Authentic education
A great story is coming out of St. Paul today where thousands of middle schoolers are beginning school with a new, excellent type of pedagogy in place. As reported in the St. Paul Pioneer Press:
It's more than a bit sad that it's an "innovative" idea to have students engage in hands-on understanding rather than sit as mostly passive receptacles for information poured out of the hands of teachers. But this is an excellent example of what I'm talking about when I mean teaching thinking. I contacted the article's author to find out which schools had a year of the program under their belt. These four schools provide a stirring testament to the power of what can only be termed authentic education.
These schools are all racially diverse and, with the exception of Highland Park, have over 80% of students on Free and Reduced Lunch. The data show percent proficient on the 7th grade Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments.
Humboldt (90% FRL)
Reading, Gr. 7
2004 -- 21
2005 -- 32
Math, Gr. 7
2004 -- 18
2005 -- 34
Cleveland (91% FRL)
Reading
2004 -- 28
2005 -- 34
Math
2004 -- 20
2005 -- 45
Highland Park (65% FRL)
Reading
2004 -- 47
2005 -- 60
Math
2004 -- 45
2005 -- 59
Battle Creek (81% FRL)
Reading
2004 -- 27
2005 -- 43
Math
2004 -- 26
2005 -- 37
If you've been reading this blog, you know I'm skeptical of test results generally, but an aggregate jump of 15-20% in one year is truly astounding. At that rate, basic proficiency truly will be achieved in short order. We can further see the effects of the student-oriented program by comparing these schools with other St. Paul middle schools that didn't have disciplinary literacy last year. While these schools also made solid gains, they were not nearly as huge even though the non-program schools had smaller challenges to overcome.
Murray (62% FRL -- not DL program)
Reading
2004 -- 54
2005 -- 61
Math
2004 -- 55
2005 -- 64
Ramsey (68% FRL -- not DL program)
Reading
2004 -- 49
2005 -- 57
Math
2004 -- 51
2005 -- 62
Disciplinary literacy. Authentic education. Now we're getting somewhere.
...[S]tarting last year, an attempt to revamp the middle school/junior high instructional model with an approach called "disciplinary literacy" was rolled out at four schools. This year, it will be instituted at all eight, plus the K-8 Monroe Community School.
The idea of disciplinary literacy is to train students to approach science, math, English and history "as a practitioner, rather than studying it," said Mike McCollor, principal at Washington, the first school to get the new program this year.
In science, for example, that might mean students collect leaves and start classifying them themselves rather than reading about taxonomy in a text and getting a lecture about it, said Davis, a coach brought in to help science teacher Sarah Weaver run her class according to the new model.
"(It's) doing science but learning content," Davis said.
As seventh-grader Brian King summarized it after hearing the science teachers introduce the concept: "They don't tell you, they let you figure it out."
English teacher Suzanne Myhre said she intends to have her students form strong opinions on the works they'll be reading as a way of deepening their understanding.
Students in Tara Brash's math class were asked Tuesday to figure out how to form eight triangles out of six toothpicks.
They were given some time to work on their own, but were soon grouped with others to share their ideas.
"In math, there is not always one single correct answer," Brash told the students.
Group work is a hallmark of the new approach, as is the posting of student work and ideas.
In Courtney Major's history class later in the day, student responses to the questions "What is history?" and "Why study history?" were recorded on big pieces of newsprint taped to the wall at the front of the classroom.
It's more than a bit sad that it's an "innovative" idea to have students engage in hands-on understanding rather than sit as mostly passive receptacles for information poured out of the hands of teachers. But this is an excellent example of what I'm talking about when I mean teaching thinking. I contacted the article's author to find out which schools had a year of the program under their belt. These four schools provide a stirring testament to the power of what can only be termed authentic education.
These schools are all racially diverse and, with the exception of Highland Park, have over 80% of students on Free and Reduced Lunch. The data show percent proficient on the 7th grade Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments.
Humboldt (90% FRL)
Reading, Gr. 7
2004 -- 21
2005 -- 32
Math, Gr. 7
2004 -- 18
2005 -- 34
Cleveland (91% FRL)
Reading
2004 -- 28
2005 -- 34
Math
2004 -- 20
2005 -- 45
Highland Park (65% FRL)
Reading
2004 -- 47
2005 -- 60
Math
2004 -- 45
2005 -- 59
Battle Creek (81% FRL)
Reading
2004 -- 27
2005 -- 43
Math
2004 -- 26
2005 -- 37
If you've been reading this blog, you know I'm skeptical of test results generally, but an aggregate jump of 15-20% in one year is truly astounding. At that rate, basic proficiency truly will be achieved in short order. We can further see the effects of the student-oriented program by comparing these schools with other St. Paul middle schools that didn't have disciplinary literacy last year. While these schools also made solid gains, they were not nearly as huge even though the non-program schools had smaller challenges to overcome.
Murray (62% FRL -- not DL program)
Reading
2004 -- 54
2005 -- 61
Math
2004 -- 55
2005 -- 64
Ramsey (68% FRL -- not DL program)
Reading
2004 -- 49
2005 -- 57
Math
2004 -- 51
2005 -- 62
Disciplinary literacy. Authentic education. Now we're getting somewhere.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, September 07, 2005 at 7:04 PM.
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