During lunch today my cooperating teacher shared some exciting news! After being approached by three students in our AP Language class, who had questions and concerns about the educational system in general and how class time is used in particular, she has extended to them (and to the rest of the class) the option of becoming responsible for a certain amount of class time. The idea is to give students the opportunity to focus class time on what and how they think that they should be learning. The topic came up after some of our students discovered that they wouldn't be receiving class credit for a hands on program that they're involved in, and that instead they will still be required to take a lecture-based class on the subject in order to receive credit. My cooperating teacher has also written a blog post about this project detailing more about the situation and the students.
I'm very excited about the opportunity this provides for student led lessons and discussions. After all, isn't one of our main goals to encourage students to take control of their learning process so that they will receive the maximum benefit of class time? I am wondering exactly how it's all going to go though. Will students take responsibility for the section of material that they'll be expected to teach? Will they take away everything from this experience that we would hope for? Like responsibility, accountability, passion for learning? Will this experiment be a success?
I would love to hear anyone's thoughts on this, please feel free to comment. :)
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