Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach says¹:
"We have got to move from a deficit-driven education system to a strength-based education system. Kids come to us, we diagnose what their problem is and we teach to the gap. And the problem with that is if we spend most of our time trying to help kids just meet the gap, they are never going to realize their full potential- they are never going to achieve excellence. [...] The weaknesses will take care of themselves if you appeal to [the] passion [of the kids]."
Not to mention focusing solely on students' weaknesses (their least favorite things), we're convincing them this "learning thing" is just not for them.
My district is very focused on data teams & data driven decisions. We're supposed to figure out what skills students are doing poorly and have them practice these skills more. A good idea in theory. In reality it's like this:
Teacher: "We're going to do more reading."
Student: "I hate reading."
Teacher: "That's why we need to do it more, because you don't like it."
Student: "I hate this place."
Compare to this tact:
Teacher: "What things do you really love to do?"
Student: "I like werewolves & vampires & monsters & stuff."
Teacher: "Sweet! You know, I know of a few books that are all about monsters like that. I'll bring them in tomorrow."
Student: "Awesome!"
Same mission. Different tacts. Very different results.
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¹ Quoted from her keynote at ACTEM 2008: "Schooling for the 21st Century: Unleashing Student Passion" given October 17, 2008. Thanks to Bob Sprankle's Bit By Bit Podcast for pushing this out there.
Has your school given the students a survey to find out what topics interest them? Maybe that would help guide teachers to topics that interest the students and can support the areas where you find gaps in knowledge. Sort of using two sets of data and finding out where they mesh. On the topic of reading we're starting a project at my school where students post 1 minute or less video book reviews for other students. We believe students will take recommendations from each other better than they take them from us.
[...] the topics of following one’s passions and life-long learning have been topics I’ve written about recently, I couldn’t help [...]
@Joe: As far as I know, there isn't any such survey or other resource to help determine student interests. To be fair, I find it pretty difficult to work lessons around student interest when the subject matter in science is pretty well mandated. My best efforts to date are to allow students options in how they show their knowledge to me. It's not an easy task working with state standards and individualized student interests.
I like the video book reviews- my last school had some students doing book review podcasts, which was pretty well received by other students.
[...] then I have found that it has influenced decisions that I have made around my teaching. Reading Ben Wildeboer’s post reminded me what was influencing those decisions. It allowed for some reflection on my work [...]
I am glad you could join our conference and her Sheryl's important keynote . Thanks to Bob for posting the podcast. It widens our circle of conversations and this type of reflective thinking benefits our students and yours.
@Cheryl Oakes: I enjoy getting to hear thought provoking presentations from conferences that I can't get to. Thanks for commenting!
I greatly enjoy the Seedlings and enjoy the thoughts and ideas thrown around through your podcasts.