This fall, after three cups of not-so-strong coffee and a sleepless night overthinking my upcoming class assignment, I put the finishing touches on my latest assignment for my World History II class. Ta.
When I finally felt satisfied with the plans I had made for 10th grade, I realized that none of this really mattered.
To be clear, this assignment requires students to analyze a document and write their own response using evidence. This is of course an important skill, but the final paper inevitably ends up being me in a manic state of red ink. I I was assigned an essay that only other people would read. myself.
Unfortunately, my students’ work, and the inkblots that conveyed my feedback, never made it into the hands of readers who could make a difference. Therefore, the time students spend writing and the time I spend grading has no impact outside the four walls of the classroom.
That was a moment of crazy clarity for me. Sure, your writing skills may have been trained, but so what? For what purpose?My job as a high school social studies teacher It contains We help students develop arguments using evidence, engage in civil discussion, and take informed action to effect change. The core of this is to prepare students for their next piece of writing. Real World.
However, there are forces that stand in the way. For example, curricular mandates and pressures from school and district leaders can create teaching and learning environments that promote closed and fabricated agendas. When I thought about some of my recent assignments, I realized that’s what I was doing. These writing tasks embodied work that did not require deep values or an authentic audience. As a result, my students only completed one grade of him and lost sight of why they were learning this in the first place. I couldn’t blame them.
A few years ago I had a revelation related to this. why There’s a problem. Since then, I have redesigned the curriculum to focus on overarching essential questions for each unit, allowing me to explore contemporary, relevant issues with my students. I like to think of this transition as a transition from a content-based curriculum to a task-based curriculum.
As I reflected on the evolution of my curriculum and why I was teaching what I was teaching, I wondered how I found the assignments I was assigning to my students.
As I was looking for research and ideas to make a change, a close friend of mine recommended the following. talk A book about the art of effective writing by Larry McEnany, director of the writing program at the University of Chicago for 30 years. While Mr. McEnany spoke to graduate students, some of his points resonated deeply with my work with high school students, especially when he pointed out the hard truth about writing in the education system. You learned to write in a system where you write for an audience that cares about you and pays you to do so. That’s going to stop,” McEnany said.
This can hinder students’ writing abilities because they write with only the teacher and the task in mind, rather than genuine readers interested in deepening understanding and making a difference. It reminded me of my sexuality.
With McEnany’s points in mind, I started thinking about how I could provide my students with opportunities to write in different contexts that would serve authentic readers.
I wanted to build on previous curriculum updates to develop more meaningful assignments for students to write for audiences who are in a position to make a difference.If we can provide more opportunities for students to engage with these issues, the more they why how they are learning.
provide topics for students
In order for students to talk about things that are interesting, meaningful, and authentic, they need to be interesting, meaningful, and authentic.
This isn’t a new idea. There are many teaching methods that have been developed with this idea in mind. project-based learningfocuses on students developing skills by working on purposeful and engaging projects. inquiry learning, which allows students to develop their own questions and curiosity about the content. And this concept was the driving force behind my own curriculum redesign, anchoring it in real, timely, and pressing issues that impact my students.
We believed that we needed to consider our student audience in order to develop writing assignments that promoted student autonomy and empowerment. Who will read their work?
Start small, take one unit from your American history class, “The Early Republic,” and explain why students really need to learn that content, how it’s relevant today, and how I thought about what kinds of assignments provide learning opportunities for students. Write motivational texts for your audience.
This unit covered the Constitutional Convention, the factions that formed in early American history, and the establishment of the American system of government. As I pivoted this unit toward engaging issues, I created important substantive questions that addressed issues that would resonate with my students. It is, “What are We the People?” In the preamble of the U.S. Constitution?
By shifting the focus of the unit from historical content to this essential question, we were able to allow students to explore many contemporary issues such as representation, government structure, and voter suppression. Students began to think more critically about who is represented by the Constitution and, more importantly, who is not.
Previously, this unit culminated with an essay in which students answered important questions. This year I decided to experiment with a new challenge. For this assignment, students had the option of writing a letter to a legislator, nonprofit organization, lobbyist, or political action group to advocate for possible policy changes to better represent “the people.”
This shift changed everything for students. In addition to learning about the Constitutional Convention and early American history, they learned how to use writing to advocate for issues they care about. They worked collaboratively to brainstorm people and organizations to send their work to. With stakes beyond grades, they started asking for feedback on their work before submitting it. It even sparked a meta-debate about whether they, as students, are part of “We, the People” and whether their voices can bring about change.
After successfully redoing this assignment, I tried it out in a unit called “The Atlantic Revolution” in my world history class. This unit included the American Revolution, French Revolution, Haitian Revolution, and Mexican Revolution.
I have already restructured the unit from focusing solely on historical content to applying historical understanding to contemporary challenges, especially the substantive question “Is the United States headed toward political violence?” was doing. Students evaluated the usefulness of many academic theories, including: Louis Gottschalk’s revolutionary theory and symbolic politics theorydetermined which theory was the most comprehensive and applied it to the modern United States.
Rather than having students write yet another essay to conclude the unit, use the essays to ask political theorists, academics, law enforcement officials, legislators, or news professionals about the current threat of political violence. It provided an opportunity to write. of the theories they studied.
They started asking questions like, “Who should I write to?” “Who actually has the power to change things?” “How do I find contact information for people in positions of power?” Develop more authentic writing opportunities This brought the historical content of the unit to life and made it useful for students.
Beyond the curriculum
As a teacher, my biggest fear is when students raise their hands in class and genuinely ask, “Why do I need to know this?”, only to arrive at a clear and meaningful answer. It’s about stumbling. This nightmare keeps me up at night (so she needs 3 cups of coffee).
By anchoring units on important issues of our time, students will understand the value of what they are learning, and by designing assignments that empower students to make a difference, we will help students understand that purpose. Now it’s clearer. I love seeing my students engage with content more meaningfully through interaction with the world outside of the classroom.
This idea is very important to me as a social studies teacher, but it doesn’t just apply to social studies classes. To engage students in deep interdisciplinary learning, any teacher can reflect on their content and ask questions such as, “Why am I teaching this?” “Is this the most meaningful assignment I can provide?” If students are not satisfied with the answer, it may be helpful to center around a central question to which students can apply their learning.
I entered this profession to make a difference. What really matters is not whether a student can spit out information on a quiz or write a boilerplate five-paragraph essay. What matters most to me is that they value what they are learning, develop ownership in how they approach it, and believe that their voice matters in this world. is.