Chapter 4
For many years I've taken FULL advantage of the extra long class periods during Finals week to. . .not give a final.
The No Plan Lesson Plan
Field Trip. The one sentence that every student, of all ages looks forward to throughout the year. A field trip is a student's best friend, so I've thought all these years. But I've come to realize that a field trip is actually the teacher's best friend. Sure we get out of school, but no matter where we go, or what we do, we will learn on that trip. Sure it's for our benefit, but isn't it more so for the teacher? They get to see that small twinkle of understanding in our eyes, or our shocking realization of the world around us. "OH THAT'S WHY IT WORKS". – Megan Elovich
This is a long chapter, with many contributors, but not as long as the 2 ½ hour field trip that inspired it. Many teachers give a final that just fits in the time given for finals. For course, any pencil-and-paper test could be broken up over several normal-length class periods. But a field trip can not be so divided. But busses are expensive. Simple solution: a walking field trip. But to where? My school is not in a, shall we say, nice section of town. But is in an interesting section of town. We've taken Walking Finals to:
== County Jail,
==A huge thrift store (every kid gets one dollar, pool your resources if you wish, but the winner, back at school, is the person/team that comes up with the most creative use for whatever they purchase.)So the first decision was: “We’ll go.” I then started working on the details, like “where?”
==A huge warehouse where 50 working artists studios are housed
==An industrial-scale electroplating company.
==A dog food factory.
A dog food factory? How "educational" could that be? You'll see.
When a teacher wishes to take a field trip, a form must be filled out:
FIELD TRIP PERMISSION FORM
Requesting teacher:_________________________________ date: _______________
Departure time:___________ Return time:______________
Cost to student:______
Students going:___________________________________________________________
Educational purpose:______________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Principal’s signature:_________________________________ date:_______________
When I filled out the form, for Educational purpose I wrote, TOUR DOG FOOD FACTORY . I was proposing that I, and my students, be excused from the culminating sacrament of the SEM (Standard Education Model), the FINAL EXAM. I guess my Principal just signed it without reading–how could he justify blowing a final exam period on dog food?
My school is located on the poor side of town. Well-off whites? You ain’t gonna find them. Poor whites?– a rarity. Several industries that would have a hard time getting siting permits in the wealthy, white side of town operate here, including a rendering plant, the last stop for what’s left after every part of an animal that can be used for food has been gleaned from the carcass. The rendered fat goes off to China to make lipstick and other cosmetics, etc. The bones, gristle, eyeballs, hooves, etc, get ground up and turned into a product which, considering it’s grisly origins, is referred to by the pleasant-sounding: “Meat and Bone Meal”. (“Builds strong bodies twelve ways!”) Affirming the wisdom of the mantra of tree-hugging environmentalists, “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”, MBM in turn is fed back to animals to provide protein in their diet. With the advent of BSE (aka “mad cow disease”), the use of MBM meal as a dietary supplement for certain animals has been somewhat curtailed. So what to do with the precious resource? A happy final solution has been adopted for carnivorous, but energy- conserving cultures: “Meat and bone meal is increasingly used in cement kilns as an environmentally sustainable replacement for coal”. No need for Bossie to carve her hoofprint in the newly poured suburban sidewalk. She is the sidewalk.
But I digress. Along with a rendering plant (you don't want to know), and a huge slaughter house, a dog food plant is within walking distance of Edison High--if one has a 2 ½ hour time block.
In order to prepare my students for this trip, I did exactly the opposite of what is standard practice in SEM (Standard Educational Model). As education is all about uncovering, not hiding truthes, it follows that, to maximize what students take away from a class, students should know in detail what will be happening in the class. The apotheosis of this “tell them what you’re gonna tell them” practice is the Course Syllabus, handed out on the first day of class, which prints out, what will be studied, and when. Sometimes, the lecture/lab content of each day of the course is helpfully included, so there will be no uncertainty in the students’ minds. Let there be light!
This flies totally in the face of human nature. I’ve never been in a course where students have picked up their syllabus with pulse-pounding excitement. Sure, there may be a geek here and there (more on this later), but the 99% really don’t care that on March 27th, they will be taking notes on “The lac operon: functions of repressor and inducer in regulation of synthesis of β-galactosidase.” Though this observation challenges the way well-organized teachers begin their class, the experience of our dog food safari argues against the time-honored practice. Students DON’T want to know what’s coming up. As Laura Shelley notes:
I loved your class. I loved not knowing what was going to happen in your class the next day.
This may seem counter-intuitive, but consider Hollywood, which has not achieved world renown by marketing movies that start off revealing who done it. America’s Entertainment Media industry rakes in over $500 billion dollars annually by keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. Handing out a detailed syllabus is exactly what a teacher should NOT do if the goal is to heighten student interest in the class.
WARNING: MASSIVELY CYNICAL SECTION AHEAD.
The optimist believes this is the best of all possible worlds.
