Good conversation facilitated by AM after a brief writing piece.

One, discussions of structure lead to conversations about time management. Many, many students pointed out that structuring the time doesn’t matter if people aren’t engaged or aren’t using their time wisely. There’s a second issue, too, about how the teacher (or even the project) might require a certain structure that can be undermined when folks are playing around.

I’ve been trying to not talk during circle — at least two students keep a timer and they’re vigilant about keeping me quiet — so one of the complaints that came up was that I talk too much. I think an adult can talk for thirty seconds out of four four hours and they’ll still face that complaint, but every teacher should regularly be told they talk too much. In a great, great moment, one student declared that if people would listen while Clapper was giving instructions, he wouldn’t have to talk so much.

The other good distinction and this is a direct quote:

“it’s not unnecessary work, it’s untimely work.”

Oftentimes I’ll look at the course of a project and come up with an activity to address a gap I see developing. For example, part of a research brief for the CSpan project was two original graphs. Some students understood and did it. Others needed additional support. I cooked an activity to help.

Which is exactly what AM was talking about: some kids saw it as untimely (I just want to work!), not unnecessary. (My job, then, is to develop projects where they see each portion of the work as necessary.)