EDUCATION 5

Good teaching always involves three things-challenge -creativity-and clear instructions-students must have the advantage of clear instructions- how can they accomplish the assignment if they do not understand it purpose and how to accomplish it?They must be allowed to ask a lot of questions if they need too- and to see the teacher one to one if they wish- every important assignment should have a rubric- stating the assignments overall purpose-with specific instructions on the requirements and how the assignment will be evaluated- due dates and information on methods and techniques is also helpful- so are a few tips- but it is also important to let them do it themselves not help too much etc- parents really appreciate a rubric- especially with students under the age of 15- they often are recruited to help in some way and they love to see what the teacher assigned in writing-it avoids arguments for one thing- a good parent always knows how much to help and how much not to help-and they do help a lot- to an amazing extent- some of the best teachers a child will ever have are their parents- not just mom too- dad is a great resource as well-CREATIVITY-is the key to effective teaching and it is also the key to effective learning- learning truly can be fun but not without creativity-work that is repetitive monotonous and generally unstimulating-wears a student down-there must be some aspect of their creativity they can use in completing the assignment or project-the creative part is the part that leads to discovery-to the feeling one is creating something useful and good- and it is the same feeling they will have when they find meaningful work to do in their lives-there are parts of the teachers art that involve repetition and memorization- these should not be thrown out by any means-but aiming for the creative assignment also gives the teacher a lot to look forward too- the results are usually very inspiring and sometimes astonishing-one assignment i invariably gave in my last few years of teaching was inspired by a book i read with suggestions for projects- it was written by an historian whose name id do not remember-it may have been James Michener-the noted author of books like HAWAII and CHESAPEAKE-the assignment asks the studenst to imagine that the class is going to bury a time capsule in the school yard-the time capsule is about the size of the classroom- they are asked to suggest 5 items to put in- the items must be ranked according to importance and relate to the time they live in- they should also- some of them at least -represent their lives as they are living them in whatever village town or city they live in-for instance if they live in iowa there might be something about farming-but they also are asked to include one personal item that will tell whoever finds the time capsule something about themselves- a basketball- ballet slipper or a picture of their family or pet etc-the instructions include the fact that the time capsule will be uncovered in about 5 thousand years-no item can be bigger than the classroom and the first 4 items must be reflective of the time they live in- the major issues of their day- like global warming- terrorism- or the globalization of the economy-the assignment is to write an essay describing each of the items they have chosen-and to rank each one of them as i said before- each item must be described in detail with an explanation as to why they chose it-the criteria they used and why of course it would be important to include-they have as a guide the important things archaeologists have found from digging at the sites of ancient civilizations- like Egypt and Mesopotamia-tools today include computers-clothing-some kind of food-a book-anything at all is acceptable as long as it can be preserved- one brilliant student suggested a barrel of oil in his essay-other interesting items included a popular tv show like AMERICAN IDOL-the reasons they give for each item may include their own subjectivity- this is alright- but their reasoning in general should have sound logic behind it-it is really an exercise in sound reasoning above all else- but it gives them a perspective on the times they live in like nothing else- i would recommend this for any age level- it truly can work even for college students- but it must be tailored for the appropriate level-more on this later with a few other ideas for creative assignments including holding famous court trials form american history-one that i did for many years was the BOSTON MASSACRE TRIAL OF THE OFFICERS AND THE SOLDIERS WHO FIRED ON THE CROWD THAT COLD MARCH EVENING IN 177O.