The pessimist fears this is true.
Laura expands on her damning revelation of what students really want to learn:
Well, Mr. Ratcliffe, I’ve got to be honest with you. I’ve learned just about everything I’ve ever wanted to know about physics. Nothing. Freshman year was where I really learned a lot. Especially in your class.
Sad-but-true story: At a school I once worked at, Mr. Jones (name changed to protect the morally bankrupt) taught five periods of social studies. Each day, he’d give a lecture that lasted almost the entire period. Then ,and only then, students were allowed to ask questions. Bell rang. Students left. 2nd period filed in, got out their notes. Bell rang. Teacher then hit REWIND, on a then PLAY. For the rest of the day, students were treated to that same lecture, with the opportunity to ask questions afterwards.
Though I haven’t revealed Mr. Jones’ age, you’re probably safe betting that he’s not one of those young, idealistic teachers out to share with their students their passion for the subject they love so much they went into teaching–to “share the joy”. Those wet-behind-the-ears, bright-eyed firebrands, if they remain in teaching, go through a breaking-in period that performs a necessary function: the crushing of their idealism. Their survival in the classroom requires a dose of reality about kids. One of my most intelligent students, Sanah Parvez hints at this:
I didn’t learn any physics this year, Mr. Ratcliffe. The little I DID manage to grasp I’m going to forget over the summer (like it is expected from a student). But oh gosh, yes. Life lessons!
Straight “A” Sanah got the only grade acceptable to her, and “didn’t learn anything”? And then, to soften the blow to my ego, she explains that she may have learned some tid bits, but supress any urges at breast-swelling pride--they’ll all be gone by next fall. Such rank cynicism, seen from a different angle is pure realism, based upon the idealism-crushing realization young teachers must go through:
Kids don’t care.
They don’t care about whatever subject you teach. Sure, they’ll feign enthusiasm, because they DO care about grades, which takes effort. You can study for hours and still bomb a test. The sharpest students (like Sanah) realize that the greatest ROI, Return On Investment) comes not from studying hard for tests (LOTS of effort, only loosely coupled to raising grade). It comes from pretending to care about the subject, showing enthusiasm for teacher’s lectures, coming in after school to ask for clarification on a point from today’s lesson. THOSE are the behaviors to get a teacher wrapped around your little finger. Many benefits accrue to skilled practitioners. If over half my student evaluations refer, either obliquely or right between the eyes, to the fact that they didn’t learn physics in my Physics class, I’d be a fool to hope I can turn them on to the most beautiful subject of all–the subject that best explains the universe!
To avoid an unending string of disappointments, teachers must realize that the inspiring actions of the students in “Dead Poet’s Society” are a Hollywoodization of high school. (Costing $16 million and earning $236 million, DPS constitutes a pretty impressive ROI in its own right.) But one needn’t follow the bringdown thusly:
Idealism precedes experience. Cynicism follows it.
A happy medium is possible if you only acknowledge that most of your students don’t give a rat’s tail about your subject. Laura, a stand in for most students, tells it like it is. She did not come into class in September excited about learning physics. She did not leave my class grateful for all the physics she learned. But note, though the physics class was a total waste, she still “really learned a lot. Especially in your class.”
We will return to the Lauras (most of my students) later. But first, I admit: I do have students like Angel Medina. His end-of-the-year is not like Laura’s:
WHAT I'VE LEARN ABOUT PHYSICS INSIDE AND OUT OF CLASS IN THE PAST. RECENTLY AND NOW by Angel Medina
During the year we used the Conceptual PHYSICS book several times and I as I look over it, I notice we did actually mention every topic in there sometime in the year- with exception of Nuclear Fission and Atom stuff. Anyhow, I'm glad that you were the one who pis ... made me get frustrated this year more than any other teacher. Like everyone else says "your teaching methods are different ... blah blah” I now understand the reasons why Newton's laws are true and can prove why instead of just recalling them like I use to. It probably took me weeks of listening to you confuse yourself but hey! It's here. All the things you'd mentioned about gravity, heat, vibrations, sound, color, and reflection I can honestly say if someone ask me about 'um, other than you, I'd wouldn't stutter and say something stupid. I'd be more informative than entertaining.
You know what? My favorite part of this year was when we studied light and color. For some reason I thought that was so cool. When you talked about how light refracts when going through a 'slower' medium was one thing I remember caught my eye. In fact, I remember going home and askin' my dad if he knew why the light 'bends. He didn't know so I spent a couple of hours talkin' about it.
Then you briefly, I think, talked about color and the spectrum. I wanted to know more so I asked good ol' Paul Hewitt [author of our textbook] and he told me some things, not literally. I read over, as I am now, about white light and how colors really had nothing to do with prisms. You also talked about actually having a color like black is near impossible. I asked my dad, again, to point out something black and every time he did I’d say “Um. . .No.” Looking at my computer screen now, the “black” background I have is actually a dark gray. So many years of being fooled by my eyes, now I close them in shame.
