The emergence of a curriculum: Part II

PSCS Staff Meeting | 09/09/2008 | 2.5 hours field work | Attendees: Director,
Administrative Director, 4 Teaching Staff members, myself

At this meeting, I found myself shadowing various staff members as the worked on various aspects of creating the PSCS Orientation Week. I engaged in two separate Orientation Week planning activities.

Ethics

As has been mentioned in the entry titled 'The emergence of a curriculum: Part I', there seems to be an evolving theme around the Orientation Week this year and that is of ethics and morals.

Why is this important?

In order for PSCS to create and foster an environment in which students feel free and supported in learning by following their natural curiosities, they need to first feel safe and accepted. A safe environment can be built when everyone involved decides to engage in healthy behaviors and trust other people to do the same. This way, a caring, nurturing, trust, feel-good space can exist in which tender and shy teenage souls can embark on adventures in learning.

To bring this about, in the very least the environment needs to be free of unhealthy indulgences such as illegal substance usage that is so common amongst the adolescent population around the country and the world today. That is however not the only or the primary issue to be addressed. More important issues of healthy and respectful communication, openness and acceptance of other people are also critical for fostering a safe environment.

PSCS takes great effort in establishing a code of behavior that all students and staff buy into at the start of the year at whatever level of understanding and acceptance they have at the time. As the year rolls, the code is revisited and discussed in many ways that bring about an evolved understanding only to strengthen the behaviors that create a secure learning space.

The Process

As might be evident to any high school educator, it is not easy to talk to adolescents about ethics and acceptance and other such soft issues without getting eye-rolls and obligatory nods. PSCS staff are not interested in the obligatory acceptance of the code. They seek to engage students in this matter at a much deeper level, in the hope that the dialog itself is the process through which openness and trust get established.

Conceptualizing this process is not an easy task and needs careful attention every year in order that it work for the specific group of students and staff involved.

My involvement

Having taught at PSCS for three years and then having served as a staff consultant last year, I am closely connected to the code process and I take it very seriously. As is possible, I like to contribute to this process. I had the exact opportunity to do so in my meeting time today.

The Concept

I identified a few characteristics for the process in order for it to reach the teenage audience —

– To minimizing talking about the issue
– To not start the discussion by connecting it directly to students. This is likely to put them in a defensive space.
– To see if students will appreciate the issue on a larger scale and then see the connection to them. This way, they don't feel like this is yet another one of those adult talks where they tell youth what they should do. This needs to be about something bigger than the youth themselves. They need to see that they are part of something bigger.

Ideas for the Process

Here is the process I identified and have proposed to two members of the staff —

Background: A staff member introduces the reasons of why this is worth talking about by connecting student issues to larger world issues.

A progression that goes from world issues to PSCS student life issues, all connected to ethics and that make room for understanding and juggling the ethics discussion from as broad a perspective as possible —

1. A world issue: Watch a documentary about an issue out there in the world. Reflect on how the ethical issues involved. Staff take notes and make observations.

2. A local community issue: Invite a guest speaker from the local community to speak about an issue. Discussion notes will hopefully shape the growing consensus around ethics at PSCS. Staff take notes and make observations.

3. A student life issue: Invite an alum to speak about his/her experience at PSCS in regards to ethics. This one brings the issue of ethics closer to home. Staff take notes and make observations.

4. Find an intimate setting like Cross-gender groups to talk about what ethics mean to specific students.

Staff work throughout: After each activity described above, the staff is working on consolidating the language/speak of ethics at PSCS this year. This consolidation can be presented to students along the way or at the end and should be refined throughout the year. Its a living language so to speak 🙂

Year long re-visiting: Revisit and touch on ethics throughout the year through an intensive, a field trip, a class, inviting speakers, following local news stories and so on.

In a learner-centered environment like that at PSCS, the environment both physically and spiritually is a critical part of the curriculum. Trust, acceptance and safety are critical parts of defining the curriculuar aspects of that environment. The code is a piece that fits in with that curricular definition.

I am curious to see how this evolves. I will undoubtedly remain connected.

Passion

I received the following request from one of the staff members —

"I'm leading an activity this Monday afternoon that is designed to serve the double purposes of (1) getting students to know each other better, given the large number of new students, and (2) sow some seeds of thought before the scheduling circus on Friday.

I'm wondering if you might want to throw five minutes at helping me craft the exercise. ….

…The basic idea is to get students brainstorming and sharing about what their interests are.  Not nearly as focused as "what classes would you like on the board" — we'll get to that level later in the week — but much more "what are you in to?"

So: how would you direct such an activity?  What sequence of individual work, small groups, full group discussion would you have?  What questions/prompts would you ask?"

I responded with the following set of ideas —

"Here's what occurs to me right away.

STEP 1. How about if the students engaged in 2 different types activities that would help them identify their passions.

Type I: Cerebrally driven — think about your passions

Put forth a set of questions that will help tickle students brains about their passions. Here are some questions —

1. What did you do this summer?
2. Who are some of your favorite people? Why? How do they connect to your passions?
3. Come up with the plan for your perfect/favorite day? Does it in some way represent your passions?
4. If you had a ton of money, what would you do? Do you see your passions in the activities/objects you choose?

Type II: Pick and choose what you are passionate about based on what you are exposed to

1. Put forth a pile of postcards/picture cards in front of the students that show objects, places, people doing various things. Students pick the cards that they like. Then, looking at each card they ask themselves why they picked it and if the reason they picked it had anything to do with something that interests them.

2. Throw out the names of some famous/PSCS famous people that students would know. Students pick out of the list those people that they connect with. Then, they go through each person on the list and for each person identify why they like them and if the reason connects to a passion.

3. Other means that might do the same as 1 and 2.

These activ
ities would be completed individually for the most part other than staff sharing cards/names of people/questions. At the end of the activities the students should have a list of passions, hopefully 3 passions per student if the activities have been successful.

STEP 2. Students present their passions – lets get creative with this …

How about if students did something other than just tell their passion — do their passion to tell people about it .. e.g. Lily sketches quickly to share her passion, Andrew acts out a character to share his? They could also choose to play charades to share it, draw stick figures, sculpt, play hangman, show a sample of their passion — something they made, on and on, you get the point."

Curricular Connection

I am aiming for the following learner-centered principles in suggesting the above ideas:

• Experiential learning: Exposing students to ideas rather than having them come up with them makes the learning more experiential.

• Multiple modalities: Asking students to present in a unique manner invites them to be themselves in their presentations and for the presentations to be received and remembered using various brain faculties, in the hope of sustaining the interest of all 32 students for all 32 presentations.

• Making the exercises meaningful: This can be done by drawing upon student interests and the relevance to their lives like asking them to think about what they did this summer and have that be a clue into their passions and interests.

I have been asked to participate in this activity and may do so time permitting.