What do students want to know?
What do I think students need to learn about in order to become critical thinkers? (especially in our chaotic world today.)
Then I think about myself as their teacher, and whether I am capable of providing every student with the best chance at learning throughout my unit. I've got this hopeful, "leave no (wo)man behind" motto ringing in the back of my head.
I'm sure we all have these conversations in our heads about what we would teach our students in an ideal situation, and whether we like it or not, things that WE are passionate about slip into our unit planning ideas. We can't help but to want to make others excited about what we care about; it's one of the fine characteristics of teachers. So, I think that some of the things that I am passionate about will definitely leak into my unit planning. One thing I always imagined teaching was to show students that there are always two sides to a story, to be critical of what is going on in the world around them, and eventually become comfortable enough to articulate their own arguments after having examined both sides to a story. I think of this conceptual framework as an exciting challenge because as teenagers, it is hard to help students step out of their "it's all about me" state of mind and start to really investigate and understand different perspectives in the world that is constantly effecting and changing their lives, whether they realize it or not.
I'm still in the very early stage of developing my unit ideas, however, I plan to use a lot of unique ways or methods, (perhaps a filming project) to help students work through this conceptual framework. Once again, the ways in which I will decide to teach to this conceptual framework will be influenced by what I am passionate about, and what I imagine my students would be interested in. The goal is to find unique, exciting, and relative ways to engage students with this conceptual framework, and build up to a moment when students will hopefully use their acquired skills to become critical members of their society, members that will not feel intimidated or scared to speak out or take initiative when recognizing their own opinions on world matters.
On a random note, I came across this and thought it was funny and often times how I used to think as a high school student when I had 5 tests in one day!
lUntil next time my colleagues,
Ramina Odicho
I want to see what you posted! But I don't think the link works :(
ReplyDeleteA film project sounds amazing! I remember recreating a scene from The Great Gatsby when I was in high school. We did so in small groups and my group even asked friends who weren't in the class. It was so much fun, but we also looked into that particular part in the book. What were Daisy's thoughts? What could have possibly led to this, that, and the other? It was great. We also played our video for the rest of the class, and I think this was such a fun thing to do. Sharing our work with one another was something most of us hadn't done before.
ReplyDeleteI also wanted to see your image, but the link didn't work :(
Ramina,
ReplyDeleteWhat I like even more about this conception is that there are actually usually *more* than two sides to a story. But! There's this idea of "story" that factors in, and complicates things, as if it's some kind of formula that we use to offer stability and sense to our realities, or to disrupt them (Why else do people write stories, or make movies?). What would a unit where the questions center on storytelling look like?
I imagine you have plenty of ideas, but studying metafiction is an interesting way to imagine that stories are stories, and know this in their own "story-ness," if you will. That is, metafiction makes the reader always aware that the narrator, the text or even the characters, know that they're only part of "one side" of the story. Lot's of children's picture books do interesting work with this. Famously, there's Jon Scieszka, but there are so many other options, including YA, out there, and it would be easy to find lists.
Remember that "critical thinking" is a kind of a tricky term. I think that most people agree that they want to teach so as to engage critical thinking--no one doesn't want or imagine that that's an end goal or that they just want to teach to have folks learn how to think according to the status quo. Here, then, it's important for you to qualify what you mean by "critical," and especially tease that out through your teaching framework via the curricular decisions you make as you develop your unit.
I look forwarding to hearing more about your specifics, and to seeing your work develop!
sarah