Thursday, August 18, 2011
You've Gotta Risk It
On the eve of our new fall semester, I'm considering an analogous approach espoused by Clark Little. You see, Clark lives by his passion for waves and sees a niche. A surfer turned an underwater photographer of stunning waves. He seems to be one of the few daring enough to dive under crushing waves in order to capture amazing shots of a powerful shorebreak. The result? His rich and unique gallery of art was born.
As classroom teachers of our chosen career, turning out successful ESL students is our passion. The niche? Maybe a promising practice that few others have tried, like the flipped classroom where students do homework in class and read lectures at home. If we are brave enough to break away from our ineffective ways of teaching and make real learning happen that is student-centered, fun, and transformative, perhaps more than 80% of our students will feel engaged and empowered enough to keep coming to school and stick around until the end of the semester? Just a thought.
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Very inspiring, Lee. For myself, I have to risk being human which may occasionally mean something as simple as admitting that I'm tired when a student says I look tired. For me, I have to risk getting to know my students a bit eventho' I've been burnt once or twice. I remember after one particularly uncomfortable instance, I tried keeping my students at a "safe" distance, but that strategy didn't work for me. I just couldn't engage them when I acted as if I were in a lecture hall. I find, too, that I have to let them know that I genuinely care about them. Again it's the simple things. I try to inquire about the reasons for their absences and make at least a mental note to ask a follow-up question. Being involved is risky. But I'll take the risk. It's made all the difference.
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