In my last blog I wrote about the difference between learners and workers, and this an idea I continue to wrestle with now.  But I am seeing it a bit differently today.

I have long known that just because I have taught something doesn't mean that my students have learned it.  In light of Rethinking Homework by Cathy Vatterott, I feel as though I can put more pieces of the puzzle together.  I know that a meaninglesss homework is just that: meaningless.  Students do not make meaning from an activity to which they feel no connection.  Likewise, they do not make connections or learn anything from assessment that comes at the end of the learning--not as a part of the learning.  I have known about the issues and have made some changes to the way I interact with my students; but the changes are slow and, at times, seemingly ineffective.  But, like I said, a solution to the puzzle is forming...

Homework doesn't ensure learning.  Ever.  It only ensures obedience in the students that we likely already know will be obedient.  In the others?  Homework ensures frustration at best; failure at worst.  In order for homework to be effective for me in an upper secondary level college preparatory English class, it must be more about their meaning and less about my agenda.  So what do I do?

First, I need to make sure that the feedback is during learning not after it.  Feedback must be about helping each student learn at that moment.  Not next week or sometime during the next lesson.  I have tried to address this by spending a significant amount of time with student writing before the final draft is due.  I know that a grade on the final draft is really the only thing students are after--not the comments and suggestions I used to spend so much time on writing.  So now I respond with those comments and suggestions during the writing process not after.  Already I have noticed kids taking those responses to heart and applying my suggestions.  That's meaningful time spent outside of the classroom for both of us.

Second, I am learning to make the learning more about them and less about me.  If I am doing most of the talking, I am teaching; but if they are doing most of the talking, they are learning.  Problem based learning or project based learning is nothing new, but I have little experience with it.  I am beginning to analyze how I can take the new standards and apply this methodology of formulating a great question and beginning with the end in mind.  What can the students do to show me that they have learned?  What are the great questions that each of them can wrestle with in their own ways?

Finally, the grade is important to my students, but I think I can help them start to see that the learning is more important.  An "A" means nothing if no knowledge has been gained.

I have never wanted to be a teacher who simply opens the file from the previous ten years on the first day and starts going.  I try so hard to be a discoverer with my students, but knowing whether or not I am effective in that isn't always easy.  I do know that I can continue to improve.  In the meantime, I'll just keep trying to put that puzzle together.

"'People don't go to school to learn. They go to get good grades, which brings them to college, which brings them the high-paying job, which brings them happiness, so they think (qtd in Vatterott 19). 

Are educators creating learners or workers? As I wrestle with this concept of homework and its many facets, this is the question I keep coming back to, and it is the question that Vatterott proposes on page 15. I have two primary responses to that question. 

First, yes.  Ideally, education and educators should produce life-long learners. But under our current system, the institution of school cannot produce life-long learners in more than a few cases. Creating learners requires an environment in which learning is valued over all else, including grades, test scores, and class ranks.  A learner is driven by his or her own passion--he is not mandated to attend classes he hates with teachers he finds boring who use methods that don't connect with him. A learner seeks information and knowledge; they are not spoon-fed to him.  A learner often isn't valued the way a worker is. Imagining solutions is far different than doing one's part to implement them.

I wish I could produce learners. I hope I do in some small way.  But I'm realistic too.  The majority of the students enrolled in my classes is there because it is a requirement for graduation--not because they have a passion for writing and reading. I try to ignite what little intrinsic desire they may have, but how can I be sure?  What I think I "do", and what students "get" may be two very different things.  I would love to create a way for my colleagues to give me real feedback about what they see and hear if they would sit in my room for a day or two.  This kind of observation and feedback would be invaluable!

Second, what is the role, if any, of homework in the creation of learners?  I think that homework does have a role in learning, especially in a college course. If I didn't have students write essays outside of class, I don't believe they would be ready for college work the following year.  When I see my students for three hours and forty-five minutes in a normal week, there is no possible way for me to meet the demands of standards, colleges, and society if I don't require that some things be done outside of class. That said, I try hard not to assign work that isn't relevant. I always try to explain my purpose behind an assignment, no matter how small.  However, sometimes I assign work that we simply don't get to during class. For example, today I was lecturing about rhetoric. We got into a discussion about audience. That discussion was valuable, I think.  But that left little time to finish the notes. Instead I asked the kids to summarize three keys points from the reading for their notes for tomorrow. I expect them to do it, but I also know some will forget, choose not to do it, or something similar.  Is that bad?  Not necessarily, but I wouldn't trade our class discussion for it either.

Homework must have purpose. Homework should be differentiated when possible. But homework is NOT inherently bad. Neither, I believe, is holding kids, in my case, seniors, accountable for their work. I would expect that is helping them prepare for their future educations and employment. But, as a learner, I resolve to keep my options and eyes open. I want feedback because I know that's one of the best ways to learn. 

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