When I was 19 years old, I spent a summer in Sevilla, Spain as a student at The Center for Cross-Cultural Study. What first crossed my mind as a lark and a desire for something different to do with friends over the summer in the end became one of the most rich, learning experiences of my lifetime. None of my friends in fact enrolled. When I tried to back out, my father insisted that I still attend. I officially went to fulfill my foreign language requirement and pick up a few humanities credits. Instead or furthermore, I learned more about myself than I could have imagined possible.
I traveled alone from Michigan to New York City, and then on to Madrid and Sevilla. At each stop, I clustered with other American students in the program. By the time we arrived, I had a new best friend and travel buddy also from Michigan. Each student lived with a family in Sevilla, and no one is these families spoke any English. While on school property, we were strictly forbidden from speaking English. The commute to school took anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes, whether using the public buses or walking. I had intense headaches during the first few weeks as my brain was overloaded from language immersion.
Standing in the Alcazar castle overlooking the city of Cordoba, Spain
The explicit curriculum included 3 courses that summer: two language courses and one on culture, history and politics. We were required to read the local newspaper every night and be prepared to discuss current news events and articles in class every morning. We were tape recorded, and we performed skits. We attended school every weekday from about 8 AM to 12 PM. It’s hard to say where I learned my Spanish, whether in the classroom or on the street. Both were powerful learning forces.
The implicit curriculum included ongoing, relentless communication and interaction with my Spanish family and the community at large. Rarely did I have a few moments of peace and quiet to myself. Family members were constantly in and out of the home. Meals were a major event, and my presence and conversation were expected. I was a full member of the family. Every day and night included endless opportunities and challenges to experience the language and culture on the bus, in the street, in restaurants, at clubs, in stores and at home.
Considering what to teach, experience is as powerful a teacher as books and traditional school contexts. As Dewey extoled, life is the teacher. Let’s bring life to the classroom. Experience, internships, projects, volunteerism, service learning, apprenticeships are all examples of how we might go about this. The building blocks of what to teach must include both traditional core requirements as well as other pieces unique to each student, each region and each goal. As Hirsch states, why can’t we mix the two and allow flexibility for both a set core curriculum and options for more personalized learning?
“One can think of the school curriculum as consisting of two complementary parts, which might be called the extensive curriculum and the intensive curriculum.” (Hirsch, 1988, pg 127)
At the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies, core classes include all types of courses in Spanish language and culture. In a traditional setting, the core classes could include subjects such as math, science reading and writing which are identified as “Command of Fundamental Processes” in “The Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education”. Beyond the core, my options in Spain included additional courses at the CCCS in Spanish dance, conversation and fieldtrips. I participated in all of the school sponsored fieldtrips including visits to Cordoba, Granada, Rondo and Torremolinos. Outside of the school sponsored trips, I also traveled on weekends with other students to Madrid and Portugal. In a public school setting, we could similarly require and encourage professional internships, job shadow assignments, fieldtrips to businesses, extended clinical work experiences and apprenticeship-type work such as student teaching assignments. My thoughts float back to Dewey…doing and living are just as important as classwork and homework assignments. Both present tremendous opportunities for learning.
Assessing student progress is a tricky task to say the least. Tests and exams provide a timed snapshot of student learning. The ultimate assessment is far more vast, persuasive and personal. While schools can and must have their standards, perhaps we could also allow students to create their own standards. My ultimate goal from my summer Spain experience was to be able to communicate freely and move with ease throughout Spanish society with only 9 credits of college Spanish. I would rate my success as mostly complete. It seemed that the more Spanish I learned, the more I realized that I needed to learn. I was successful with my Spanish courses. I was able to communicate at a basic level in all contexts with my Spanish family, with shopkeepers, bus drivers and new Spanish friends. I was able to travel and explore with some degree of confidence in my ability to get around and return myself safely to Sevilla every Sunday evening. What if we allowed our college students to set their own ultimate learning goals? For some students, it might be a steady job with good benefits. For others, it might be mastery of a professional credential and entrance into a professional field. For others still, it might be regular work and engagement as a paid, professional in the arts. Why is it that we do not ask those that we serve…our students? What is it that they want to get out of their educational processes? Couldn’t assessment also share in the dual nature of extrinsic and intrinsic? Couldn’t there be specific, extrinsic assessment as in standardized tests and a national curriculum? Couldn’t there also be individualized, intrinsic assessment set by each student?
