Musings from a Not-So-Master Teacher

Twenty students claim their favorite seats within minutes of the lunch bell ringing.  The skeptic in me initially assumes that it is a first week rush, a desire to get out of the one-hundred and ten degree heat. The students will find out that our Student Leadership Meeting is actually pretty difficult and the numbers will diminish.  I ask hard questions, assign extra jobs and challenge students to type proposals for our projects. Yet, as we brainstorm, students are almost shouting over one another.  When they break into small groups and create their project proposals, they work collectively on their projects. 

The process continues for another five weeks.  There are moments when I have to say, "The idea of solar panels on the roof is great, but we might not get to it this year" or "I'm not sure if we could cover an entire wall of the school with mosaics, but lets think through what it would require."  Yet, the students take this job seriously and create some well-planned projects.

I would have never guessed that the Student Leadership Meeting would be so important to the students.  Yet, I think it taps into what is missing at school: the chance to make decisions.  Students will give up a lunch period if it means taking ownership in their own learning.  This is not to suggest that it is anarchy.  I create a set of criteria for their proposals, questions to ask them and an agenda for us to follow. 

I have noticed that students excel when given the opportunity to make decisions.  For example, we spend one day a week on independent projects.  I have a set criteria: a creative component, a multimedia component, research specifications, a connection to the community (either interviews, community service) and reading and writing inclusion. Students design the assignmnent from the ground up.  For homework, they create their initial project proposal.  Already, there are students who are running with it and have begun borrowing the digital video camera and doing interviews.  Others have coordinated times where a small group of them go to the library. 

I fear that in standardized education, this is what is missing.  Students miss the chance to make decisions and it leads to a quiet, passive rebellion that often looks like apathy.