Nov 08 2008
Possibilities….
An amazing thing happened in my classroom on Monday. My mentor teacher is taking a social studies methods class at the UO so that she can get a social studies endorsement. For that class she had to create what the teacher called a mystery assignment. It was basically a puzzle that the students had to figure out. So she created this puzzle using content from our recent unit on Edgar Allan Poe. The students had to get into a circle and each got a piece of paper with a detail from Poe’s life. The students each also got another piece of paper that had four headings: Poe’s early life, Poe’s work, etc… All the students had to do was figure out where their slip of paper went on the handout with the headings. I know this is probably confusing but I don’t know how else to explain.
My mentor teacher and I handed out the supplies and didn’t give them any further instruction. The class had to figure out on their own what they were suppose to do with the things they were given. It was awesome to watch. At first it was chaos. No one knew what to do. But then in every class a leader came forth and started to tell people what to do. When some students weren’t paying attention and got too chatty, other students would tell them to be quiet. It was great. My mentor teacher and I just sat there and watched the whole scene. We had no behavior management problems and the students appeared engaged. I said about 10 words the entire period. This is what I’m talking about.
I wanted to cry when the day was over. It was so cool to see the students being in charge of their own learning. It was also great to not be the bossy authority figure. I really want to figure out how I can do more activities like this. It felt so right to see the students interacting with the material and themselves this way. I am so grateful that I got a glimpse at what is possible. I am excited!
2 responses so far
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Sara,
This is what I’m talking about too. I want more of this. It feels mysterious, new, like an adventure. Isn’t that what learning should feel like–a great adventure? Glad that you shared. Fun to experience teaching in a new way.
Mariah
Sara,
I’m so excited for you. And dying to know how to do that kind of lesson in my own classroom. It’s great to see that there are teachers who are creative and are willing to go the extra mile to create a great learning experience. I hope that once I can get a handle on my content, I could be that kind of teacher as well. Yeah for you!