Yes, Angel the Outlier LOVES physics. Teaching it would be SO much easier with a class full of Angels. But teachers have classes full of Lauras–and Scottees:
I really can’t say that I learned anything about physics this year. And, anything that I HAVE learned is now forgotten. This was much more of a life lesson rather than and educational physics class. Life is hard, physics is simple. So I guess I can say that I really don’t care that I didn’t learn any physics because that doesn’t seem to be what I need right now.
Scottee Reid
Scottee’s pithy “Life is hard, physics is simple.” does not just show how little she understands the complexity of physics. It also shows how well she understands the complexity of life. The intervening years may have airbrushed out the reality of adolescent angst for the reader. A barrage of daunting challenges assault teenagers day in and day out. Compared to what they are trying to get through (known affectionately as “growing up”), physics, and all their other classes are simple.
We can never know what’s going on behind the silence, or the class clown antics, or whatever protective mask our students wear. But once in awhile the mask dips:
Dear Ratcliffe,
I am so sorry I have been a bad student. I know it seems as if I wasn't having fun, but I reallie did in my heart. If my friends were there I would have been having the best time of my life. Your class has been amazing. I just wished things didn't have to be so complicated in my life. I'm just having the most painful experience in my life, and I'm trying very hard to forget what has happened to my love ones but mostly my best friend who helped me through so much. I just wished the driver that hit him, hadn't drunk or else he would still be here today. I'm just trying to continue on and get over things. I use to smile a lot, but things have changed. Sometimes when you talk about love and other stuff ... sometimes it gets to me. It's just the fact that I'm hurt. I'm also beary sorry I disappointed you. I'm a really good student, just not around you know who. I'm glad I stayed last semester or else I wouldn't know how much fun it is to do the activities you do. No other teacher has done campfire and taught us to learn and experience in a way to understand like how you did. I will never have a tremendous teacher like you. I hope all your students feel the same. I'm gonna miss being in your class. I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry about everything.
–Sara Sombat
Though Sara is far from typical, her heart-rending personal life has made her a “bad student”. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs describes the importance of fulfilling basic needs before even attempting to address higher ones: It’s hard to pay attention to the lecture on Newton’s 3rd law if you are cold, hungry and sleepy–or if your boyfriend just left you, your mother’s boyfriend stole your microwave, or you just don’t “get” physics. Though the Sara Sombats are rare, the “don’t get physics” students are the rule.
So if Scottee, and the supermajority that her type comprises, sees no value in the physics of my Physics class, what value might she see in the dog food field trip that was our Physics Final?
Walking In The Light by Scottee Reid
All I could feel was the sun pounding more freckles on to my skin. All I could see was dirt, garbage, and more dirt. All I could smell was the pungent odor drifting away from the people around me. But, I really didn't notice any of my unpleasant surroundings because I was lost in thought ...
When people ask me what school I go to, for some reason I always reply with a giggle and say "Edison .... but it's not like I LIVE over there!" I never actually realized until after the trip what I was saying. Why is it that people are so affected by money? And, this is what I have come to conclude .... money = power. Your money tells people your worldly worth. But, how is it that we can measure a person by their wealth? I am embarrassed by my behavior and the fact that I was so consumed by what is important to the world that I never even noticed it.
Every day we are faced with the pressure to succeed, to be worth something. But, why do we do it? Why do we push ourselves ... sometimes go beyond limits to achieve goals? The main reason is power. When people work for money, they're working so that they can please themselves and show people that “they're worth something." But, what is money really worth? Money can't buy love, money can't buy happiness, money can't even buy a good argument. WHAT ARE WE PROVING???? I know why I work hard, so that I can "have a good future .... (BLA BLA BLA!)" I guess the one thing that I really learned is that the world is worth nothing to me. The world can't give me anything but lifestyle. Only I can live my life, and can live it knowing what I did it all for.
The ”Walking In The Light" was one of the most eye-opening-experiences for me this year. I was trying so hard to not faint, that I found myself actually being absorbed into the small lectures. Every word caused me to think deeply about my true surroundings and the bigger picture .... the world around me. Not just my neighborhood, my school. or my friends, but society itself. I couldn't help but to pay attention because the trip was so enlightening. This is a great feeling (being aware) and knowing what is really going on. Our walk taught me something more this year ... as if I haven't learned ENOUGH!!!!
By this point, the reader may be curious what I could have done to inspire thoughts like,
I am embarrassed by my behavior and the fact that I was so consumed by what is important to the world that I never even noticed it. The world can't give me anything but lifestyle. Only I can live my. life, and can live it knowing what I did it all for.
