My Learning in Hum 8

Sometimes I feel a lot of pressure to blog, especially when I am on Twitter and so many interesting educators are creating such thoughtful posts.  It makes me nervous, but after the year I had with my Humanities 8 class I can't wait to share what I learned.

I can still remember the first day.  I am pretty sure I was given the most rowdy, hyper, enthusiastic, crazy group of grade 8s that were in the entire school district.  I even warned TOCs about this when I was away.  I am not sure how this group was chosen, but maybe it had something to do with the fact that I am exactly the same as they are?  Needless to say, if you know me, it was a perfect match.  I had so much fun this year, and I wasn't afraid to try new things.  

I focused a lot on inquiry-based, project-based learning this year.  We worked with essential questions and worked together to develop an understanding of our main theme for the year, which was "What leads to the rise and fall of civilizations?"  At first, the kids had no idea what was going on.  And I think that had a lot to do with the fact that I wasn't totally sure what was going on either.  But slowly we worked through various questions, starting with "What makes us who we are?" and moving through our projects to uncover our unique answers.  

I love working with EQs.  I was asked once how to stop kids from cheating on tests and how I get around kids copying and pasting their work off the internet.  I don't usually come across this problem (not saying it hasn't happened, just not often).  And I realized that it's because I don't ask my kids to regurgitate facts and other people's ideas.  My students analyze opinions and perspectives, and essentially develop their own - that's what I want to know.  I want to know what they think, why they came to that understanding, and how they got there.  I want my kids to know how they learn - Essential Questions and inquiry-based projects allow us to figure this out.

My students challenged me.  I brought in iPads and other technology to engage them more, and found that once I opened the gates, the requests came flooding in.  One QR code scavenger hunt ended up with requests for repeats on almost a weekly basis.  I mean, you use video games to explain ONE idea and you'll never hear the end of it.  My kids tried to justify a different video game for every unit thereafter.  At least they were making connections with...real life?  But it was FUN.  We were able to play while learning.  Some kids even mentioned that while we were building the gingerbread manors, they had no idea that they ended up knowing everything there is to know about the feudal system and they weren't even trying to figure it out.

I was a bit nervous to hear what my kids thought of the year.  We had our ups and downs for sure.  I know I definitely had difficulty with a few units, and so my kids did too.  But we all knew that when we were feeling unsure, we could always go back to our EQs and figure out "WHY are we learning this?"  I was worried to hear what they had learned in their final portfolios.  And yes, as a teacher who is trying to implement more technology, I realize that these should be done online, but I had started the year with paper portfolios, so I finished the year with paper.  Honestly though, it gave the scrapbooks more authenticity I think.  The last week of class they were so engaged in choosing work from their portfolios, cutting it up, gluing things together, writing reflections and drawing connections, I sometimes worry that e-Portfolios won't have that same "Messy Learning" feeling.  And believe me, it was messy.  If you don't like glitter, use blogs. 

This also made me think of "Looping".  A few kids mentioned how the linear course made them feel more comfortable. If we were to loop certain classes (hum8/9) for two years it could benefit those students who find it difficult to present and work collaboratively with other students.  More on Looping and Creating Meaningful Relationships

I couldn't believe the level of thinking that my Hum8 class shared with me in their final projects.  While reading their scrapbooks, I got goosebumps.  They got it.  Every single student got it.  I learned so much from these kids and I hope they walk away from grade 8 with a better understanding of how to be successful in the years to come.

If you are interested in any of the projects I mentioned.  You can find them on the "Projects" page at fhsslearn.blogspot.com