Emerson Avery Adolescent learning

Personal Mastery and Shared Vision

In my learning classroom…

1. Students would be reading every day. Changes in media and the rise of Youtube are
societally significant, and I wish to honor my students’ appreciation of visual media;
we use a lot of video resources, too! But reading is a deeply important skill, regardless
of a student’s further career plans, and needs to be practiced.

Students would be working together. Reading is often a solitary activity, and certain
other measures of student achievement need to be taken at the individual level; but
the fact of the matter is that most work is actually a team effort, and education should
reflect this fact. From structured debates to poster projects, group work would be a
fundamental aspect of my classroom.

2. In order to facilitate this sort of group work, my classroom would be arranged to

facilitate peer-to-peer interactions—on an episodic basis. One of the most significant
lessons I’ve learned this year concerning classroom management is the degree to
which rearranging student seating and classroom resources can help to facilitate
different sorts of activities. My classroom will be a space where students know to
expect that classroom geography is subject to change, but always for reasons designed
to support student learning.

As such, lessons designed around group work would see students seated in small
groups facing one another. Independent work would be done in rows, where
interaction is less useful (and may even be counterproductive). My own desk would be
on the periphery, but I don’t expect to spend much time there; I’d be circulating to
check on student understanding and progress. With respect to other classroom
objects, supplies would be located on a shelf at the side of the room—out of the way,
but accessible when necessary. The day’s materials would be placed on a table beside
the door, such that students always know where to locate the items most pertinent to
what we’d be doing that day. And computers, if they are available, would be located in
the rear of the room. I’ve seen enough lessons derailed by the temptations of the
internet to know that computers should not be a resource to which students
thoughtlessly turn.

When possible, I also envision getting my students outside the classroom. Philadelphia
provides a wealth of educational resources for the creative teacher of virtually any
discipline, but as a teacher of both Spanish and Social Studies, I can speak personally to
the value of visiting the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology; The Museum of the American Revolution; and the Philadelphia Museum
of Art. Spanish language learning can be supported by community interactions, not
least among them by visiting a restaurant. We need to feed our kids when we take
them on field trips, and what better way than by exposing them to the cuisines of the
cultures that they study?

3. Learning tasks would also be organized with an eye to producing longer-term

outcomes. I am a big believer in the value of Understanding by Design, wherein the
 tasks students undertake are aimed at preparing them to demonstrate the acquisition
of a particular skill. During the course of this past year, such skills have included
persuasive writing, in support of which I designed a unit to highlight historical
controversies and the ways in which discussants positioned themselves vis-à-vis one
another.

To this end, lessons would be designed to reflect different aspects of the greater
whole, and assignments, to allow students to practice the skills discussed therein. As I
mentioned above, I am comfortable with students working together for many
assignments, and as a result, I would encourage on-topic conversation between
students.

4. More broadly, I would encourage students to think of themselves as collaborators in a

learning community, rather than individuals in competition for grades. To this end, I
would make part of their grade dependent on how well they work with others (and not
merely how they respond to requests from the teacher). Depending on the activity,
students would be encouraged to assume different roles in a group. Early on, they
would be required to rotate through a selection of roles, so as to identify their own
particular strengths. Later in the year, they would be allowed to focus on particular
roles, so as to better develop those they have identified.

With regard to students’ interactions with me, I would present myself as a fellow
learner. One of the most important skills for a teacher to model, I believe, is an
openness to learning—which necessarily implies the willingness to admit to ignorance,
when in fact one does not know something. I am always willing to do this, and not only
because it is honest. What I don’t know, I can look up—and knowing when and how to
do so is also a skill. Ignorance is an opportunity to teach students how to be students,
by continuing to be one yourself.

5. Students would help to determine the curriculum, including some goals. District
requirements impose a set of restrictions, it is true; but they leave a great deal of room
for creativity. Spanish and History curricula can easily be focused on subjects relevant,
or of interest, to students, and doing so brings with it obvious benefits. This past year
we piloted a unit on mass incarceration in America, and its relevance to many of our
students’ lives made it a subject of especially powerful interest. Similar considerations
can productively inform a Spanish curriculum. The numerical predominance of Puerto
Ricans and Dominicans in Philadelphia means that a unit on their slang—or their
music, or foodways—would not likely go amiss.

Student performance expectations, meanwhile, would be set by me—in consultation

with my students, whose aptitudes can vary substantially. As a matter of practice,
some flexibility regarding the products of student engagement is a useful locus for
differentiation. I expect it will continue be a resource in the coming years.

Shared vision questions, concerning providing students with real-world learning opportunities

 As a matter of principle, does the school culture support learning opportunities

outside the classroom?
 Have we engaged the student body in brainstorming opportunities that appeal to
them?
 What opportunities are available to students? To whom should we speak to expand
the range of possible learning opportunities?
 Have we spoken with the wider community concerning the possibility of students
operating outside of school?
 How will we integrate real-world learning into the school curriculum? Will it displace
or serve to fulfill other requirements?
 What will the role of school administrators be in locating and facilitating these
experiences? The role of teachers?