I know I've said many, many times on this blog that I'd never go back to teaching (and for the sake of my own mental health it's probably for the best that I don't) but I still, at times, find myself idly wondering how I'd manage The Perfect Classroom. By that I mean at a school that wasn't struggling to keep its head above water, that was adequately staffed, that was populated by children of a decent range of ability levels but whom weren't misbehaving little shitbags. A non-existent school, then, but a good starting point for a dream nonetheless.
Let's assume for the sake of argument this Perfect Classroom is at a primary school, because that generally means sticking with the same class the whole time and building up a good relationship with them. On balance, I think I slightly preferred that to the constant coming and going of secondary education in which it was very difficult to learn names even after several months of teaching the same children.
Organisation is the key to a successful classroom, so I'd have some sort of technological solution — ideally portable — in place to keep things organise. I'm thinking an iPad, tooled up with a specialised app such as TeacherPal or a more generalised database like Bento. Within said technological solution I'd keep detailed, ongoing records on my students and also include a photograph to help prevent forgotten names. Using said technological solution I'd be able to quickly call up information on a particular student's work and progress when required, be that for report-writing season or a parents' evening.
Said portable device would also, ideally, be hooked up to the interactive whiteboards that are present in most classrooms (essentially giant touchscreens with a projector) in order to allow presentation of material on the screen while remaining "mobile". (The inspectors love it when you don't stay at the front of the room all the time.)
Technology can also play a good role in home-school communication, and certainly none of the schools I worked at in the past took advantage of this. Statistically speaking, it's highly likely that a good proportion of the parents of the children in the class would have social media accounts, so why not take advantage of that? My class would have a Twitter and Facebook presence maintained (and carefully moderated) by me. The pages would provide regular updates on what the class has been up to and, crucially, publicly note any and all homework that had been set. Homework is a thorny issue, particularly in primary education, but having it spelled out in black and white on an "official" social media page would certainly allow me and the parents of my students to keep on top of things.
The social media page wouldn't just be a glorified homework diary, of course. It would also be a great place for celebrating achievements, which is something that pretty much every school is big on. This could range from sharing the names of who won things like attendance certificates to pictures of good work. (Obviously care would have to be taken with photos, names and other details that end up in the public domain lest the Thought Police swoop in and decry you as some sort of kiddie porn-peddling pervert.)
In the classroom's day-to-day life, I'd make an effort to use gamification theories to encourage students to progress. I'd allow them to earn rewards of some description — perhaps some form of "experience points" system, with tangible rewards given on every "level up", or perhaps some sort of "achievement" system, again with tangible rewards on offer for significant achievements. These wouldn't have to be big things — a congratulatory letter home, a sticker, some crappy pound shop toy — but they'd help motivate the kids to do their best. (I know, you shouldn't have to "bribe" children to do good work, but it certainly doesn't hurt to make them feel good about their achievements.)
It's a nice dream, isn't it? Pity it will probably never happen.
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HI Pete,
As I've just recently followed your blog, as a fellow reviewer, I didn't know that you were ever a school teacher. I wanted to teach for a living myself, but in the States, it's hard to make a living off the small wages it pays, so I never pursued it myself.
I did marry a special education teacher though. My wife actually uses an "achievement system" of sorts as you mentioned with her children. Granted, hers' aren't high functioning, but even with the severest of disabilities, rewarding hard work, well, it works.
I think your system would indeed work. Now if we can get these kids to stop this nonsensical "text" writing BS. It's a terrible habit that is going to have severe long term educational effects if it isn't addressed properly.
Oh GOD yes. It happened in both primary and secondary education. I covered one kid's work almost entirely in red pen (yes, I use red pen, DAMN the people who say it's "too aggressive") because he wrote it in text-speak.
I spent a week doing a sort of "exchange" program down at a special ed school. I was apprehensive before going, but it actually turned out to be a really good experience. The kids were lovely, and the atmosphere was brilliantly supportive. Classes of 4 people, too? Awesome. 🙂
Magic stuff once again, Pete.
Here's a thought – send a copy to your Education Minister, and Head of Department etc, making sure you mark it Copyrighted of course, and also one to the Media. As you no longer have ambitions to go back to the mind-numbing occupation – terrific if you get 'the perfect class' – then it won't matter that you called the students 'misbehaving little shitbags'!! Admiral sentiments but hugely understated in some cases. 🙂
And of course the reward system could be worked along the lines of the DLCs with games. Instead of getting some stuffed toy to vandalise, they could be given credits towards Games for DSs or whatever system they have at home – bonus game-play! Or iTunes gift vouchers to buy their latest yujjo (or not) music. Now that's more like motivation.
What do you think? Anyway it's a winner.
Mind you I do think that over here in OZ they are already using heaps of iPads in the classrooms – in some schools – I saw something about it on the news a while ago. Government initiated. And I think it was immediately labelled as a political point-scoring by the opposition negatives.
Yes, some schools are seemingly wise to technology — at least getting the funding for it, anyway. A lot of teachers are rather Luddite in their outlook, however, and prefer standing at the chalkface scribbling things in indecipherable handwriting.
The rewards like vouchers and stuff are cool, though getting the budget to do that might be a challenge 🙂
If I recall correctly (and maybe it's different in the UK) it's actually illegal(?) for a teacher to friend a student on a social media platform. If not illegal at least very frowned upon. So, that may not be possible.
Other than than, I love this idea. This is an impossible school because even if your initial ideals are met, there's no why they'll have the funding for smartboards, iPads, and all that, unless you teach at a high-class private school. But, then you'll run into the trouble on entitled shit-head students.
Actually, even the shittest schools in the UK seem to have come up with the money for smartboards from somewhere, so that's a start. So far as the iPad goes, I'd use my own rather than get the school to fund it.
I don't think it's actually illegal to friend a student on social media (at least not over here) but you're right, it's definitely frowned upon. My use of social media would be specifically aimed at the parents, though — in primary education, the kids would be too young to have a legal Facebook account, anyway! The class "page" etc would be used to share information with parents in a way that the vast majority of them will be able to access and refer to at their leisure. Since a lot of them will be bumming around on Facebook all day anyway, why shouldn't they know what their kids are up to?
Ah, I forgot the primary school part. Then yeah, as a way to get in touch with parents, it seems like a great idea. I know at the school my wife works at, it's completely against the rules for teachers to friend their students on Facebook, which makes sense considering FL has had 2 cases of middle school teachers having sex with students (that I've heard of) in the last 2-3 months.
With the iPad I don't know if you'd be able to use your own. IT departments frown on things like that because it's not an IT controlled device, so if something breaks, there's no way to know if it's a device issue, or because you installed an app that broke it.
But since this is all imagination, who cares, right?