Method free English teaching? Is it possible??
I spent this year radically adjusting how I teach English in the primary schools I work with here in Holland. The radical part was deciding not to use a method.
My classes are always very mixed. There are usually a handful of kids who speak English at native proficiency, there are usually some who have been given the label of dyslexic and think they can't read English. There are usually a couple of kids who think they are not clever enough to learn English. And in between there are all the other kids who have their issues too.
I had been working with different methods for a while, and noticed that no matter what I did there were always too many kids who were left behind because the work was too easy, too difficult, not appropriate, there was not enough of it, the kids couldn't work independently - and so the list went on.
It wasn't good enough, and I knew that the kids were not getting the best opportunities to really learn. I wanted to teach differently, and I wanted the kids to get a better learning experience.
This year I decided to work differently. It felt like a radical decision to move away from the method, after all, how was I going to justify what the children were learning? How was I going to be able to quantify how much vocabulary they had been exposed to? How was I going to be able to organise tests? How was I going to keep all the kids in one place, doing the same thing at the same time?
I developed a schematic that I hang on the classroom wall. It is divided into six learning goals: writing, reading, grammar, spelling, speaking and listening. Each child decides which section they want to focus on improving. They decide how they are going to work, what they need in order to be able to work, what the end product is and what the success criteria are.
I have a conversation with each child, in which we discuss what is going to happen, clear learning and working goals are set and the child starts work.
The whole class works simultaneously on their individual projects. Some are writing scripts for a news broadcast they are going to film. Others are writing a presentation. Others are using wrts.nl to learn spellings. Others are writing a comic strip book. Others are creating a set of interview questions for teachers to answer.
The possibilities to work are only limited by the children's' imagination and our financial resources and time.
It has taken us all a while to get used to the new approach. I find I need the support of the regular class teacher so that the kids get time to work on their projects during the week. The kids have needed more help with planning, learning to evaluate their work and setting goals. However, the overall results have been very interesting.
I have had beautiful work handed in. It is always on time, because the kids are excited to show what they have done. Kids who did not like to speak to me are suddenly speaking English. Kids who never did their homework are now exceeding expectations and handing in bucket loads of work. Kids who always worked alone are now finding out about team work and co-operation. I see the kids blossoming as they learn to take responsibility for their work, they see they can plan and get things finished on time, They see that they can take on a difficult challenge and still complete it.
Do I regret moving away from the method? Not at all.
My time is being used differently. I am doing much less planning. My marking pile has increased - I am wondering what to do about that. The next step is to get the kids to create their own evaluation forms, which I work with as well. This should reduce the time I spend on marking and feedback. I am not giving standardised tests - each piece of work becomes a test in itself. One adaptation for the future is to require slightly bigger pieces of work to be handed in less often, and to allow the kids to choose which 2 best grades get put onto their report.
As you can see, this is a work in progress. I am still creating planning sheets, feedback and evaluation forms that support the process.
However, I am delighted to be able to work without the method and know that now all the kids in my class are working in a way that is valuable to them, and where they get a real learning experience that goes beyond just repeating something out of the book.
Interested in knowing more? Would you like me to come to your school to train your teachers? Drop me a message, I would love for more kids to be working like this.
Activator, impactful, creative, strategic, leading edge thinker.
7 年thanks for thinking with me! I'm not sure how that would go down with the box thinkers. i do like to see the work the kids produce. it helps me see where they're at.
Senior Leadership Development Adviser (views are my own)
7 年Sounds fantastic Sally. I support any move towards self-determination where children take ownership of developing their competencies. Would it help you if you got (some) parents involved aswell as the teachers? I'm thinking only of ways to reduce your marking pile. Each class could have an 'English ouder' assigned to support you? Just a thought.