Who's Doing The Learning? (Therefore, Who Should Be Doing the Work?)

Like many teachers, my first years of teaching were exhausting! It's a tough profession, and I could see why it had such high, within-the-first-five-years, drop-out rate.

At the beginning of, I believe, my third year, I enrolled in a Fred Jones professional development course (Positive Classroom Management). He has a number of "Fredisms" to describe education and the bedrock of his system, one of which is really resonating with me this year - 

"There is no reason a teacher should work him/herself to death while the students sit back and watch. Effective teachers work the students to death while they sit back and watch."

Now, in no way am I advocating anyone "working to death;" however, think about it. I know the math, they don't. They're doing the learning, so they are the ones who should be doing the work (and getting tired :-). This year, teaching via the Harkness Method, this is exactly what is happening.

In my classroom, students are:

1) solving math problems (sometimes struggling)

2) presenting their solutions on the board

3) sometimes leading the discussions (made more difficult due to English being their second language)

4) answering my questions (and other students') as to how to do something

In other words, they are often the ones doing the doing; I'm the one "sitting back and watching." Learning requires involvement, the crux of the Harkness Method. In my classroom, the students are involved each and every day.

Is my job "easy?" No way. I'm constantly engaged/focused during class to understand all their different methods. (I'm learning the math so much more deeply.) As I mentioned in my last post, I'm having to relearn my profession, to ask high quality questions instead of providing immediate answers (and I have a long way to go). My job is different, focused so much more on their learning, and, given my experience with the Harkness Method thus far, I wouldn't have it any other way.