So please forgive me if I seem to be wandering off on a tangent (quite like the field trip : ), but it is time for James Reyes to explain:
We learned about dandelions, plate tectonics, the difference between living the dream and reality, a song about marijuana, and voltage. The only thing I remember about dandelions was that the French pronounced it wrong. Also that the dirt that we were standing on was part of the Sierra Nevada. Because of plate tectonics the Sierra Nevada’s were pushed up and the higher elevation of the rocks above had more potential energy, turning it to sand and moving it down to where we were standing. Mr. Ratcliffe went on to talk about living the dream which meant using clean water to have luscious green grass instead of dirty-blonde grass. The dream was Edison/Computech, and the reality part was across the street in the fields of rocks and sand. We walked a little further and sat under a large tree to listen to a one-song-campfire-without-the-fire. The song was mainly about marijuana and the fact that it kills and is addicting. We finally went to the pet food factory where the worst possible smell was discovered. We learned that the heat from the factory brought energy to power lines. After that, we had the most fun–Water Wars! Water Wars was the incredible event where two teams, boys and girls had to look for pennies. The team with the most points would win a prize. As opposed to the streak of losses, the boys won this period.
Of course, James’ 287 words don’t fully account for 2 ½ hours. There were the discussion of “goathead” stickers that hitched a ride in our shoes, ant DNA, the seeds that, with daily rising and falling humidity oscillations dig themselves into the ground, busted beer bottles, beautiful-yet-deadly datura flowers, methane releases from landfills blowing up houses, and the poor design of high school baseball field backstops.
Back to Scottee. Would that her keen intellect had raced half as fast during my lectures on electromagnetic induction as it did when I was talking about the etymology of “dandelion”! I admit: there is something mysterious going on here. The plan for this field trip was “no plan”. We started with a “jail break” --through the cyclone fence around school, designed to keep undesirables out and education in. Then we just “wandered around the ghetto”, as my students say, stopping at anything that I thought interesting: a rusty can, the spined seeds that were getting stuck in our socks, a vacant lot filled with trash and stalwart plants somehow able to flourish under conditions that would seem to preclude life. In each case, I just spoke off the top of my head. As I didn’t know what we’d find, there were no lecture notes. Kids had no notebooks, so they couldn’t even take lecture notes. And yet, with nothing important to learn, and no way to remember it,
Every word caused me to think deeply about my true surroundings and the bigger picture .... the world around me. Not just my neighborhood, my school. or my friends, but society itself. I couldn't help but to pay attention because the trip was so enlightening. –Scottee Reid
This makes no sense, at least not viewed through the lens of the SEM (Standard Educational Model), which goes like this:
--Students are told what they will be learning (both for the whole year and for today’s class–the Learning Objective being prominently posted each day)
--that information is delivered
--students are tested on their comprehension of what they were told they were to learn.
Rinse and Repeat
A student's example:
. . .like Geometry, where we came in, sat down, got to work on the warmups that were on the board, waited for the teacher to go over them, then go over the homework, turn the homework in, take notes on the lecture, then get started on the next homework assignment. Every day this happened.
Of course, in Science, with all the dizzying possibilities of “hands on” activities, one would expect it to be more engaging:
I had Mr.____________ for Science last year. No offense to him or anything, but that was the most boring class on the face of the planet. Anyone who had that class knows that we didn’t learn a ton of stuff, plus, every single lab that we did seemed to go as follows: 1. Put on safety goggles 2. Get a liquid tray 3. Add a couple of drops of [insert commonplace chemical] onto the tray 4. See what happens when you add a couple of drops of chlorine in the mixture, repeat for the ENTIRE YEAR. I seriously don’t remember half of the stuff that I learned in that class. –Brett Asher
This mystery could be summarized as: “Why would kids be thinking/learning when they are not told what the lesson is, and have no motivation to do so?” Our No Plan field trip shows what’s missing in the SEM: Students do want to learn, but just not what they are required to learn. I once had a student who was taking five Advanced Placement classes and my (non-AP) Chemistry class. In her class evaluation she wrote,
In this class, I learned that knowledge doesn’t have to be boring.
–Julietta Gomez
Could there be any more damning words about the SEM? Knowledge is boring? Every philosopher, scientist, investigator, reader, human throughout history would be outraged by how false that is. And yet, Julietta, without any apparent malice or anger, delivers a lethal blow to our complacency with the SEM.
Something is fundamentally wrong. Oh, sorry--I got carried away there.. Let us continue on our Wandering in the Light trip.
Planning for my trip, I had a dilemma. I wanted the students to know nothing about the where, why, how and what of the trip, but I had to send home a Field Trip Permission Slip for parents to sign. I handed out the permission slip folded and stapled, and told them they could NOT peek, just deliver it to their parents to sign. In most cases, it worked perfectly, heh, heh, heh. . .
In this class I have learned not to focus on my grade too much and, instead, better understand the topic. You put a certain trust on us to do things a strange way, and we did it. In any other class, if I had a homework assignment to read out of the textbook, and I knew I wouldn’t have a quiz on on the material, I wouldn’t read it. In your class it was different. I read the chapters, and when you send home information to our parents with specific emphasis not to read it, I didn’t.
