laboratories for learning; more on assessment

The raw space is a shell, determined, simply there. What happens next is active choice - life is breathed into these settings by people who have certain ideas in mind, specific beliefs to enclose. (Ayers, 2001, p. 49)

I believe that chapter three of William Ayers To Teach - “Creating an Environment for Learning” - is one of the most important chapters in the book. Creating an environment conducive to learning is a very important step that every teacher should give careful consideration to. The effects on one’s environment on the psyche are well documented, from the climate one lives in, to the neighborhood one lives in, to the color that the bedroom walls are painted. I remember reading a study long ago that Father Baker pink was the most soothing color in the spectrum and had a dramatic effect on people psychologically - it's clear that our surroundings influence us.

There are many important points in Ayer’s chapter that I’d like to discuss, but first I’d like to mention that it’s not just the individual classroom’s environment, or even the atmosphere of the school building as a whole, that’s singularly critical - I believe that the total environment of the school has a dramatic impact on learning. Too many children must walk to school in neighborhoods that are decrepit and crime-ridden and attend schools that are forced to use video cameras and metal detectors because the threat of violence is so great. These factors influence ability to learn. Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs is clear that safety needs to be addressed before intellectual pursuits can be successfully engaged in. Improving the total environment of schools should be a high priority for us. Ayers’ words, while not referring specifically to violence in schools, are still apropos: “Questioning everything in the environment…is an important task for teachers. We cannot necessarily change it all, but we can certainly become aware of the messages.” (2001, p. 51)

That said, in schools like these, the individual classroom environment takes on additional importance for kids, because the classroom can provide a nook of safety. Should I find myself teaching in a school with less than ideal conditions for learning, my first hope would be to create a classroom where kids feel safe. Elements of the physical space can do this - I picture warm textiles and comfy, cozy, reading areas - but the biggest step will be to engage in classroom community building. Perhaps the children themselves will have ideas for creating a physical environment that will help them feel more at ease.

Once I’ve tried to create a safe space, I’d like to try and create a space that also encourages active learning. Like Ayers, “I want to build spaces that are laboratories for discovery and surprise.” This early in my quest to become a teacher, I have no real idea what I’ll do with the physical space of my classroom. I do know it will strongly incorporate a sense of wonder (something I’ve never lost), a love of reading, history, and science, and space for hands-on learning. My passion for experiential learning must also be incorporated somehow in the scheme of things. Again like Ayers, I’d like to show my kids that “knowledge [is] available to them and [is] not some fixed entity locked up in textbooks, and that learning can be exciting, potentially awesome, and deeply satisfying.” (Ayers, 2001, p. 57) As much as I’d like my classroom to be an inspiring place for all kinds of learning to occur, I’d also like to get out of the classroom too, even if only figuratively. I’d like my classroom to be a place where imagination can soar.

part II: more on assessment

First of all, on the topic of assessment, I wanted to note a realization that came to me this past week. In one of my classes, we just turned in the single assessed document required for the entire term. I felt a little uneasy about this important writing assignment as I was wrote without a sense of what the instructor’s writing expectations were. In the class I am writing this blog for, of course, we aren’t even being assessed in the traditional sense. That got me thinking about my own attitudes toward assessment. While I ambivalent about standardized assessment, I am, personally, also an assessment junkie. This makes me a walking contradiction, but I do have to admit that I very much missed being assessed this term. This realization is important, because a mini straw poll I conducted in class uncovered a few more people who felt the same way. When I’m trying to create some kind of authentic assessment for my kids, I think I’ll need to remain aware of or uncover just how important a concrete “rating” of their work is to some of them.

I’ve already spoken about some ideas for authentic, alternative assessment in a few of my previous blog posts, but there were a few things in Ayers’ chapter “Keeping Track,” that resounded with me. First, echoing my thoughts above, was his discussion of how seductive standardized assessments are in terms of making us feel good about our kids (or ourselves when we take the West-Es) when they perform well, even as we realize that the standardized assessment was inherently flawed and unfair. I also liked Ayers’ description of the “3ps” of alternative assessment: “projects, portfolios, and performance.” (Ayers, 2001, p. 116) His description of how understanding what we value is the first step in authentic assessment was spot on for me, too. We have to be able to articulate the goals before we can successfully assess what’s been learned. I hope to successfully bear out Ayers' ideas when I'm teaching.

Ayers, W. (2001). To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher. New York. N.Y. & London: Teachers College Press.