a class with no teacher part two – feedback and reflection
About a week ago I wrote about an experiment in silence with a class, and promised to come back with a report on the students’ reactions. It really was quite enlightening. This is what we all learnt.
1. A particular result may not mean what you think it means
Looking back through the many comments on my previous post (which was one of the most commented upon I have posted) it is interesting to see that we, as teachers, slightly misread the whole situation. As professionals, committed to our students, caring about them deeply, we all assumed that the end result (constant discussion in L1) springs from the joy of freedom, the taking up of responsibility and other positive emotions. Actually, according to the students, they were terrified.
“We actually thought that you were angry at us and abandoned us because we use too much Japanese in class.”
“I took it for granted that you were angry and you didn’t want to give our class.”
I don’t know where this leaves Krashen. Despite the cause being the negative emotion of fear, the result was very positive.
“To do task without your help was difficult for me. However, I were able to hear much English. And I could speak more in English than usual!”
“…if we have no teachers, we must think how we should study. However,this situation is very important to us too I think. Actually we try to look for the answer more harder than usual. I spoke in English more ,moreover I heared more opinions of them than usual. Though we had much difficulties, it was very interesting to me.”
Of course, anyone who has met me in real life will find this fear highly amusing. Teaching teenagers we do sometimes need to wield a big stick. However, I don’t want this to be the dominant motivating force in my classroom, which leads us onto our next point.
2. Although mystery can be effective, we must ultimately provide transparency
When the students realised what I was trying to do, they were very happy. This was a vital step in the experiment – revealing the mystery.
“But I read your comment , you tried to see our class from all kinds of directions.”
“After reading this article, I noticed you care about us more than I expected. So I’m happy that you are our teacher!”
“We were so puzzled! Me, K., M.,and M. were discussing about ﾞwhat’s happening!?ﾞ through out the whole class.
K. and I were even talking about it the rest of the day!”
So had I left the class cold, with no feedback or no discussion of what had happened, the positives of confusion may have caused longer-term damage to the rapport we have been building. I kept the next class very light, and the students kept up their good habits from the previous class.
3. Perceived teacher beliefs do not always reflect actual classroom practice
If you had asked me before this class if I believed in learner autonomy and a hands-off teaching approach, I would have given you an emphatic yes. But what I was actually doing in the class belied this. It was only by removing myself completely from the lesson that I could see how students had been relying on me to prompt them, feed them and cajole them into using the language. In the last week, I have given many of my classes similar opportunities and they have all surprised me by speaking fluently in English for as longer than I expected. Had I been unwittingly restricting learner autonomy by doing too much, by jumping in too soon, by shutting down an activity simply because I was ready to go on to the next one?
This is why I think reflective practice has never been done properly in mainstream ELT literature. The questions we are prompted to ask ourselves are always the same, and we end up giving the answers we think we should. What was good and bad about that lesson? Why did that activity succeed or fail? We will never really know unless we break the mirror and try to rearrange the pieces.
An invitation to experiment, then. This weekends homework – choose a class and do something you never usually do. Then report back and tell us how it went and what it revealed.
Hi Darren,
Excellent follow-up.
In my (original?) application of this experiment, I did actually talk with the learners after the lesson to explain my motives and method, and also to listen to their feelings and perspective. I didn’t mention this in my original post, I guess because – for me – this is a very normal process in my teaching approach, something I do so regularly that perhaps I take it for granted.
It is worth documenting and explaining this, as you have done so ably here – so thanks for the more thorough explanation!
You are right – you can only have mystery as long as you have transparency as well.
In a similar application, I once got a class of university students to write emails to travel/recreation companies of their own choice in other countries, and to then present the replies they got and their own feelings/reactions to them in our online forum (this was part of a secondary school English teacher training course). I didn’t initially explain to them what the whole point of this was, but through the comments in the forum I found that they got the point, and identified others that were equally beneficial but that I hadn’t really predicted at all!
This leads me to believe – for me at least – that transparency is very important, but I should always facilitate the chance for the learners to figure out and discuss the mystery before I explain it to them. They can often find the answer on their own, as well as other answers that educate me as a teacher as well!
Transparency can be a shared process between teachers and learners, I think.
Cheers,
- Jason
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Darren,
This year I have been working with a really difficult group of troubled migrant teens. I can’t help thinking that, if I took a step back in this way, they would go more nuts than usual. Unfortunately, the course has just come to an end, but I hope to get a similar group next year, so we’ll see. Perhaps I need to ‘wield the stick’ a bit more from the word go, in order to reach a place where I feel comfortable to do this.
It strikes me, too, that the reason it was so ‘hard-hitting’ in your class is because it was a break from the norm. If so, what we can extrapolate from the experiment in terms of our teaching method in a wider sense is surely limited? It seems that their increased productivity was more a result of shock/ fear and wanting to appease during THAT lesson, rather than because they had been left to their own devices. If we made this a regular occurrence (not that I’m implying you suggest we do), would they not not just become used to it and take advantage of the situation (i.e. by seeing it as an opoortunity to do as they pleased)?
You seem to have a great relationship with your students, and it’s fantastic that they have seen the reasoning behind your actions, and, of course, the benefits of autonomous learning. But, I feel, it’s mainly because you had already got this kind of relationship that the result was so positive. Perhaps that’s what you’ve already said above…
Right. I’m late (as usual). Hope that makes sense.
