Friday, May 18, 2012

Discussions I would love to have

Can you have increased rigor without first addressing an honor code?

Will students automatically move to rigor if given the option? (I say no, the principal thinks they will.)

How can you keep kids from talking over you when they do not think they are being rude when they do so?

5 comments:

Mrs. Chili said...

Pick one! I'll start a conversation with you!

Ricochet said...

Rigor and honor code.

I was thinking today that the schools that had rigor had clear honor codes - either exterior (gotta love Benedictines) or interior (the expectation of the community.

The school I teach in - the kids see nothing wrong with helping each other during a test, copying work, anything that doesn't involve thinking for themselves.

I was thinking of taking the two classes which have students who really try and discussing an honor code. The principal thinks that will evolve on its own. I think it will if you get the students to understand why it is important.

Ricochet said...

I should say the schools I attended.

Elaine said...

I would love to know the answer to the one about students talking over you. They seem to see no problem at all with doing that.

Mrs. Chili said...

I wonder if we tend to think about the way kids learn in ways that, well, they DON'T.

Here's the thing; one of the complaints I have about the way we ask kids to demonstrate skills is that we make it a solitary exercise. I am not a solitary person; I'm all ABOUT the collaboration. While I want the students to demonstrate that they know things independently of one another, I DON'T ask them to do that learning on their own; I'm perfectly okay with collaboration in reading and writing and talking and thinking.

Your points about copying work or helping each other on tests are valid, though; in the end, each student has to demonstrate that they can reproduce the knowledge or the skill on their own, though I think that the PROCESS is more important than the testing, and for me, the process is almost always collaborative.

Ethics is a HARD one. So much of it is wrapped up in the culture of the school (and the way the kids are raised at home). It HAS to be a "do as I say AND as I do" thing ALL THE TIME - one little crack in the foundation and the whole thing comes down. It's a problem we're working on in our school, too, and we're not sure we're making much headway.