"Well that sounds good in theory..."

I am continually amazed by the belief that philosophies of education can be sound in theory but no in practice. I suppose there are some instances where this comes into play, but for the most part I see this school of thought as the biggest cop out among teachers. It's as if they've stumbled upon this great loop hole that allows them to keep doing things the wrong way. Be it out of habit, laziness, fear or stubbornness, I see this happening all the time. Take my co-op for instance; he's a great guy and his heart really is in the right place in a lot of ways, but his famous line since day one has been "that sounds good, but I don't think eighth graders can handle that." Whether he believes that or not, he uses that line regarding writing/reading workshops, writers notebooks, discussions and so many other tactics that I would not dream of keeping out of my classroom. My big thing has been quizzes. Everything they do is quizzed. They read a short story, they get a study guide, they go over the answers for a couple days, then they take a quiz that pretty much mirrors that study guide. There is just no critical thinking and no real life connections. It's all plot summary and author facts. So for my RPG i asked if i could run a class discussion about The Hunger Games, a book that the students are literally eating up. Almost 3/4 of the kids finished before the lesson plans called for it and of those kids I'd say over 1/2 are already reading the second. It's sooooooo awesome to watch these kids absolutely lose themselves in a book. Yet despite all this passion the only thing they do with it is quizes and worksheets. So what i did was Friday I set the desks up in a circle. Each person received an article as they entered the class on the topic of reality TV and culture (there were three different articles ranging in viewpoint dispersed through the class). Finally I shared the lyrics of the song "The Cave" by Mumford and Sons because the themes in the song, as well as the title, are major themes in the book. And 40 minutes we talked. Naturally because they were new to this I had to lead them more than I was used too, but they were into it. They loved uncovering the fact that just as the government in the book shows people only what they want them to see, the reality shows they watch weekly do the same. We also talked a lot about identity and how, much like characters in the book and on survivor act differently on the show and create false identities based upon perceptions, we too act differently depending on our surroundings. They got it, and they loved it. Every discussion was different, and unique to that class, yet all were on point and all of them were interrupted by the bell, leaving hands in the air and kids saying "awww I had something to say."

Here's why this was awesome. Just like characters in The Hunger Games and Reality TV shows become victims of their surroundings, I can sometimes feel myself being pulled one way or another because of the climate I see in the schools. A lot of teachers have this notion that kids can only handle a certain level of thinking, so "why bother pushing them?" And when your around that so much you kind of forget how important all these "idealistic" philosophies are that we talk about at Millersville. Friday I saw a lot of light bulbs going on above students head. They all love the book, but now they get it on a whole new level. They understand why were teaching it and how it effects their life, and thats powerful stuff. I needed to see that. To be reminded that the theories we discuss in class are so much better in practice. I don't think the atmosphere in schools is ever truly going to change, which means the pressure is always going to be on to take the easy way out; however, if 75 8th graders can have an organized discussion over social connections to The Hunger Games, then we have more than theory, we have pedagogy.