Abstract:

For New Years resolutions, during a rainy winter, Ellen Berg breaks out the construction paper and markers to mix up her students' routine of intensive writing work. "Excited and engaged learning is not a benchmark or part of our state standards, but I think it ought to be," she concludes.

Berg, E. (2005). Exciting, engaging teaching? How dare I! Teacher Leaders Network diaries. Retrieved from the Teacher Leaders Network 11 Apr 2008. Link: http://www.teacherleaders.org/old_site/diaries04_05/EB14_04_05.html 

Full Text:

Exciting, Engaging Teaching? How Dare I?!

Like Southern California, St. Louis has seen an unusual amount of rain for this time of year. We had one long stretch that prompted me to ask my colleague, "What is that glowing red orb in the sky?" when the sun finally reappeared. It has felt like all of these gray days have run together, coating moods and classrooms with a thick glaze of the Blahs.

Blecch.

Over the holiday break I had time to relax and, though I did not actively work on teaching-related activities, I did decide we were not having enough fun in my classroom. I had become so focused on benchmarks and MAP standards and making sure to meet all the criteria of my students' portfolios that the extra step—the step that excites and engages my students—fell so far down my priority list that it slipped my mind altogether.

I was using everything else I know about good teaching—mini-lessons, reading and writing strategies, modeling. However, I began to notice that all of my tasks were starting to look and sound like all the others before them—too much vanilla when there are so many other flavors to try. My students needed a change, and so did I. It was time to "work on the work," as my editor often says.

Before break we were working on problem-solution in reading and writing. When we returned, I decided we would start with a time-honored tradition in America – New Year's Resolutions. I could tie the resolutions into my students' prior knowledge about problems and solutions while simultaneously modeling the steps people go through to set, plan for and accomplish goals.

None of that is particularly innovative, but if I had been in my pre-holiday mode of thinking, I would probably have assigned an essay that described the resolution, roadblocks to achieving the resolution, and the steps students would take to accomplish the resolution. An essay is something that would fit neatly into students' portfolios and is valued by teachers everywhere.

However, though my students can certainly use more practice with their essay writing, I decided to go another route: Art.

I broke out the construction paper, glue, and neatly assembled art bags with markers, crayons and colored pencils—items that had remained dormant for too long. As I explained the assignment and modeled each step, I saw shining eyes and heard a constant buzz of approval. I knew I was on the right track.

Everything was fine while students were drafting their resolutions and other required information. We had, after all, spent an awful long time with writing tasks during the school year. Students were confident and were able to share what they did not understand when confusion set in. Everything was "all good" as the kids say until it came time to make their posters.

"How does it have to look?"

"How big does it have to be?"

"Where should I put each piece of information?"

"Mrs. Berg, I don't get it."

Poor Mrs. Berg, she definitely didn't get what they didn't get! I had a clear rubric, and I had repeatedly told them they could design their posters in whatever way they thought best. Aside from having neat, clear pictures that illustrated their content, there were no restrictions on their creativity.

It dawned on me after two days of assuring my kids that they could not do it "wrong" as long as the requirements of the assignment were met that I had unwittingly fostered this dependence in my quest to fill the portfolio and meet the MAPAttack guidelines. My students had little recent experience with the choices and freedom I was now offering them through the resolution assignment. As a result, they were experiencing a fair amount of uneasiness about taking the reigns. It was as if I had asked them to jump off a cliff.

I spent the next class period sharing several mock-ups I put together that looked far different from each other. I pointed out how each met the criteria on the rubric but looked different. I circulated through the room, complimenting interesting design features and listening as kids ran their ideas past me. I saw kids develop confidence in what they were doing. I also saw them take risks.

The end result are posters that are as diverse as my students. Some are compact and very traditional in design, some are 3-D, some have multiple pieces of paper arranged in vees and diagonals. Some illustrations are realistic, others are abstract. I've had students ask for more paper to start over because, "This just isn't working out like I'd planned." Even better, I have witnessed a desire on my students' parts to go beyond the basic requirements of the assignment. They are engaged.

Not everything can be an art project, but not everything has to be an essay or another writing task. We were in a rainy rut, but now that we have seen some of the colors of the rainbow it will be impossible to sink back beneath the Blahs.

What academic benefit does spiffing up our tasks have? I'll let you decide after reading this next little bit. When I introduced our next task, creating comic strips that illustrate how quotations work (the complete sentence with the narration will be written at the bottom of each frame), I had student after student ask me, "Can we do more than six sentences? This is cool!" And THIS time students aren't having a meltdown about the degree of ownership they have in the project.

Excited and engaged learning is not a benchmark or part of our state standards, but I think it ought to be. Cool stuff is happening again in my classroom and for my kids, and I am betting it will help them own the learning for longer than our MAP testing dates.

Now if I can just figure out how to put those 3D posters into portfolios....

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