One of my favorite courses during my senior year of high school was Environmental Science. The teacher always had unique ways of keeping us engaged. For example, one of my favorite lessons of that course was identifying Minnesota native trees. We were not only required to memorize and describe characteristics of different native trees but also had to identify those characteristics when looking at the tree. One of the memories that stands out to me the most was taking a mini field trip with my class around my high school’s neighborhood. We walked down a walking trail and along sidewalks of the neighborhood observing the characteristics of trees and identifying them. The teacher led the way, eager to get to a certain tree he knew about in the neighborhood and then we all followed as students with our notebooks ready to take notes and draw pictures. He’d then see if any student could identify it based on our in class notes, and then point out the different characteristics of the tree.
To this day I can still identify trees when I’m out and about and I truly don’t think I would have been able to do so if I were sitting in class looking at slideshows or pictures of trees instead of seeing them in person. Of course it didn’t hurt that the weather was nice! It made for a fun learning experience, I think that also contributed to my ability to memorize different native trees so effectively. Typically whenever I’m told by a teacher that I need to know something because I’m going to be tested on it, I forget it almost immediately after the test. However this wasn’t the case for me, and I like trees and all, but not as much as anyone else I know.
I definitely think that the teacher planned this lesson well. I remember that the course was only offered during the spring semester, and based on the fact that we had a lot of outdoor lessons I think this could be why. I also think that the teacher knew this was a harder lesson to grasp from simply taking notes and looking at slideshow images of trees. It would have been much easier for the teacher to keep us indoors, in our assigned seats, but instead he chose the harder task of managing a bunch of 17 year olds in an open public space. We were later tested on what we had learned that day, and despite some serious senior slacking I remember doing well on that portion of the test.
I definitely think the teacher chose this hands on approach knowing it would work better for students. I think it was well thought out and well executed and I think that the fact that it stuck with me all these years is proof of that.
I love how you are thinking about the plethora of opportunities to design learning experiences and how the teacher made the choice. Yes! Absolutely, there could have been slideshows, videos, tech examples. Yes, he could have brought in leaves, branches, and bark for close exploration. But, the neighborhood walk was selected with careful observation. Teachers make choices about how to craft lessons and what they choose is equally as important as what they do not choose. It defines their philosophy.
ReplyDeleteYou could have also said that there was something inherent in the subject matter. Possibly. But, there are ways that teachers can find ways to make subjects become hands on, no matter the content.
Thank you for sharing!