–Sarah Grooms
The “I’ve got a secret, but I can’t tell you” approach worked:
The whispers were going around, anticipation was mounting. May be not to that of seeing Michael Jordan, but still, it mounted. Rumors run rampant, water this and water that. Something about dogs and smell? So there was the big walk, the hush hush final, it all fits in with the Ratcliffe image.
--Jameson White
Again, to maximize the learning, I went to great lengths to make sure the students had no idea about what they’d be learning. In fact, because of my no plan plan, I had no idea about what (of importance) they’d be learning. It seems to have worked:
Dent-de-Lion by Fabby Trejo
I have never taken a hike in my life. The one we took with the whole class to Hyde Park was my first, and I really think, it will be the best one and the one that I will always remember. I am really going to remember everything and exactly how it happened until I am old.
My favorite part of the hike happened when we were still inside the campus. When we all stopped to look and pick the so called “yellow flowers”, and Mr. Ratcliffe taught us all that the “yellow flowers” were actually called dent de leon, which is French, but since we couldn’t say it the right way, it was said in the slang form, which is dandelion. I really enjoyed learning about this flower, because it taught me that everything all around me has a story of how it all got there, or got to be what it is. And to not just ignore the smallest things in life, but enjoy them and appreciate them. This is one of the things of today, that I will always keep with me and one day share it with my family as I’m older. I’m glad you taught us all many things about life and how to have good times. I hope you keep on going with The Hike experience, I’m sure it will change your future students’ lifes, just like it changed my life, for good.
Behold, as with Scottee, a lesson of no apparent significance (“dandelion” comes from the French “dent de leon”) transmogrifies into an exhortation about how to live one’s life. Fabby received that random seed and, in her mind, grew it into a marvelously significant flower:
. . .everything all around me has a story of how it all got there, or got to be what it is. And to not just ignore the smallest things in life, but enjoy them and appreciate them.
These days many adults bemoan the fact that students seem so apathetic about learning course content. All they care about is, fashion, food, and Facebook. “Not so”!, says Fabby In fact she cares so deeply about the lesson she learned on the hike that
This is one of the things of today, that I will always keeps with me and one day share it with my family as I’m older.
Not only does knowledge not have to be boring, it is so precious that it will be treasured and passed on to the next generation.
But it is worth noting that no other student “learned” just what Fabby did from the Dandelion talk. Aram Krikorian was not delighted, but disgusted by it:
We began walking, and all of a sudden, Ratcliffe stops and picks up some flowers, as though he is a romantic. He lifted them up and began to explain. I knew it right away: The guy was freestylin' just like the rappaz, he was in it for the heck of it. He explained about one flower and then went to the next one - the dandelion. The American's call it DANDYLION" but it just doesn't make sense. After I learned it meant "Dan De Lion" or "Tooth Of Lion", I was disgusted with the idea that someone would take some time to explain this.
Scottee never even mentioned Dandelions. In fact, the only indication she attended the walk was: “ All I could see was dirt, garbage, and more dirt.” Her response calls into question the “Student as empty vessel” model from SEM–education is the process whereby initially empty students are filled up with knowledge, poured in by teachers. Clearly the fifteen year old vessel is not empty. Any individual who before beginning formal education has mastered the basic grammar and syntax of one of the most difficult, exception-to-rules-rich languages has thus proven that SEM is not at all necessary for some of the most important learning a person can do. All this is done without compulsion, without the assistance of syllabi, tests, or lectures. Why do we start believing that students should be forced to learn, that rigid structure and compartmentalization of knowledge is an aide to learning? Thinking outside the box is not just a trendy catch phrase. It is how students learn the most important things they know: One learns best what one chooses to learn. Abbee Dimnet, in “The Art of Thinking” (1930) says it this way:
Children must be educated,
(Passive, tenuous)
but they must also be left to educate themselves.
(Active, robust)
By providing an unplanned smorgasbord of knowledge on the walk, Students could chose what tasted best to them, even if it differed from others’ choices. (As my daddy used to say “De gustibus non disputandum est.”–in matters of taste, there is no dispute.) Anton focused on The Dream–Fresno’s transforming a desert into a lush paradise, fueled by unlimited water supplies:
The most interesting fact that I learned was that about Fresno's water. I had no idea that it was at one point the most sterile water in the United States. I also had no idea that it was so old. Mr. Ratcliffe said that our water dated back to the Ice Age. Right when he said that on the trip, I got the weirdest look on my face and I stopped and said, "Woah". It just seemed very interesting to me. I was a little disgusted at how we waste water so much. Just to make our lawns, fields, and flowers look good. If we didn't use so much water on things like that, our water wouldn't have to have any chemicals or anything dumped into it to make it purer. Even after a few days, that quote that Ratcliffe said from some kind of public service announcement stuck in my head. "Don't water your driveways. Sweep them," he said. From now on I am never going to water down the driveways and walkways, no matter how lazy I feel.
