Monday, July 17, 2017

Open-Menu: The Framework for a Typical Student-Centered Classroom: Part Three

Part one and two of this series was about the breakfast menu: the opening ceremony of a student-centered classroom. Maple soaked pancakes, the greeting at the door. Both enticing and alluring, a sense of wonderment and hunger. The oozing eggs setting the tone for the genesis of the lesson, the yellow yolk dripping over the onset of learning, bringing with it curiosity and intrigue for the rest of the meal or activity of the day. The main event, or entree comes layered integrating all aspects of learning: visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic. The menu still open, substitutions welcomed, anticipated. New creations appearing as collaborative efforts, bring together ideas, objectives and intentions. Students in control and tasks determined by necessity and desire much like our appetites direct us to our sustenance, interest and relevance lead us to knowledge.

As animals, humans, we eat for nourishment: to gain energy, endorphins, serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine. The chemicals that inspire, drive, motivate and make us feel like we belong. They bring us to the dining table, help us have dinner conversations and enjoy the company of others. These armaments also increase our acuity and passion for learning by giving us the focus to be both creative and innovative. They remove doubt and build both confidence and resilience. This sustenance and maintenance occurs from our interaction and collaboration with others as well as our choice of diet. A student-centered classroom embodies both: encapsulating a student need to own their personal menu, individual ingredients and every course of their learning. The classroom is the restaurant, the venue, the banquet hall where the daily specials change frequently and where chefs are taking risks and creating new and exciting entrees at every turn. Samples offered and new inspiration gained regularly. It is the arena where spice meets sweet, savory meets sour and salty combines with bitter and umami to form a perfect union. Each taste integral to the learning process. Every bud of knowledge blooming through choice and commitment.

An open menu is the foundation of a student-centered classroom. Flexibility and freedom are not the only important aspects that drive this style of learning. A pacing waiter, pressuring the patrons to order does not create a sense of urgency but one of frustration. When we instill hunger, desire, and independence we set the flow. When we stay in the shadows providing plenty of time for them to make decisions, they make the best choices for their needs. How can we urge our students along, gently while still leaving time for them to peruse the menu? Write one word, or a sentence or two on the board; objectives, components of the main course, giving the 'star ingredients' for the day. The goal, the entree. Then allow students to get themselves there, using the makerspace, the vocabulary and their imaginations. It means much more to be given the trust to satiate your own curiosity then it does to be lead there through routine and expectation. If we place limits, they will cease to push them. If we set clear solutions they will be locked into an orbit of completion, when they should be rocketed to the unknown, acquiring knowledge by observation, exploration and discovery. The framework is scary at first because it is vast, every student creating their own idea of learning and accomplishment, we must stay out of their way no matter how much we want to intervene.

I worked in many restaurants, during my college years and the number one thing they tell waiters is to "push the specials." This is because the fish is aging, they bought too much of a certain vegetable etc. They want to make sure nothing goes to waste. This outlook however can be detrimental to a student-centered classroom. By 'pushing the specials', it means we as teachers already have the result in mind. We already have a plan, the ingredients lied out and the combination of objectives and goals in place. If we do this, we are limiting our students. If teachers have a lesson plan, flexible and open-ended, then this tunnel vision will not occur. If through a makerspace or just some imaginative mystery items, we can see possibility, students will come up with ideas we couldn't even see coming. They will look at a simple object and see a million uses. All we must do is not narrow their thinking. Not place expectations but let them see the objective. Not organize until there is only one solution but to let them find the route and the destination independently.

The framework for a student-driven, student-led, independent learning environment is a simple one:

1) Do not set expectations, but achievements
2) Do not "push the specials" but provide a supermarket of opportunity and supplies
3) Do not take yourself so seriously, there will be failures, but more often there will be leaps and bounds of growth, that students will thank you for
4) The flow of the class depends NOT on you but that of your students
5) Personalities are fluid and attitude malleable all we must do is create a safe haven and students will enter willingly and mindfully

6) Laugh, play and be yourself, students will trust you and follow you anywhere if they believe in you

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