Democracy in the Classroom

After last Tuesday's presidential election our program got together and shared briefly what we saw happening in our classrooms in the days and weeks leading up to this historic event. While some ideas on how to approach the topic with kids were wonderful, some of what I heard simply appalled me. Primarily I was shocked by the notion that some simply avoided discussion of the topic.

One of the endearing stories shared by a classmate was that of a kindergarten class whose participation and learning surrounding the democratic process included having parents bring in different kinds of pie, vie for why theirs is the best, and then having kids vote for a pie, and ultimately share in eating the winner. I love this idea and it is adorably age appropriate.

On the other hand I heard about a room whose teacher did not want to handle the hot topic because only one of their students was in support of McCain. Apparently their had been previous incidents at the school that involved bullying in relation to political preference. While I understand the seriousness of this situation I also... understand the seriousness of this situation which is why I see it as such a brilliant opportunity for learning and classroom discussion. All kinds of meaningful discussion could be had here and should be had.

It could be approached from multiple angles and themes: respecting one another, what it means to be part of a community, why bullying is wrong, how to handle disagreement through mediation, how to participate in a civil discussion, why in our county we have a right to keep our political affiliations private (anonymous voting), how the democratic process works, and why this election is an historical event. None of these have to include anyone's personal opinions about politics. I also like the idea of having students participate in a debate with assigned roles. No I am not advocating 25 democratic students against 1 republican student. Assign half the group to back McCain and half to back Obama, give them some clues about what each stands for, and let them debate or let them try their hand at finding compromises between the two parties- reaching across the aisle if you will.

I really believe if we are to progress to a nation who can discuss compromise, who can keep calm when dealing with emotionally and politically sensitive issues, and who can participate more wholly, passionately, and effectively in democracy we will do it by teaching the next generation the skills of peaceful dialogue and mediation. An opportunity such as this election comes around every four years, or has never come before this one if you consider the issue of race, and it seems a shame, a disservice even, to miss it!

Process vs. Content

During a discussion on modifications of curriucular design it was posed that the question a teacher should ask themselves is this: What can I change or include to make the lesson accessible to students who are not otherwise successful with the lesson as planned? While this wording seems to aim the question at lessons, the conversation surrounding it at some point became a discussion about assessment and the venue(s) through which we offer assessment.

In speaking of the lesson itself we pondered/I wondered... how do modifications really work? If I present a lesson in a particular way to serve a particular child's learning style to assist him/her in understanding then am I not also discluding someone elses? Is it therefore necessary that I include pieces to reach each of the learning styles in every lesson every day in every subject or only that I present items for each of the learning styles at least once a day but in different subjects or on different days per subject? How do you know? If in fact you must always modify a subject lesson for one or two kids then are you missing out on time to present other styles or methods? While I am still uncertain about other's opinions on this and my own, the conversation evolved to become about assessment as I said earlier.

The major issue was this: if a student is allowed to have things modified to make them easier for him he is then missing out on the experience of having to experience and cope with other ways to learn- in other words do we value content over process or vice versa. It seems to me that it should be agreed upon that there is simply too much information in our great big world to present to children in the course of a 12 year education (or any length of education for that matter). If we take this to be true then it seems logical to believe that teaching learning skills is perhaps more important than teaching content. If a student can understand the process of learning: how to find information and resources, how to sift through that information for meaning, and how to apply that information, then do we really need to worry about the information itself? More specifically if we know that a child is most successful in written format should we allow that child to conduct more learning and reporting of that learning in written form? I think it behooves the student to be forced to experience different forms of communication while it is still wonderful for them to know what form they are most comfortable with. Sometimes it is more important for the student to gain the experience of going through the process of having to give a presentation on Abe Lincoln or work with a group to produce an art piece than is the content on Abraham Lincoln or the art piece itself.

How do you draw the line between supporting a child and his learning by modifying things for his benefit and utilizing the old addage that 'what doesn't kill us makes us stronger'? One idea that I had always thought fondly of was that of the presentation menu in which students can decide on how they would prefer to present their learning: oral presentation, art, drama piece, written report, etc. However this does not push students into new and unfamiliar venues. In keeping with the notion of experiencing many styles, methods, forms of presentation or assessment one idea that came out of this more specific part of the conversation was that of a yearly menu versus a unit menu. In this version a student would have to complete one of each of several types of presentation throughout the year, but students could choose which format they wanted to do for which unit. I.E. A student enjoys the unit on Native Americans and chooses that as his lesson to do an oral presentation with because he feels fairly comfortable with the topic. He may choose to do his visual presentation format on the insects unit because he is not as comfortable speaking about them, but knows he can draw them okay. Etc. This idea lends a certain amount of choice and freedom to students while still 'forcing' them through different processes which are important to experience for future learning and/or job experiences such as being able to work with a group, being able to speak in front of others, being able to write accurately and convincingly, etc. I suppose I have settled the question for my own self- I do believe that process is more important than content. Others?