–Anton Sweet
I don’t know if Anton stayed true to his resolve. I don’t have any recollection of Anton, a typical teen, showing any inclination towards environmentalism. I like to think that various bits and pieces of his life somehow all snapped together in the three minutes I spent explaining about “fossil water”, land subsidence, and the ungreen price we have paid for looking so green. If his “weirdest look on my face” could speak, it might have said: “Humankind’s actions affect the world”. Many people never reach that point.
Aram Krikorian found nothing worth mentioning about water, but the song I sang seemed to fascinate him. Note the detail of his memory of it after a single listening:
We continued the death march and about two minutes later stopped by a tree growing right by an electric pole. "What a safe place to stop", I remarked sarcastically. Finally after a few more stops, we went to Hyde Park and learned that it was made of trash. We sat down on this 100 year old piece of trash (literally) with some trees (algae perhaps?) growing out of it. Mr. Ratcliffe then sung the most awesome song in the world - Yum Yum Tree.
The Song Yum Yum Tree had its many points. Something wonderful being exploited by corporations and the media. Problems with business being blamed on the Yum Yum fruit. Then finally, the most common, Yum Yum is illegal to possess, because it is being blamed for its misuse. The song starts off in a town, where many people enjoy the Yum Yum Tree. This tree produces fruit that makes it yummy in the tummy. Everyone in the town enjoys the yum yum food, but when it gets real popular, scientists come in and begin to throw fat scientific/botanical jargon on the Yum Yum Tree. They then begin to have farms filled with the Yum Yum Tree. Yum Yum Juice is made. Eventua1ly, the Yum Yum Juice is found out to be bad for humans and a bad winter comes and cleans off a lot of the Yum Yum crop. Farmers go out of business; ill people blame everything on the Yum Yum Fruit. Eventually it becomes illegal for people to possess Yum Yum. The touching story ends with the singer explaining how he is a criminal, because he plants his Yum Yum Seed and still eats the Yum Yum fruit.
While everyone in town was enjoying Yum Yums and everything was OK, there were no problems. Major farmers and scientists began to grow this Yum Yum, and just made it all scientific instead of the regular name Yum Yum. They made juice and everything. In the end, all was lost for these farmers and companies. They blamed it all on the Yum Yum. However the townspeople still recognized the Yum Yum Tree as the Yum Yum Tree, they ate its fruit and they were all right. The Tree was something beautiful and special to the townspeople, it was just some crop for the farmers, and money for the businessmen in the corporations. Now the singer is a criminal, because he still enjoys the Yum Yum fruit, and he won't stop using it. The Yum Yum could be anything- from marijuana (seed is what implies this), beer (made from plant), shrooms (because people directly eat it), oil (the Yum Yum Juice tankers [sailed the seas] - juice spills). However the idea that Yum Yum was exploited and that it changed everything was weird, because it's really not a bad thing, but now society's stereotype will say that it is a bad, addicting crazy, mad-killing drug - when its main use is to make you go yummy in your tummy.
I propose that, like Anton, Aram, his experience, insights, frustrations and fascinations all converged, making a strong connection with the Yum Yum tree. I don’t see any way he could have learned so many details of the song unless it spoke to him at a deep, personal level. Any topic in a class that does that is miles ahead, in terms of getting that student to feel enriched by learning about it: the sin qua non here: Motivation.
The tragic flaw with SEM is that it is based upon the Student as Empty Vessel model. We must realize that
FOR LESSONS THAT LAST, MOST OF THE LEARNING HAS ALREADY TAKEN PLACE BEFORE THE LESSON BEGINS. A perfunctory tip of the hat to this truth is implied in phrase making the rounds these days, “Assessment of prior knowledge”. From Carnegie Mellon University’s Eberly Center (“Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation”), comes the following:
How to Assess Students’ Prior Knowledge
In order to gauge how much students have learned, it is not enough to assess their knowledge and skills at the end of the course or program. We also need to find out what they know coming in so that we can identify more specifically the knowledge and skills they have gained during the course or program.
You can choose from a variety of methods to assess your students’ prior knowledge and skills. Some methods (e.g., portfolios, pre-tests, auditions) are direct measures of students’ capabilities entering a course or program. Other methods (e.g., students’ self-reports, inventories of prior courses or experiences) are indirect measures. Here are links to a few methods that instructors can employ to gauge students’ prior knowledge.
Performance-based prior knowledge assessments
Prior knowledge self-assessments
Classroom assessment techniques (CATs)
Concept maps
Concept tests
Clicking on the first option takes us to:
Performance-Based Prior Knowledge Assessments
The most reliable way to assess students’ prior knowledge is to assign a task (e.g., quiz, paper) that gauges their relevant background knowledge.
These assessments are for diagnostic purposes only, and they should not be graded. They can help you gain an overview of students’ preparedness, identify areas of weakness, and adjust the pace of the course.
