SCHOOL CAN BE ENJOYABLE!

Core Beliefs

To quote a typical junior high student, "School sucks!" I heard this sentiment more than once in the halls of the junior high school where I student taught. In the times I was able to observe different classrooms during my field experiences I would have to concur with these students' sentiments. School does suck! Students are shuffled around from classroom to classroom where they sit in a pre-assigned desk and either read from the textbook or complete worksheets. I witnessed little group work, little student inquiry, little discussion about students' interests, and little fun. More than anything I wanted to change the way students perceived school. My core beliefs echo this idea of making school fun even if it is just for one period. My first three core beliefs of student-inquiry, global perspective, and group collaboration all work to accomplish the last of my core beliefs which is teaching and learning should be fun.

My first core belief is that Inquiry or question-based learning is essential to motivate students to learn. Inquiry-based learning is the idea that students learn more by questioning, investigating, and developing hypotheses about history. One example inquiry lesson I used was a lesson where I asked the students why China has maintained the longest continuous civilization in the world. When I first asked this question to my students many of them looked perplexed. Some of them were probably wondering, "How am I suppose to know?" But once the lesson got rolling and the students were introduced to specific data set that helped them solve this puzzle, they immediately became enthusiastic about the lesson.

Inquiry lessons have an appeal to students because they are the people in charge of directing where the lesson goes. In an article from Social Education titled "Teaching Multicultural Social Studies in an Era of Political Eclipse, Alan Singer writes how student interest is sparked by an inquiry-based approach to education. "Teachers have to find ways to unleash suppressed student interest and use them to accomplish the goals of social studies." By giving students a voice in the classroom they begin to experience school in a more enjoyable light.

My next core belief is the idea that teaching a global perspective will help my students be more tolerant of others and better understand the world around them. By global perspective I mean an appreciation for differences in our world. Students need to understand that they look through cultural lenses when they view this world. I want students to understand that there are inequalities in this world and that we have the power to right the wrongs of the past and live in a more pleasant future.

At the beginning of my student teaching experience I asked students why many Americans expect everyone in the world to speak English, even when we go to other countries. Many replied, "Because we are American and we're the best!" This was the type of close-minded thinking I was trying to extinguish in my classroom. I explained that this type of belief has brought a lot of conflict around the world. During most class discussions I ask the students to step into the other man/woman's shoes and see what the world would be like from their perspective. Perhaps then students will find more tolerance for differences between people.

One lesson which got students to start thinking about the ways we view things in this world was an art lesson I did while teaching a unit on China. I put two paintings on the board that depicted a Chinese city scene in the 1800's. I asked the students to write down everything they viewed on as sheet of paper. We discussed their responses and then I revealed to them the realities of the paintings. We used this time of enlightenment to discuss perspective and the diverse ways different cultures and people view the world around them. Then we segued into a discussion on why junior high students often get into argument with each other. The students enjoyed this lesson because they got the idea that this was something that really mattered, not just a worksheet on Chinese history. School started to become a little more fun.

My third core belief is the idea that students learn more effectively when they work in collaboration with their peers. In today's society students are inundated with competitive practices. Whether it be competitive sports, video games, or class work, students have competed to be successful all their lives. It is my opinion that students do not want this ultra competitive approach to education.

When students can depend on each other to complete a task they feel included and generally more excited about the idea of learning history. All people like to feel wanted, and in collaborative groups students are dependant on each other to complete a task. Also, it is important for students to learn this form of work because most will need to have some sort of teamwork skills in their adult life.

In my classroom we experimented with numerous styles of group work. I had the students work in small groups, large group, collaborative learning groups, and jigsaw groups. What I found was that students liked to interact with each other in a structured, teamwork setting. One example of the success of group work came when I broke the class up into groups for a lesson on the regions of Washington State. We set the class up like it was a convention and each group were delegates from their respective region. Each group was responsible for researching their specific region and presenting their regional characteristics to the rest of the regions. Each student within the group was responsible for some part of the presentation. Students took ownership of their group's responsibilities and for weeks after the lesson the students were still talking about their own region.

Johnson, Johnson, and Houbec discuss the need for cooperative learning in their article titled "The Nuts and Bolts of Cooperative Learning". They say, "While lessons can be structured so that students compete, work individualistically, or cooperate, it is cooperation that most powerfully affects instructional outcomes." The genuine excitement to learn is greatly increased when the students can work together.

The last of my core beliefs is that teaching and learning should be fun. While I have tried to demonstrate my reasoning for this belief throughout this entire statement, it is worth discussing in more detail. We live in an age of entertainment and ten minute attention spans. Students today have the ability to instantly recognize whether a lesson is going to be interesting and engaging or whether it is just a waste of their time. Though some people might disagree with me, I think it is very important to not only teach students content and concepts but also to entertain them.

Students are more successful in school when they enjoy it. An example of this idea came when my Washington State history class was involved in an Oregon Trail Unit. Not only did we spend time learning about the reasons for going West and the ways people came out West, but we learned about some of the strange events that took place on the wagons trains out West. Like the boy named Willie Keil who died before he could make the journey so his father filled an iron coffin with whiskey and took him along for the ride. Or the idea of using buffalo chips as fuel for a fire. The students yearned for lessons where we not only discussed the important concepts related to history, but also learned fascinating tales of our past. In my class the students laughed, they were grossed out, and they were intrigued, but most of all we were having fun learning history.