Always.
Be unreasonable about the status quo, fellow teachers. I dare you. We fall into the trap of our school's cultural mindset, the mire that begins with phrases such as but we've always done it this way. (While I'm thinking about it, novice teachers, stay out of the lounge as much as you can. It's a cesspool of negativity.)
Be unreasonable when you look at your desk and and when you stare at your lesson plans. Sure, anticipatory sets are nice, but will the world fall apart if you don't have a bells-and-whistles sort of activity today?
Will your students be unable to functions as human beings if you don't put your objectives on the board? (Okay, truth here: some won't. If you have a group like that, find other ways to be unreasonable... no point in sacrificing your sanity!)
As I wind my way through Lemberg's Be Unreasonable, I'd like to post this challenge: how are you unreasonable? What do you insist upon? What do you cling to tenaciously? What traditional expectations have you chucked out the window, much to the horror of every in-line thinker out there?
Here's my unreasonable thought: guerrilla fighters always win.
(Lemberg, pg. 42)
There are three generations in the adult classroom, gang. They have families, jobs, and other dramas that some of us cannot begin to fathom. I have to convince them that grammar is important enough to merit their attention -- over, for example, an impending eviction. Standing up and lecturing on nouns ain't going to cut it.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
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2 comments:
how can grammar be more important than where someone lives?
I was using that as an example, but -- yes -- grammar is important. The point is that post-secondary schools like mine have to address topics above and beyond academic ones. If I can't find a way to pull them in -- without pandering to them or insulting their intelligence -- then I'm losing them. And, most often, the loss is due to either a lack of problem-solving skills or the inability to look to the long-term. They often know that they have to come to school despite their home problems. That's half of the battle. Now we need to figure out how to pull them all the way in.
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