To create a performance-based prior knowledge assessment, you should begin by identifying the background knowledge and skills that students will need to succeed in your class. Your assessment can include tasks or questions that test students’ capabilities in these areas.
Assessment of Prior Knowledge (APK) makes intuitive sense. If I am lecturing on momentum and a start by slapping the equation describing interactions between two moving bodies that experience an elastic collision in one dimension:
M1V1i + M2V2i = M1V1f + M2V2f , I will have, in the first minute of class, succeeded in losing every student in my beginning physics class. A class discussion prompted by questions like
Have you ever heard the word “momentum”?
“Can you give an example of an object with momentum”?
“What could we do to increase, or decrease, the momentum of this object”?
“Which do you think has more momentum: a book on a desk or a baseball heading for the left field fence?”
“Which do you think has more momentum: that same baseball or a bullet heading for a target at a shooting range?”
“Can we come up with a definition of momentum?”
“Can we turn that sentence into the most concise form possible, (the one scientists just LOVE), an equation?”
These questions (and panoply of alternative methods allow the SEM teacher to draw out of students what they already know about momentum. This serves two purposes. It shows students that they DO “bring something to the table” for that class, and it allows the teacher to “gain an overview of students’ preparedness, identify areas of weakness, and adjust the pace of the course”.
Addie Curtis says this moste pithily:
“I learned that I knew things that I didn’t even know I knew.”
At this point, we have been able to tap into what students already know about momentum. But the goal for this APK procedure is very limited. A teacher following the SEM would never explore what students already know about momentum if it weren’t on the upcoming test. Why learn something if you’re not going to be tested on it? As Einstein cautions us:
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
Rachael Rogers expands upon Einstein, suggesting that, in a physics class on momentum, momentum may not be the lesson that counts the most:
This whole year, I’ve never been sure just exactly how I feel about your class. I can’t put my finger on it; can’t pin it down. It’s like a fish–you think you’ve got it, and that same second you realize that the slippery little bugger is gone. It’s taught me more about myself than I ever thought possible.
In SEM, the foundational axiom is that the goal in Physics class is that students learn physics , English in English class, etc. The Rachael suggests another goal to our Physics class final:
This trip was an experience unlike anything a teacher of mine has ever allowed their students. It was odd, but also oddly informative. It included all sorts of things that had, at least on the surface, no relation to physics.
Notice her use of “allowed”, as opposed to “forced ”. Since most students don’t care about physics, the teacher-as-enforcer of knowledge acquisition becomes necessary. But if the teacher allows students to learn physics, their motivation for doing so comes not from the teacher, but from the student. Unfortunately, most students who are allowed to learn physics won’t take that golden opportunity. The Angel Medina’s are the exception. But this does not mean Physics must be a meaningless exercise in test prep, to be survived and forgotten, to make room for the next force feeding, same technique, different subject. Rachael continues:
. . .Dent de lion? What? (I did, however find that extremely wonderful.
Us English folk, eh?)
Most of my students cannot trace their ancestors back to England. Rachael can, and this may partly explain why she found this fact “extremely wonderful”. In other words, the learning about her ancestry before the lesson is what made the dandelion moment so intriguing to her. Since Rachael never mentions a single Physics-related observation in her thousand word essay, I think it safe to say she gained no lasting benefit from taking my Physics class–at least no physics benefit. But she did come to the physics class this year and to the final lesson that was our walk, already having learned so much about a wide variety of topics that:
I somehow think that at some point in my life, everything I’ve learned on this trip and all this year will become important. Maybe each concept in turn will burn brighter, or maybe it’ll all become clear at once, but I have faith that this whole year of learning, and changing, will stay with me forever.
Once you’ve changed, once you become informed, it’s nearly impossible–or just plain impossible–to go back to your previous state of ignorance.
Of course, it is easy to go back to ignorance if you forget what you’ve learned. But Rachael, because what she learned on the walk fit so well into all she knew heading into the walk, assures us Rachel’s newfound knowledge “Will stay with me forever.” No review sessions, no flashcards, no final tests, no exam anxiety. When students want to learn, learning becomes an opportunity, not an ordeal.
The SEM, predicated on the never mentioned fact that students have no burning desire to learn Standard 3b, or any other Standard, must provide the missing motivation. On our walk, Rachael, and my other students required no motivation from me to learn lasting lessons. But what lessons? The situation is kind of like the adage
To make a perfect shot every time, shoot first, then claim you were aiming at whatever you hit.
My students learned lots of long-lasting lessons on the walk, but what comprised a perfect shot was not determined by where I aimed, but by what struck them as intriguing. Of the dozens of random facts I shared, I hit Anton’s bull’s eye with Fresno water use; Aram’s bull’s eye was the Yum Yum Tree; Scottee’s was just seeing people living in poverty, having none of the status symbols that are held in such high regard in the side of town she’d been raised in. Somehow, she saw not people living in poverty; Scottee, for the first time just saw people. In each case, their minds were off and racing to integrate this new momentary insight into how they view the whole world. In Aram’s case, it seemed to confirm his world view. In Anton and Scottee’s it challenged their world view, required some serious value rearranging. But in all cases, the teacher , after the initial input, could just sit back and let the students do all the work.
