My teaching model has been adapted from the Harkness method. While it is ever evolving based on student input and classroom culture, below is a description of the foundation. You: The Problem Sets…Doing the problem sets initiates the process. Students work on six to eight problems each night – sometimes recognizing the need for an elegant tool developed in a previous problem, sometimes plugging away with a brute-force solution, and sometimes having little idea where to begin beyond sketching a diagram. Students must attempt problems for which there are no worked example solutions they can mimic. Instead, the problems require them to consider a question, and search, create, and organize their own “toolboxes” for possible resources and strategies.
We: In Class…The classroom is where the real power of teaching and learning together happens. Students bring their work to class, and immediately go to the boards lining the walls to “put up a problem.” With class sizes of about 12, sometimes all the problems are taken, but they might join up with another student and compare approaches. After about 10 minutes, students gather back at the table to discuss each homework problem. The author of each solution presents her thinking, and the class responds. In a class where students have become comfortable with each other, with making mistakes and exposing misconceptions, what usually results is a lively conversation in which the teacher is on the periphery. The students are generating the work, the questions, and the answers for their classmates. The teacher is not superfluous. It is not an easy task to foster an atmosphere that results in this kind of sharing of ideas and a sense of responsibility from the students for the collective work of the class. At the same time, the teacher needs to develop the sense of when to hold back and let the group wrestle with elusive concepts, and when to step in to help guide them forward. I: Synthesis…This is a time for the teacher to help connect the dots and organize the material in a cohesive manner. Sometimes this is a 5 minute talk after all the solutions of a single problem set have been discussed to highlight a theme or strand. More often, it’s a guided discussion after all the solutions of several problem sets have been presented that weaves together the topics, themes, and previously learned material into a cohesive structure where students can see, in one place, how it all fits together. Assessments Formative: When students are going to the board and “putting up a problem” it’s hard to hide your preparation or not engage in this process. Organization and curation of their “toolboxes” is also vital and include completed problem sets with annotations, review notes, and tests. Summative: Every 2-3 weeks there are in classes written tests. There are also 3-4 extended projects, one per quarter.
2 Comments
Joseph
6/3/2020 12:55:21 pm
Just curious, how long are your class periods and how often do you meet?
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Corbin
6/3/2020 01:26:17 pm
We meet 4 days/week for 55min. I've also done with meeting 3 days/week for 70min.
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Author"Your only as good as your record collection." -DJ Spooky Archives
September 2020
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