Why I'm Teaching an Elective

Education Rethink 2013-07-25

The best learning experience I ever had as a child wasn't in a formal classroom. It was a project-based History Day project, where I got a chance to write and revise a script and add multimedia after doing in-depth research. It wasn't typical research, either. I read biographies, articles, ticket receipts and census data while also interviewing former Negro League players in-person.

It couldn't have happened in a classroom with rigid curriculum maps, objectives on the board and formalized lesson plans. Don't get me wrong. We had rigid deadlines and high expectations. However, they were far more personalized. History Day was an elective. That's why we were able to "get away" with authentic learning.

So, it has me thinking about this school year. Instead of teaching all subjects ELL, I'm going to be teaching photojournalism (more like digital journalism) and computers (with an emphasis on programming).

I'm more excited this year than other years, because I get to experience the following:

Authentic data instead of test scores
Full-on project-based learning
Connective learning, including social media and global collaborative projects
A more democratic classroom
More autonomy for me and for the students
Curricular freedom to create thematic units rather than following a tight, lock-step curriculum map
No weekly standardized tests
I get a chance to teach what I'm passionate about and the truth is that I was never all that passionate about Greatest Common Factor and Least Common Multiple.
I get to teach the things left out of other subjects. What are those things? I'm not sure yet, but I have a hunch the students will help me figure that out.

In other words, I get to craft a class with the students instead of for the students. Chances are it will be less authentic than the approach I had last year. I taught this class once before. It was my best year of teaching and I left, because I felt bad. I thought I could "make more of a difference" by teaching math and reading and writing. The truth is that I was coming at with a certain arrogance. Now, I just want to teach students and hopefully listen a little better this year.