The SEM is a wonderful framework for teaching specific, subject-related facts. News items like this suggest SEM has its work cut out for it:
Source: The Associated Press 5/4/2006
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After more than three years of combat and nearly 2,400 U.S. military deaths in Iraq, nearly two-thirds of Americans aged 18 to 24 [prime military recruitment target] still cannot find Iraq on a map, a study released Tuesday showed.
Nonetheless, SEM is an effective, time-honored system. But it is not the ONLY model of learning. Addie (again!) makes it memorable:
I learned I could be myself in your class and, I assure you it’s an amazing feeling.
What we experience every day is not “amazing”. For example, take gravity. As I tell my students, “gravity” is a word we use to excuse ourselves from thinking about this amazing phenomenon. Things fall, big deal. Well, it is a huge deal, but only the Newtons and Einsteins of the world are brilliant enough to realize that fact–and make sense of it. As Einstein once said,
The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.
So for Addie to tell us that a chance to be herself was “amazing” says something disturbing about SEM, which treats every student the same. But every student is different! They all come to class with different experiences, insights, anxieties, and talents. For Addie, after nine years of education, to finally feel the exhilaration of being treated like an individual is a sad comment. But she continues, explaining why this class was a departure from the Standard Education Model:
I learned the difference between getting an education and learning. Most of my classes I get an education but in this class I learned and have had an amazing experience.
Though Mark Twain’s quip chooses different words, the concept is the same: “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education”.
Edgar Ortega reports a similar experience:
Starting the school year I thought that I was not going to learn anything in my science class. I thought that because in my previous science classes I did not learn anything, for sure anything that I would remember in 10 years. Remembering something for ten years is hard but if it is something interesting I probably would.
This class was different though because not to surprise you I did learn a couple of things. The things I learned were things other teachers would not teach. This science class gave me a better look toward life and how many things in the world are bad and need change. An example was global warming and how it really affects the world. We need to do something now because we might be too late to do anything in the future.
It was other simple things we did like learning how a toilet works. Simple things like that opened my eyes and made me wonder about other things. I also learned that when learning we should also have fun because we would remember longer. I liked the labs a lot especially when it took a while to do. I learned how to sawter and that can help me when I want to fix something later in life.
So now you know that I actually learned many stuff out of this class. I might not be learning according to Standards but many other, more important things. I wish there are more classes like this in my life where the true learning comes from.
Priscilla Phanvongkham gives her “Hear,hear!”
I have learned many things in this chemistry class, but the things that I learned and will remember for many years to come had nothing to do with chemistry at all.
Pang Vang agrees:
Overall, I think the best thing that ever happened in Mr. Ratcliffe’s class would have to be not just learning Chemistry, but the world also. For example, the video about the e-waste sent to China. Knowing that fact, that this process still happens today with my acknowledgment, really struck me. It gave me the thought that if this is still happening in China, the what else is happening around the world. It’s a question I that I still want to answer.
Katherine McHenry has a slightly different take on the theme:
One prominent thing that sticks in my mind from this year is deciphering political rhetoric. I really appreciated learning about the debts our generation faces, truths about the war in Iraq, the reality of the medical industry, and many others. Our U.S. History class this year didn’t even come close to giving us that kind of knowledge on a daily basis & it was refreshing to hear it from at least one person willing to admit the truth. I think it’s extremely helpful, as we get ready to enter the world as voters, for us to understand political jargon and look into politics instead of just believing our candidates/leaders.
And Mai Tria Moua chimes in:
You’ve made surface so many frank yet realistic aspects of life. Like for example: global warming/Ozone depletion, America’s political status, etc. All of these things have always been sugar coated in front of me, for ‘adults’ were always afraid of it somehow ‘contamination’ my innocent mind. But in actuality, you telling us and allowing us to take the initiative to actually look into these things, it has better prepared me for life. To be honest, everything I can say (that’ll ever be beneficial to me in the future and that I’ll most likely remember) from this year’s Chem class would have, more or less, nothing to do with chemistry. Letting us know about the environment in which we live, and how it is slowly being destroyed due to the way we choose to live our lives is SO helpful to an adolescent individual (you have NO clue). You just letting us know that sound bite of information broadens our whole perspective on conservation of energy and natural resources.
I would estimate that half my students’ evaluations touch upon the idea that, though they may (or may not) have learned chemistry (or physics), they definitely learned something far more important–life lessons. If school is to prepare them for the test at the end of the year, we are doing right by our students to teach lessons that will raise their test scores. But there is another way:
Don’t teach the Standards.
Teach the students.
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