One experience
My very first lesson plan at the
Juvenile Detention Center Moorhead.
We arrived to the Juvenile Detention Center and the people in the office seemed very confused. Some nice woman took us upstairs and we met Helen Pemble in her office (I presume). She was just starting to speak to us when nine kids crowded into the room. We quickly learned that these were our students as Helen introduced us to them.
Mike and I had been talking about this class on the way to the JDC and we were a bit worried about the level of the explanation we were going to perform. We did not know where these kids knowledge would stand and we did not want to give them too much or too little. In addition to that (I do not know about Mike, but I was thinking this) I know problematic kids do not have a lot background, but I did not want to assume anything about them.
When the kids arrived to the class (or office; it was kind of a mixture) they seemed a little excited when they saw us; we were something new. Then Mrs. Pemble introduced us and explained that we were going to explain how rollercoasters work. By the time Mrs. Pimble was done a good number of kids had glassy eyes, as if they do not care at all and were bored to death.
Then Mike started the activity. He asked about rollercoasters and all of them seemed to have been on one. They seemed interested, but some of them still seemed like they were being tortured more than anything else.
It was not shocking to me, but sad, to see that they did not know a lot about kinetic energy, or centripetal force or inertia. So we kept the level of the explanations pretty low, and finished with the introduction pretty fast. After that, Mrs. Pemble (who had been talking by phone almost all the time) informed us that we could not move to the big class because something was going on there.
So we divided the kids in three groups of three and redistributed a little some tables and some things that were on the tables. The space was not very ample but was enough. In the beginning the kids did not know how to react, how to make the groups, or what to do. But pretty soon they got organized and they started working.
And then, the miracle happened.
The kids took the tubes in their hands, the tubes they were going to use to make a rollercoaster. Those kids that seemed awake before were now concentrated on the task before them. Those who had glassy eyes before were totally immersed in the task as well. They were happy, they were interested, they were like sponges absorbing information because they were using it for something that was fun for them.
I could give you countless examples about what happened that day at the JDC, but regardless of how many examples could I write down, not all of them put together could get even close to the big lesson I learned that day:
The kids in JDC can be very difficult to be taught (some of them at least). I am sure that had we tried to make them learn the same subject some other way (lecture, cool movie, or with slides) we would had failed pitifully, may be not with all of them. But a good chunk of them would have put an unbreakable barrier between us for sure. Making them work with something fun we got their total and undivided attention.
It is not that I was at all skeptical about engaging the students in class using hands-on activities. I thought that it was really important and that it was a very good system to use in conjunction with other methods of teaching.
The thing is that after my experience at the JDC I do not think that hands-on activities are one more method to use in teaching. Lectures are “a method,” movies are “a method”. Making the class fun and engaging and immersing the students in the activities, that is “the method”. I know that it is not always possible to do it all the time. But, whenever possible, I know I have to do that, I know I have to look for ways to reach them. I knew that students having fun learn better. Now I know that students having fun learn, open their minds, get receptive, think harder, are inquisitive… They are awesome. I hate the glassy eyes but I love when their eyes spark.
Juvenile Detention Center Moorhead.
We arrived to the Juvenile Detention Center and the people in the office seemed very confused. Some nice woman took us upstairs and we met Helen Pemble in her office (I presume). She was just starting to speak to us when nine kids crowded into the room. We quickly learned that these were our students as Helen introduced us to them.
Mike and I had been talking about this class on the way to the JDC and we were a bit worried about the level of the explanation we were going to perform. We did not know where these kids knowledge would stand and we did not want to give them too much or too little. In addition to that (I do not know about Mike, but I was thinking this) I know problematic kids do not have a lot background, but I did not want to assume anything about them.
When the kids arrived to the class (or office; it was kind of a mixture) they seemed a little excited when they saw us; we were something new. Then Mrs. Pemble introduced us and explained that we were going to explain how rollercoasters work. By the time Mrs. Pimble was done a good number of kids had glassy eyes, as if they do not care at all and were bored to death.