More resources…more thoughts…
Scroll down for Jason Barney’s “We live in a culture of Peter Pans”. Jason is a K-12 Latin teacher at a charter school in Illinois and a strong proponent of traditional curricular values.
“Too many citizens of our country today are, in Cicero’s terms, forever children. If knowledge of the past matures the soul, it is not something we can afford to marginalize or sideline. Unfortunately, the hard work of gaining knowledge, eloquence, and wisdom is all too often skirted by teacher and student alike. Because we have neglected knowledge of the past and the great tradition of historical understanding, we live in a culture of Peter Pans, flying free in Neverland with no past and no future, only the ever-present game, the mock battle against pirates or Indians.”
http://www.hillsdale.edu/news/imprimis.asp
In “Experience and Education”, James Neill describes John Dewey’s view on education and curriculum as needing both a societal purpose as well as needing a purpose for the individual student.
“According to Dewey good education should have both a societal purpose and purpose for the individual student. For Dewey, the long-term matters, but so does the short-term quality of an educational experience. Educators are responsible, therefore, for providing students with experiences that are immediately valuable and which better enable the students to contribute to society.”
http://www.wilderdom.com/experiential/SummaryJohnDeweyExperienceEducation.html
The website “Engines for Education: created by Roger Schank acknowledges and takes issue with Hirsch.
“Hirsch goes so far as to propose that schools should have a split curriculum. He calls the half of which is aimed at imparting the facts on his literacy list the "extensive curriculum," and the half which is aimed at imparting skills and abstract schemata the "intensive curriculum." Of course, when one gives two goals to an already overloaded system, it may well turn out that only one of them will be attended to. Hirsch makes it clear that the halves of the curriculum are not meant to be equal for him. The so-called "extensive curriculum" is really what is important to him.”
http://www.engines4ed.org/hyperbook/nodes/NODE-101-pg.html
A 2013 Lumina/Gallup Foundation pool shows that adults want and expect a higher education system that includes course credit for work outside of the classroom.
“Eighty-seven percent of respondents said they believe students should be able to receive college credit for knowledge and skills acquired outside of the classroom.”
http://www.luminafoundation.org/newsroom/news_releases/2013-02-05.html
Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteThe title of your post immediately caught my attention, and I love connection you make between a study abroad experience and curriculum. I participated in study abroad in Spain also, and it led me to live in Madrid for 3 years. During my time living in Spain (not counting study abroad), I took one 45-minute Spanish class, but learned more than Spanish than I had in the previous eight years of studying Spanish. You’re absolutely right when you say that “experience is as powerful a teacher as books and traditional school contexts,” as anyone who has been a part of a language immersion program can confirm.
At most jobs, how much of the training that was necessary for the job was learned in college and how much on-the job? I know reading about pedagogy makes much more sense now that I’ve taught than it did when I was a student in the college of education. And most of the “tricks” that I use as I teach every day I learned by trial and error in my own teaching or from observing or discussing someone else’s practice.
While I think the idea of students being involved in goal setting and choosing their own assessments is fantastic, I am skeptical about how it would turn out in reality, especially at the middle or high school level. College students are generally focused and have career goals in mind that they are working towards as they study, but not all high school students are even convinced that they want to finish high school. For these students, asking them to set their own assessment might really open doors, give them a voice and allow them to pursue what they care about. I hope that is what would happen, but I think some if not most students would look for an easy way out, not set the standard as high as the teacher or state would because it would mean extra work for them. This has been my experience when I’ve suggested that some students who really want to learn Spanish might want to go above the required level to get more practice or attain a higher level, very few have chosen that option. When I offer options for a homework assignment, project, or even a quiz, students weigh their options based on what they think will be easiest, not what most interests or best serves them. How would we ensure that students are benefiting from this and pushing themselves enough? Or does it matter, would the few who do really push themselves be the ones who are eventually most successful, as they deserve to be?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, experiences, and resources, you’ve given me lots to think about.
