RAFTing vs. the Dark Side
While the Darth Vader bit was a tad on the nose, it presents a very real image of high school and middle school classrooms. These are places where writing assignments are used as punishment, where lengthy reports come without any instruction, collaboration, or point other than the hope that a student might find it interesting. Which they don't.
I think some of the best questions teachers can ask themselves is: Would I enjoy doing this? Would I be interested in this? Would this make me think differently?
If the answer is no, then it's probably not a terribly useful assignment. Teachers tend to assign things because they think it is necessary, and I think a lot of teachers don't bother to think about what it is they're even assessing when they give out assignments. If you're not sure what an assignment helps you to assess, don't give it. Wait, think about what it is you want to assess, and come up with a better assignment. If you're not sure what an assignment is going to do to help you or the students, don't give it.
Of course, it's easy enough for me to say all of these things from my internet pedestal. Here's what I can say: I think that RAFTing, combined with backward design, is a very strong method to keep ourselves in check. It's very easy to slip into a pattern of giving easy, pointless, or vague assignments, and all of these things demotivate students. I have to imagine they demotivate teachers, too. And why bother being inefficient if you don't have to be?
Right now, I don't know what it's going to be like as a teacher. I know it will be hard. I know that I will be critical. And I know that the RAFT design will be useful to me. I hope teachers everywhere at least try and use this method.
I know that with the many failures and successes I've had in the classroom as a teacher that I will use more objective-less questions with my students. That is to say that I will lead discusses with questions that are not academically oriented while trailing them towards an objective question. In that, I can see myself better utilizing the Backwards Design and RAFT.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say, I do agree with you that the best questions a teacher can ask and answer themselves about lesson plans and unit outlines are:
Would I enjoy doing this?
Would I be interested in this?
Would this make me think differently?
At the same time, while I hate to admit it, I think I would rank these questions in order of most important to least important. The reason is that I want my students to ultimately learn a concept and walk out of my classroom going "Oh...oh. Ooooh!" rather than "That was pretty fun and cool, but what the heck did I just do?" But I am sure there is a balance between all these aspects.
And finally, I wonder, Nathan, what methods you will employ in the classrooms we will be visiting in the coming weeks. It seems that you are willing to utilize the RAFT method and backwards design within your class, but what questions do you think you will utilize alongside them? And as a student, what examples have you seen in your professors as they utilize them?