Then Mike started the activity. He asked about rollercoasters and all of them seemed to have been on one. They seemed interested, but some of them still seemed like they were being tortured more than anything else.
It was not shocking to me, but sad, to see that they did not know a lot about kinetic energy, or centripetal force or inertia. So we kept the level of the explanations pretty low, and finished with the introduction pretty fast. After that, Mrs. Pemble (who had been talking by phone almost all the time) informed us that we could not move to the big class because something was going on there.
So we divided the kids in three groups of three and redistributed a little some tables and some things that were on the tables. The space was not very ample but was enough. In the beginning the kids did not know how to react, how to make the groups, or what to do. But pretty soon they got organized and they started working.
And then, the miracle happened.
The kids took the tubes in their hands, the tubes they were going to use to make a rollercoaster. Those kids that seemed awake before were now concentrated on the task before them. Those who had glassy eyes before were totally immersed in the task as well. They were happy, they were interested, they were like sponges absorbing information because they were using it for something that was fun for them.
I could give you countless examples about what happened that day at the JDC, but regardless of how many examples could I write down, not all of them put together could get even close to the big lesson I learned that day:
The kids in JDC can be very difficult to be taught (some of them at least). I am sure that had we tried to make them learn the same subject some other way (lecture, cool movie, or with slides) we would had failed pitifully, may be not with all of them. But a good chunk of them would have put an unbreakable barrier between us for sure. Making them work with something fun we got their total and undivided attention.
It is not that I was at all skeptical about engaging the students in class using hands-on activities. I thought that it was really important and that it was a very good system to use in conjunction with other methods of teaching.
The thing is that after my experience at the JDC I do not think that hands-on activities are one more method to use in teaching. Lectures are “a method,” movies are “a method”. Making the class fun and engaging and immersing the students in the activities, that is “the method”. I know that it is not always possible to do it all the time. But, whenever possible, I know I have to do that, I know I have to look for ways to reach them. I knew that students having fun learn better. Now I know that students having fun learn, open their minds, get receptive, think harder, are inquisitive… They are awesome. I hate the glassy eyes but I love when their eyes spark.
Well, back to the activity. The kids were trying different things with the tubes and the tape. They could see by themselves that the higher the ramp the faster the balls could go and the more loops they could make in the rollercoaster.
As they were working with the materials, they needed to use concepts to talk about what was going on. Therefore they were talking about kinetic energy, or inertia, or centripetal force. If they have to communicate ideas, and if they want to do it because they are interested, they will learn a lot of vocabulary that would have been boring for them to learn in some other way.
When we arrived to the JDC we were pretty nervous. Mike was better, but I was freaking out. After the activity, we did not want to leave. We wanted to stay there with the kids. It was sad that we had another class at 2:00 and we had to leave.
Still, when we were leaving, one of the children told us: “I will be here for one and a half months more. Feel free to come back any time you want.”
I am not sure I can put down in words what that meant to me. The best metaphor I can think of is a bullet imbedding itself in my heart and remaining there, causing a hint of pain all the time, enough to remind me of those kids for the rest of my life.
As they were working with the materials, they needed to use concepts to talk about what was going on. Therefore they were talking about kinetic energy, or inertia, or centripetal force. If they have to communicate ideas, and if they want to do it because they are interested, they will learn a lot of vocabulary that would have been boring for them to learn in some other way.
When we arrived to the JDC we were pretty nervous. Mike was better, but I was freaking out. After the activity, we did not want to leave. We wanted to stay there with the kids. It was sad that we had another class at 2:00 and we had to leave.
Still, when we were leaving, one of the children told us: “I will be here for one and a half months more. Feel free to come back any time you want.”
I am not sure I can put down in words what that meant to me. The best metaphor I can think of is a bullet imbedding itself in my heart and remaining there, causing a hint of pain all the time, enough to remind me of those kids for the rest of my life.