Best, Callie
Great post. I think reporting on reflective practice is a great idea, it’s really an area where all of us can benefit from the experiences of an individual and the discussion that it leads to.
Thanks Darren!
Callie – you are absolutely right. I have another class which I think would happily sit in silence for ninety minutes if I let them. I did try it with this class because I thought it would work and because I thought I could get something positive out of it. That proved to be the case, but what pleased me was that I learnt something slightly unexpected.So whilst the cause was fear, the result was productivity… from which I can extrapolate that students are capable of a level of self-management I hadn’t demanded of them. I just need to remove the fear factor and replace it with something else. I am typing this in the classroom, those students have just left after a ninety minute simulation of school board, parents, teachers and community leaders deciding how best to help troubled teens… they did a great job, and I am sure the fact that they knew they could stay in English and work without my help was a benefit.
I wouldn’t try the silent lesson again with this class though, not to this extent – as you say, it relies on the shock to be effective. I don’t think it would work with your class…. and I feel your difficulties with trying to reign in an unruly class. All said and done, the students I have are pretty untroubled and pretty well-behaved. The big stick can work if you have something to back it up, if it is applied consistently from the outset, and if they don’t call your bluff. It also needs to be balanced with a juicy carrot of course. Let us know what you try and how it works….
Wow. Really powerful follow-up post- thank for posting this one Darren.
“I took it for granted that you were angry and didn’t want to give our class”
I was completely not expecting that response – and of course the last thing you want as a teacher is to feel that you might have destroyed all the rapport and relationships we spend so long building. And yet the visible outcome was so positive (so much English produced in class, and discussion ‘all day’ with friends about the lesson). The points that you and Jason make about follow-up are absolutely vital then- this is surely the key to making this a successful learning cycle. (And imagine the consequences if you hadn’t!!)
Will give some thought to our homework:)
I love this idea, thanks so much for sharing your experience.
I’ve recently stopped high school teaching and have moved into university teaching…I wonder what the effect would be on this older group of learners? At the least it will make an excellent lesson for them in student autonomy, and I look forward to giving it a try!
I think we are just so eager to help as teachers that we do tend to jump in more quickly than we really need to. On the other hand, I am imagining my year 9 classes specifically, and with their a) loudness and b) determination to ‘bludge’ I wonder if this is one age group that would not be able to deal with silence. Or (I suspect) it is exactly this kind of thinking that stops teachers from enabling autonomy through more withdrawn, facilitative practice.
Food for thought!
Hi Kelli,
I think it would work very successfully with older learners. I imagine that there is a tipping point in a combination of class chemistry, age, maturity, ability and pixie dust, past which this would not work. Your year nine bludgers may be past that point, although I contend that we may be surprised at how much students can do when given responsibility….
I definitely agree that students can achieve much more that we realise when given responsibility. Perhaps with the harder to manage classes, it is a case of learning how to put structures in place that will scaffold their experience (and not give the class next door a headache!). Like a series of achievable goals that must be reached by end of lesson, to keep them focussed on the task.
Absolutely fantastic Darren. Sorry I’m getting around to reading this quite late, but I’ve been holding off on your posts on google reader due to the long videos. I just had a bunch of free time today to work through it all.
I think the biggest thing to learn from this is that teacher and student perceptions are always very different. That’s why it’s so important to get feedback often. I also really feel discussing and negotiating the methodology is important as well. Here, the fear and confusion could probably have been avoided simply by telling students you were going to do an experiment next class or something.
I really really like the conclusions you came to and thanks a lot for sharing them. Currently, I’m setting up some long term, self-directed projects in my upper-int class that will have me involved very minimally. I’ll be interested to see how it goes.
Responding to Callie’s comment, I’m not sure this should be seen as a one-off thing. As Jason mentioned in a post quite recently, it’s important to pass the lesson over to the students now and then and I think it’s useful to do for a series of lessons. Giving the lesson to the students makes them think about the work you put in by realizing creating a lesson ain’t easy, puts the onus on them in terms of motivation and productivity, helps them reflect on study habits and learning, and usually gets them speaking to each other more in a real fashion.
Drawbacks can be that students don’t feel you are doing your job, especially if problems arise, but I think this can be negotiated.
The trust and level of autonomy in Darren’s class is important, but this can be built up in any class. Having worked with the worst of the worst, I can say from experience that a strong sense of autonomy is key in teenage classes, as is respect and connecting with their interests. The most important thing is boundaries. Set up what is acceptable behavior and what isn’t, and then give them as much freedom and responsibility as you can within that setting, slowly releasing the reins more and more. It’s by no means easy, but it can be done. Good luck experimenting next semester.
Hello Darren,
thank you for this follow-up. It is very interesting to see the students reactions and feedback on the lesson. This is something I definitely want to try next school year, thank you for inspiring me
I find myself less and less active in my lessons, partly because Korean students seem to respond better that way. The problem for me is that I really can’t bear being less than active at any time, let alone in class, and if this trend continues I’m going to have to get back into one to one teaching or something just to keep myself awake!
Thanks all!
Alex – You have put your finger on it. Teachers often get involved because we feel left out, we are bored, or we get nervous… not because it is pedagogically necessary.
Maybe so, but we need to get something out of our jobs- we sure ain’t in it for the money!