted with trying to think of something to teach. Mr. Cohen gave me some really helpful advice thoug--it's not about giving them information, but about creating an environment in which learning can happen. It's about encouraging learning, not writing a script for it.

The second and third class were both Ms. Ohle's language art classes. In both of her classes they're reading book reports. I really enjoyed listening to these, and I'm not sure why we don't do them as adults. They seem to get everyone involved and keep the class in a discussion format. To make sure the kid's aren't falling asleep, there's a quick quiz at the end of three things they learned or liked from the presentations. What I learned about this is that the kids really enjoy it and it really pulls everyone in, talking about literature.

In the third class, Ms. Ohle had a few students finish up their book report presentations. Then the students wrote about their parents and their own reaction to the recent inauguration. I think a lot of lit classes could learn from what's going on in Ms. Ohle's. Lit doesn't have to be something that's distant and foreign to the students--it's essentially the study of how we express ourselves with words. That leaves little excuse for boring lit curriculums that may have forgotten what it's about. It's about involving the students in learning about themselves--that's what 8th grade was for me anyway. I think a lot of the time there is distraction in the form of bombarding students with standardized tests and numbers. There's no bubble for what you should learn in an English, literature or language arts class.