During the final week of school, I ask students to write a letter into the future that they will read as a graduating senior. I suggest that they speak about goals, reflect on the past year, reminisce or a combination of those. I promise not to read them. The Zander activity is similar. Students write to themselves in past tense about their future. But this is where a major break happens.
Whereas, my intentions are for students to set goals to measure themselves and to reflect on past experiences for self-improvement, the Zander method challenges students to see the selves they want to become in the present. Whereas, my students assess themselves for growth and change by reading their letters from three years ago, the Zander method works as a teacher/student assessment to determine which path will exact the growth needed to change now.
This gave me pause to consider that I am expecting my students to singlehandedly invent themselves based on a set of standards, when I should align with them on knocking down the barriers that block the infinite possibilities that are before them. My assignment, then, should occur 10 months earlier with a new intent on students “inventing” themselves based on their future self – validations.
In a few weeks I will be teaching an experimental writing course for incoming freshmen. One of the things that I will try is giving them an “A” and making their initial writing assignments the “A” letter and observations on “Being A Contribution.” One of the things that I most enjoyed about Film Making Principles and Gaming class was the release of pressure I felt. Kathy would assign AAA (Absolute “A” Assignments) and Dr. Dan would just have us play games. Even without the pressure, I ironically dug deeper and challenged myself creatively. I think that this can work for my future students.
Ishia,
ReplyDeleteYou just gave me a new first week activity for my classes. I have two letter writing assignments I do with students. One I assign the first week of school where students tell me about themselves. The second I do the last week of school where students write to incoming freshmen to give them advice on how to be successful in high school. I teach at an alternative high school where all of my students have had some obstacle that brought them to our school. Many of them feel like they have failed because they did not complete their career in a traditional setting. The assignment to write to incoming freshmen is meant to put them in the role of expert where they can help someone from their experiences.
This fall I will be adding the letter you described based on what you gleaned from The Art of Possibility. My students will write a letter to themselves in the past about their future. They will talk about what they have accomplished and how they got to those accomplishments. It is interesting that while I read the same four chapters you did, the letter assignment did not jump out at me until I read your blog post. Thanks for helping me see the light.
I think that the write a future letter is a good idea as well and it's cool that you have done this before I read about it in this book. I am a very recent graduate from college and in all of my education courses we learned about non traditional grading and the negativity of standardized testing, so I reading these reminds me of my college classes.
ReplyDeleteIshia,
ReplyDeleteI think that you made a good point about the classes we had before with guaranteed A assignments. I did stop worrying about the requirements in those classes and I did engage with the materials more simply because I knew that if I just turned something in I would get an A. Although those assignments by nature allowed for more engagement and the material wasn't critical. That approach wouldn't work in medical school for example, but for creative classes like the ones we have encountered that approach worked. I am not totally sold on the whole idea but I do see the point in shifting the focus.
I agree with finding a method that allows the students the opportunity to be creative without the pressure of a grade. I, too, felt less strain in our film making principles class. It didn't stop the amount of effort I put into the project, but it did stop the second guessing I place in working on assignments. It provided more time based on the freedom of making an "A." I wish you success in you endeavor to find an assignment that will benefit the students as well as it seemed in the book.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more. I think I even wrote about that in a former post. I felt such peace knowing that their were clear cut expectations from the teacher and I knew exactly what I had to do to get an "A". I teach second grade so it is kind of the same thing, if the students try and work hard they earn A's. I wish my own children in high school had more teachers like the ones I've met here at FS.
ReplyDelete