Friday, September 30, 2011

How would classrooms be different if teachers came to class not with a lesson plan, but with a concept? « Cooperative Catalyst

How would classrooms be different if teachers came to class not with a lesson plan, but with a concept? « Cooperative Catalyst:

How would classrooms be different if teachers came to class not with a lesson plan, but with a concept?

When I was a classroom teacher in a traditional high school, a student and I were chatting about current events. This led to a conversation about economics. I began explaining how the Federal Reserve controls interest rates, and how the government needs to ensure that there is at least some percentage of unemployed people, because full employment would lead to inflation.

The bell rang to start class, but by this time four or five students had gathered around and were peppering me with questions. They were really interested. The discussion got more involved and, soon, the entire class was engaged in the topic.

This was a journalism class, so the discussion had absolutely nothing to do with the unit of study we were