Recently, Dave Theune spoke to our class about a successful teaching practice he has recently begun using in his classroom to increase student performance. The secret: make them perform. It seems almost too obvious, but the reality is that most student performance is measured by a rather unconventional type of "performance", in which the only audience is the teacher or machine that judges the answers. This hardly necessitates the students perform anything. Theune is part english teacher, part drama teacher, so the idea came quite naturally to him. In recent years, he has invited parents to come into the classroom and witness their children demonstrate what they have learned. The response, he says, has been overwhelmingly positive.
On the surface, there are some concerns with introducing a perhaps "less academic" type of performance into the classroom. Teachers have been using papers and tests for years, seemingly for a reason. But one of Theune's secret is that he still uses those type of "traditional" academic assessment. He distinguishes his practice by merely creating a tangible audience to whom the student must present their work. For example, one of the events open to parents is a reading of the students' essays for one of his english classes. It is a simple addition to the practice of writing the paper, but now students know someone else will be hearing what they have to say. Perhaps they value the opinions of their parents more than that of the ominous red pen, but Theune has seen vast improvement in student motivation and quality of work when this element is added.
Shortly after he spoke to our ED504 class, I filmed myself teaching for ED511. After I checked to make sure no students had any objections to being recorded, I started rolling the camera. A group of football players, who rarely seem to prioritize world history and would much rather put their heads on the desk, sits at the front of the classroom. I placed the camera, merely for convenience and sound quality, right in front of them on the teacher's desk. When the camera came on, one student in the group shot up in his seat and immediately asked, "Wait, people gonna SEE this? Like, your professor gonna know what I did today in class?" I stifled a chuckle and replied, "I guess they will. Is that alright?" The student, who's teammates had now also taken an interest in my answer, said, "I just gotta be really good today, then. Can you cut the first part where I had my head down?"
When students have an audience, they want to do well. While my evidence is merely anecdotal, Theune reiterated this claim vehemently. He says he has only had a handful of students in three years of this practice who have chosen NOT to perform (the option is given explicitly to all). Teenagers, if I remember correctly, seem to like attention. It makes sense that my trio of tired jocks volunteered infinitely more answers the day I was filming than they otherwise have (which would be, for maths sake, approximately five to zero). It also makes sense that I have tried to make this blog post a good one because my peers will be reading this (hi, friends). Classroom performance doesn't require a stage or a spotlight, but sometimes students do.
Line?
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