Teachers as Designers
It is uncomfortable to stray from accepted classroom strategies and attempt to design lessons that tackle the needs of learners by addressing problems of practice.
With standardized testing occurring at designated times each school year, teachers resist developing their own lessons. Due to the timeline and imminent importance of satisfactory performance on these tests, it feels safer to teach the recommended lessons and obey the more traditional plans that team teachers often contribute at content meetings. The results of the students’ tests are then not solely the teacher’s responsibility. When these standard lessons are what every teacher on the team uses, success of failure is a team responsibility and not an individual’s responsibility.
A teacher may feel uncomfortable or that their lesson is “messy” when they begin to design lessons. Recognition of a teacher’s problem of practice means that the teacher has identified through observation and discourse, what the students are expecting from the class and how they might best learn. Designing lessons that consider the needs of students means that the teacher empathizes with students, seeks all realistic options to aid student learning, and then designs lessons that have the best opportunity of engaging learners.
This idea of designing lessons does not have a prescribed lesson plan to follow, however, there is a system in place to aid in seeing the full scope of what needs examined. The article “Teachers are Designers” offers the following phases to contemplate, incorporate, and iterate.
o Empathizing w/ stakeholders to understand problem: interviewing or observing students
o Defining the problem describing it including all facets and student perspectives
o Ideating of brainstorming to gather ideas for solutions ALL ideas.
o Prototyping or choosing a solution to create and try
o Testing or trying the solution with students and reflecting on what works, what does not and what needs done or redone
With standardized testing occurring at designated times each school year, teachers resist developing their own lessons. Due to the timeline and imminent importance of satisfactory performance on these tests, it feels safer to teach the recommended lessons and obey the more traditional plans that team teachers often contribute at content meetings. The results of the students’ tests are then not solely the teacher’s responsibility. When these standard lessons are what every teacher on the team uses, success of failure is a team responsibility and not an individual’s responsibility.
A teacher may feel uncomfortable or that their lesson is “messy” when they begin to design lessons. Recognition of a teacher’s problem of practice means that the teacher has identified through observation and discourse, what the students are expecting from the class and how they might best learn. Designing lessons that consider the needs of students means that the teacher empathizes with students, seeks all realistic options to aid student learning, and then designs lessons that have the best opportunity of engaging learners.
This idea of designing lessons does not have a prescribed lesson plan to follow, however, there is a system in place to aid in seeing the full scope of what needs examined. The article “Teachers are Designers” offers the following phases to contemplate, incorporate, and iterate.
o Empathizing w/ stakeholders to understand problem: interviewing or observing students
o Defining the problem describing it including all facets and student perspectives
o Ideating of brainstorming to gather ideas for solutions ALL ideas.
o Prototyping or choosing a solution to create and try
o Testing or trying the solution with students and reflecting on what works, what does not and what needs done or redone
And now, including technology is lesson designs that engages the students in learning, enhances the lesson, and extends the learning into the real world. Teacher. Content Expert. Designer. Empathizer. Technology Expert.
Henriksen, Danah, and Carmen Richardson. “Teachers Are Designers: Addressing Problems of Practice in Education.” Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 99, no. 2, Oct. 2017, pp. 60–64, doi:10.1177/0031721717734192.
Henriksen, Danah, and Carmen Richardson. “Teachers Are Designers: Addressing Problems of Practice in Education.” Phi Delta Kappan, vol. 99, no. 2, Oct. 2017, pp. 60–64, doi:10.1177/0031721717734192.
Beth,
ReplyDeleteBeing an electives teacher, I've never felt particularly bound to a set curriculum. I agree that it's always uncomfortable coming up with lessons. I don't have any idea what it feels like to teach to an SOL Test! There are standards for Theatre but they are so vague that they aren't a huge help.
Josh
I think I'm feeling more "messy" and uncomfortable now than I ever have before and I'm on year 20. I am really looking forward to learning how to create those design lessons! I really hope my admin is on board with whatever strategies and lessons that I (or with a team) come up with for my students.
ReplyDeleteCandice :)
I think many of us feel uncomfortable when we try something that is "unknown" whether in the classroom or not. I think practice will make the process that much easier! It definitely has to be more fun than some of the "prescribed" activities we have become accustomed to!
ReplyDeleteAnn
I can't tell you how much I empathize with this comment: "Due to the timeline and imminent importance of satisfactory performance on these tests, it feels safer to teach the recommended lessons and obey the more traditional plans that team teachers often contribute at content meetings." You hit the nail on the head. Standardized tests, standards based grading, and CLTs sometimes feel like they restrict my ability to get creative and design lessons because test scores always seem to be at the forefront of our minds. I mentioned in my blog post that as much as I love the idea of having the opportunity to fail, I don't feel like I have enough time to do that--my students will end up falling behind and may not do as well on their assessments due to my shortcomings. I still often take the opportunity to design and make my lessons relevant to my students and their environment, but I have that constant feeling of anxiety at the back of my mind that I may not be setting my students up for success if I don't follow The Lesson Plan.
ReplyDelete"Designing lessons that consider the needs of students means that the teacher empathizes with students, seeks all realistic options to aid student learning, and then designs lessons that have the best opportunity of engaging learners." This statement really caught my attention. I listen to members of my CLT who are continuously looking for the middle of the road in their planning-in other words, what should most kids be able to do-which is a start. However, we often don't really do anything more than provide three levels of learning. I'm not certain that well-designed lessons should only allow for three 'levels' of learning (thinking: advanced learners, average students, struggling students). Our students do not come to us in such tidy little groups, and sometimes, they perform better (or worse) than we expect. I think if we are truly trying to design lessons to meet the needs of learners, then we really are looking for something more than three tiers of learning. These levels are a terrific starting point, but shouldn't design move us beyond that way of thinking? I would love to know your thoughts about tiered learning systems.
ReplyDeleteBecky