When I read the O'Brien chapter I couldn't help think about a movie I just happened catch over the weekend - it was called "The Ron Clark Story" - and it was about a teacher in Inner Harlem Elementary School. This teacher walked into a classroom that tested way below all other classes in the school and the students simply did not care. As I read the O'Brien chapter and looked at learned helplessness, I thought about the kids in this Harlem school. They, too, had learned helplessness. They had been through 6 teachers in 6 months and no one thought they were capable of learning. Through different methods and an honest and genuine caring on the part of their new teacher -- he stayed with the class even when he wanted to quit -- he motivated them and when the state testing came at the end of the year, the kids in his class scored higher than any other students in the school - even the honors class.
Check out his website, and you will get some ideas for your own classrooms when you start teaching. He used rap music to teach them the presidents of the United States (and he taught them the presidents so they could remember other events in history in a chronological manner). Even though we are learning to question teaching to the test and the validity of high stakes testing at all, we can see a truly remarkable teacher here who pulled out all the stops and used every medium and every means to get his students to succeed in school.
This man is truly someone who engages his students. He has opened his own school this year and his students will visit every continent before graduating. An amazing story, and I thought of it over and over again when I read O'Brien.
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2 comments:
Yes, Ron Clark's book has become extremely popular. I didn't see the movie and I don't doubt it was inspiring.
Take a look at the review of another film about urban teaching, FREEDOM WRITERS, at
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/21_03/free213.shtml
I'm glad to see you pointing out that the "work" Clark is drilling kids to master is simple recall and recall of content that's not much use in a flat world.
Better they're learning how to locate that information on the web.
I'd like to know more about your interaction with the O'Brien text.
Your live link isn't live..I think it's because you have doubled "http" in the URL. You can easily fix that.
This man sounds like a geniuous! I find it so amazing to read stuff such as this and then wonder why I never thought of it! haha. I am going to look for that movie because it sounds amazing! The reality of the matter is that textbooks just are not going to cut it anymore. We have to integrate as many outside sources as possible because that will get kids interested, engaged, and learning! Thanks for sharing this!
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