This post was originally in the first issue of The Smata Bulletin.
It was written by Melanie Eade and Diane Henjyoji from Wellington Girls College. In it, they give us a brief insight into their ‘alternative’ English course. The course, which seeks to foster learner agency in Year 12 and 13, is into its third year now and has grown from 42 students 2019, to 140 in 2020 and 250 in 2021. Here is a taste of their experience.
Imagine if a secondary classroom was an enticing, physically comfortable, interesting place to be just like ECE centres or many primary school environments. What if students felt so comfortable and relaxed they talked to you and shared the things they were truly interested in albeit with a slightly embarrassed and shy tilt to their heads initially? How could we use what they were actually interested in learning to motivate them as well as clock up the NCEA credits along the way? What would teaching be like if we put relationships and learning first and let the assessment fade into the background?
This is what we’ve tried to do in our new course. We still have ‘normal English’ for students to opt into, but judging by the explosion of students choosing to take the alternative Year 12 and 13 ‘Project English’ we are doing something right. Is it scary to trust teenagers to learn without being encouraged, nagged, leaned on and given due dates. Yep. Do some of them ‘waste’ their time and not get much done? Yep. They also do that in ‘normal’ classes. It is incredible to be truly culturally responsive for the first time in your teaching career by doing nothing more than creating a safe, accepting place where we are genuinely enthused about whatever interests the students. Our teaching is highly personalised and differentiated because we teach through conversation. We’ve learned that a ten minute chat is far more effective than a 50 minute Google Slideshow presentation with a few learning tasks thrown in. We’ve got Lego, plants, quiet spaces, noisy spaces, low sensory spaces, an inspiration table, games, magazines, craft material and seating options. We’ve had a tent, a dog, teacher’s children, visiting speakers, food and a karate session in the classroom. We’ve been more attuned to observing the students and adding provocations or ‘invitations’ into the environment, essentially using it as the ‘third teacher’.
Ultimately, this course has taught us that putting students and learning first not only works and works well, but also that teenagers are desperate for someone to trust them. After all, whose class is it?
Contact us if you have any questions, or are curious:
melanie.eade@wgc.school.nz and diane.henjyoji@wgc.school.nz