Alfie Kohn's Argument
Alfie Kohn's argument is that there are many things to make a classroom or school appear as good or bad, without even listening to a teacher or student discussion. You can tell by the appearance and layout of the school and class. But after making your observations, you can observe how the teacher runs the class. The teacher could either be the dominant voice in the class or the one who starts the discussion and lets the students all speak.
Alfie Kohn created a table that lists good and bad signs to look for in a class. Good and bad signs aren't just the teacher and student's relationship, but also the classroom and school environment and setup. Is the school welcoming? Are the staff welcoming to new people and questions? Is it a place where you would want to spend your time? These are some questions that you could ask when in a school to see if the school has good or bad characteristics. The table emphasizes that the layout of the classroom can show many good and bad signs. If the class is arranged in rows with no student work on the walls, these would be considered bad signs. If the class has large tables or desks in clusters with student projects on the walls it makes the class feel more inviting and welcoming, which are good signs. Another section is the teacher and staff's voice and attitude. If the teacher isn't the main one doing the talking in the class and the students can share their thoughts and opinions, that is a good sign. But if the teacher does most of the talking for the entire class and the students can't speak, this would be a bad sign. The main point from the chart is what makes a school or a classroom a success or a failure.
The video "Introduction to Culturally Relevant Pedagogy" the connection between culture and school. Teachers can make their lessons or assignments connect to the student's personal life experiences and culture. By doing this it makes the students more engaged with the lesson or assignment, which can lead to more creative and unique work. It says that culturally relevant pedagogy builds on students' prior knowledge, mainly their cultural knowledge. The students can learn about their culture through courses that teach with culturally relevant pedagogy. By doing this it would also result in unique and creative work. If teachers fail to incorporate the students' culture or life experiences, students might not be as engaged in the lesson, and class results may not be as successful.
This chart and video are especially useful for us education teachers right now because we are currently in a class and school and we can use this chart to see how the school and class would do. We can see where the class and school can improve to make it more welcoming or successful. Some schools may need to work on the way they layout their classrooms and others may need to work on displaying student work.
Hi Leo! I think you have made some good points about what is good and bad in a classroom. I agree that that this is really useful because now that I have learned about these things, I can look at the classroom I'm in and see how it compares to the good and bad signs. I talked about how at my school and in my classroom there are mostly good signs, however like all things there is always room for improvement. To your point, culturally responsive is important in maintaining student engagement.
ReplyDeleteHi Leo, I also think that the chart and video are useful tools for schools and in the classroom. It has been interesting going into schools and classrooms and observing them through this lens.
ReplyDeleteHi leo! I also agree that the chart and video are useful for educators and us especially becoming educators. We can make the difference we want to see, and all of these topics we have been learning about can really help us become better teachers! I thought Kohns chart is very helpful as I am going into do observations in schools!
ReplyDeleteHi Leo! I really enjoyed your visual on this post, I like how all the roots that the students have intertwine. I think thats a great analogy for how we should look at making our classrooms feel to students.
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