Teach Middle East Magazine June 2014 Issue 2 Vol. 1 | Page 16

Sharing Good Practice

LET YOUR STUDENTS SURPRISE YOU

T

eachers are generally known
for two things: organisation
and control. The fact is that,
the more organised we are
in the classroom the less things tend
to go wrong. Likewise the more we
control the classroom environment the
more calm and less chaotic it will be.
Knowing how much we thrive on these
two things makes me almost afraid to
say what I am about to suggest, let
your students surprise you. Give the
majority of the control to the students
and just be present as a guide.
I have recently been doing a fair
bit of reading on differentiation and
one of the things that comes across
very strongly, especially in the work
of Caroline Tomlinson (author of
Integrating Differentiated Instruction
& Understanding by Design) is
that allowing students to express
their creativity is one sure way of
differentiating instruction. Students
thrive on being able to show what they
are capable of doing, but they must
be given opportunities to do so in the
classroom in order for that creativity to
come to the fore.
As the school year draws to a close,
I have been searching for ways to

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June 2014

Class Time

keep my students engaged. The heat,
assessments and the impending
summer break are enough to unnerve
any teacher and distract even the
most ardent student. I decided to give
my grade 5 students projects. I gave
them the criteria but I did not tell them
exactly what they needed to produce.
They were asked to design ‘something’
that showed the most effective use of
used water bottles. My instruction was
that the product has to save money and
help the environment. The guidelines
included that the product should be
usable by a large section of society,
it should not be very expensive to
produce and when it is used it should
also be recyclable.
At first many students had questions
about what they should make. Many
were not sure if what they decided to
make would be suitable to me. I kept
on telling them that as long as it fits
the criteria set out it would be fine. I
discovered that not having had many
opportunities to express their creativity
in previous lessons throughout the
year had left them feeling a bit unsure
of themselves. I assured them that
they have freedom of choice in what
they produced and this made them feel
in command and confident.

Product unveiling has not yet taken
place but the enthusiasm with which the
students are working is encouraging.
Students have taken the project so
seriously that they are not willing to
reveal too many details and want to
keep the majority of their work a secret
until the day of unveiling. So far, I
have seen designs of lampshades,
children’s toys, purses and flower
vases. I am eagerly looking forward
to Project Reveal Day and so are the
students.
I am aware that as teachers we
face the somewhat difficult task
of balancing students’ interest,
the pressures of the curriculum
requirements and the expectations of
the various stakeholders. Seeing the
students work so enthusiastically has
convinced me that I need to find more
ways of incorporating their interest in
my lessons not only for major projects
but also on a more regular basis.
The classroom is a place of great
creativity. Sometimes when we allow
our students to take control of their
learning, it results in positive ways. Let
your students surprise you. You will be
glad you did.
- Contributed.