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In this season for resolutions and self-improvement I founda great example for instructional improvement from Margaret Haviland of WesttownSchool, in West Chester, PA. She writes about her progression from teacher-directedassignments to individualized, project-based learning in a 12/23/2011 post atPowerful Learning Practice. See: http://plpnetwork.com/category/voices/.Scroll down to “The Shift: Making Mongol Movies.”
Haviland began ahead of the pack. Her first assignments forMongol Culture in her high school level World History class were readings from collegelevel books, not diluted textbooks. Each year, over three years, she hasenriched the study and given students more opportunities to learn on their own.(Read the article.)
I see at least four characteristics that make her anoutstanding teacher - a best practitioner - one to emulate:
· She has a personal enthusiasm for learning. Shewas as excited about re-teaching a unit on the Mongols and learning to makefilms as a kid at an amusement park.
· She is a risk-taker. Having no idea about how tomake a film, let alone teach film-making, she forged ahead.
· She learns from “mistakes.” Haviland immediatelyanalyzed the completed unit, including student responses, and decided how tomake it better.
· She does not need to be perfect or to have completecontrol. She is content to let her able,enthusiastic students breathe life into their studies.
What implications do you see for your lessons?
