Discussion
How do you organize for a participatory classroom?
There are many fabulous projects and project ideas on the Internet. But organizing our classrooms or out-of-school venues for students to participate in them in a learning atmosphere is, itself, a significant task. What have you learned about organizing for participation?
Comments
Dave Boardman
on Nov 14 2010
at 17:57
Buy-in
I've learned it comes down to buy-in from students. I often ask them to do things outside the classroom - and school: create a film about a local nonprofit, communicate with students overseas, take on a service learning project. Making a connection to the curriculum is usually simple: some reading and writing standards can find a venue in many projects. But the success of these projects ultimately hinges on whether students see these connections as links to community they want to make, links to something they can identify with, or something truly foreign.
Sometimes I can push that connection, create some buy-in, but when a class of adolescents agree they really don't care about the Middle East and see no purpose in blogging with students in Gaza, then it just ain't gonna happen. Maybe it comes down to breaking down those potential connections to the base elements, showing the commonalities we share - or maybe sometimes, even the best motivational, relevance-emphasizing teaching just won't do it.
I do know grades and requirements on a syllabus will never create the real kind of participatory learning we strive for. Maybe it's like reading and what we know about successful literacy approaches: assigning books doesn't create buy-in; it creates compliance or rebellion. Choice helps create readers. Assigning participation doesn't do it either: but like reading, a wide range of choices just might create a wide range of opportunities for genuine participation and true buy-in.
Kim Jaxon
on Nov 20 2010
at 07:31
participation
I like Dave's insight into the difference between participation and compliance. We can all certainly get our students to do work in our classrooms, but this doesn't mean they see themselves as participants in our space. It's perhaps the difference between "I'm a student in this classroom" versus "I am a member of this community."
I've been playing around a lot with the use of social media as a way to open up spaces for participation. I often ask "how am I getting in the way of a student's opportunity to participate in my class?" And I'm trying to image a variety of spaces where students can see themselves as members of our community--spaces that help them to consider new identities. By using Twitter, Nings, wikispaces, blogs, etc I'm discovering that students can find multiple ways "in" to the culture of our class. Social media expands the opportunities for participation, and ultimately, expands opportunities for students to try on identities in low stakes environments. Dave's ideas about choice are helpful here too because perhaps these virtual spaces give students more options for participation.
Ultimately, I'm hopeful that our conversations on Digital Is will help us to continue to unpack the affordance of digital spaces and digital literacies. And I like the question that's posed here because it reminds us to stay close to the larger concepts--participation, community, meaning, etc and imagine the role of technologies within these ideas. Twitter, Ning, Wikis will evolve and become something else. But these larger ideas will keep us busy for a lifetime!