Lisa Rose
Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I would like to thank your father for not letting you back-out of an experience of a lifetime and for sharing your first hand experience as an ELL student. There are so many times where you want to ask questions and get answers, but because of the language barrier, some students are not even able to express their own feelings. ELL students, even as they learn the language and are capable of communicating tend to be quieter than the other students in the room . Is this because they are uncomfortable communicating or is it possibly a self-esteem issue in which they are embarrassed to orally participate? Also, I have noticed that the ELL students I have worked with tend to say they do not feel well. Within our first language, it is hard enough to figure out what is wrong and why children do not feel well, but then add in a language barrier and it is even more difficult. You give great insight into how ELL students are potentially feeling, “I had intense headaches during the first few weeks as my brain was overloaded from language immersion.” Add that, with a possible culture shock, and you can begin to stand in an ELL student’s shoes.
You bring up an interesting point. “What if we allowed our college students to set their own ultimate learning goals?” Well, although I do not teach college aged students, I will ask the same questions for my elementary aged students. Do we not want our students to create a sense of ownership over their learning own experiences? Students, of all ages, need to have a purpose to drive and foster their learning. They also need methods to relate and connect to their learning, a place for self-assessment , as well as reflection. This would be a wonderful way for students to own their learning experience and to be able to self-reflect and assess themselves. We differentiate our teaching to meet all of our students and their needs, while administering alternative forms of assessment. The more I think about assessment, the more I question standardized assessments. You said, “tests and exams provide a timed snapshot of student learning.” This does not begin to touch on the life experiences our students learn. How does it align with promoting life-long learning? How does it assess a student’s ability to relate and reflect upon authentic learning experiences?
Barney’s interpretation of today’s children are part of a culture of Peter Pans is very interesting. He believes that too many of our citizens are forever children. I can relate with the fact that we “have neglected knowledge of the pat and the great tradition of historical understanding.” Many of my students are not aware of their own cultural history; but, many of their parents are also not aware. This is tending to be a very accurate, yet scare, vicious cycle. It is also thought-provoking, considering the Corbett article we read this week. With so many students becoming involved in gaming and virtual worlds. What did you think of the newspaper article? Do you have any experience with video games or computer games in the classroom or through your own educational experience?
Hi Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your work here! It's incredible to see the development of your blog posts. Each has been good. But this one already sits as a beautiful piece of art, an exemplar of the genre! Your ability to combine research, contemporary issues, personal experience and a picture--it's awesome (love that picture by the way--I have to get my own 20-year-old, 1990s, pictures of me in Edinburgh, Scotland, up on the web!!).
You really found your voice on this. I just love the descriptions you provide of how life teaches, of how experience itself teaches. Indeed, experience is the only thing that teaches.
Dewey himself makes an interesting distinction you might appreciate: between experience and AN experience.
Experience is always happening. We are always experiencing the flux and flow of the world. But there are events, ones that have beginnings, middles and ends, that involve struggle and overcoming, pain and joy, pleasures and sorrows. Those things we call "an experience," and they are the best teachers!!
You do a great job of showing us how a planned school curriculum might be nested into a larger set of immersive learning experiences. Of showing us how schools might better to learn to mine the communities resources to promote learning. Of how the core can be made to come alive.
So I agree with Antoinette that we need to thank your dad. And we need to think Hillsdale for laying a foundation for all of that. And we need to thank those generous souls whose family you joined. And most of all, thank you for doing it and sharing it!
We will see more in cycle five about a school that takes self assessment seriously, through a graduation portfolio requirement--one that requires, often, some internship experiences. It's a great thing. In your role as community college professor, I would think you are in a great position to start to put some of this into action. It's important that community colleges, with such a varied student body, capture all of the life-learning they have done and they are doing as they go through their schooling.
Thanks again for a wonderful post!
Kyle